Mario R. Bordogna

When businesses have day-to-day legal compliance questions about their employees, need help defending an employment lawsuit, or require support dealing with union matters, Mario Bordogna is available to help—whether well in advance or at the drop of a hat.

For nearly 30 years, Mario has keenly represented and partnered with both private and public employers across a wide range of industries, including health care, mining, energy, manufacturing, hospitality, education, construction, professional services, and many others. He is deft at understanding each client’s business and then blending both technical acumen and the practical application of law to help find the right solutions to their employment problems.

One of the best things about Mario’s experience in the labor and employment space is that it spans the entire employment lifecycle. He can aid an employer up front to keep them in compliance when it comes to day-to-day workforce questions, while also skillfully and zealously defending their interests on the back end in employment litigation.

Employment Law and Litigation

In the employment law and litigation space, Mario’s experience is vast. After approximately three decades in practice, he has seen and helped clients with an extensive array of legal needs involving their employees. Specifically, Mario regularly helps employers navigate the following:

• Hiring, drug testing, employment screening, and related issues
• Employment handbooks and workplace policies
• Employee and executive employment agreements
• Wage payment and minimum hour compliance
• Confidentiality, trade secret, and non-competition and non-solicitation concerns
• Reasonable accommodation and employee leave issues
• Performance management and disciplinary decisions
• Separations and severance agreements
• Layoffs and reductions in force
• Unemployment concerns

In his litigation practice, Mario has tried multiple jury cases, including as first chair, and litigated hundreds of other employment-related matters on behalf of employers. He has significant experience appearing in both state and federal court, as well as in arbitration defending individual and class claims. He has also appeared before federal agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the United States Department of Labor, and others, when handling administrative charges and complaints. In fact, he has represented a multitude of clients before state and local fair employment practice agencies and commissions across the United States, including those in Pennsylvania, California, Michigan, Indiana, West Virginia, and Illinois, among others.

More specifically, Mario has successfully defended claims involving and/or asserting:

• Discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Section 1981
• Retaliation, wrongful discharge, and related tort and due process claims
• Sexual harassment under Title VII and Title IX
• Claimed whistleblower violations
• Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
• Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)
• Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA)
• Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN)
• Uniformed Service Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA)
• State Fair Employment Practices laws—for instance, the West Virginia Human Rights Act, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, and others

Additionally, Mario is no stranger to representing clients in highly specific—and often higher-stakes—employment litigation. For instance, he has considerable experience defending wage-and-hour claims, including representing employers in different states under state minimum wage and hour statutes, as well as in separate or hybrid collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Also, he is well-versed in litigating both sides of trade secret and non-competition and non-solicitation disputes—defending against alleged violations on one hand or advancing claims on behalf of companies seeking to protect their intellectual property and employee or customer relationships on the other.

Labor Law and Labor-Management Relations

In addition to his employment litigation practice, Mario has significant experience in traditional labor law and labor-management relations matters under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). He has served as first chair in collective bargaining, as well as in grievance and interest arbitrations. In doing so, he has sat across the table from established unions like the United Steelworkers (USW), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), International Association of Firefighters (IAFF), American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), and others.

Mario has also long partnered with employers in defending and negotiating the resolution of union employee grievances and, when necessary, counseling clients on union avoidance. He has litigated various types of petitions before the National Labor Relations Board, including representation and decertification petitions, and also has represented clients in unfair labor practice proceedings before the Board.

In addition to his employment law, litigation, and labor law experience, client employers and entities regularly benefit from a wide array of other critical skills in Mario’s full-service toolbox.

Legal and Compliance Training

For instance, Mario often delivers individualized employment training programs to managers, supervisors, directors and executive-level personnel, and human resources staff. He has provided this type of training both individually and also together in partnership with company CEOs and/or chief human resource officers. Some of the training programs Mario has presented over the years have covered leave and accommodations, conducting investigations, performance management, discrimination and harassment prevention, wage payment practices, HR/compliance audits, AI, discipline and documentation, and many more.

Workplace Investigations

Mario also has extensive experience conducting workplace investigations. Clients and third parties commonly call upon him to investigate sensitive and serious complaints alleging harassment, discrimination, retaliation, policy violations, workplace accidents, and other wrongful workplace conduct. After preparing for and conducting the appropriate investigative steps, Mario provides crisp, comprehensive conclusions about the allegations involved and has credibly testified in support of those conclusions when necessary. Corporate legal departments, in-house counsel, insurers, and others regularly engage Mario to lead these matters.

Speaking and Presenting

Along with his training and investigatory work, Mario is an experienced speaker and presenter who has been asked to deliver keynote and breakout sessions to hundreds—and sometimes thousands—of people on a wide range of employment law, human resources, legal, and compliance topics for national and regional audiences. For example, he has presented on multiple occasions at the Society for Human Resources Association Annual Conference, which is typically attended by more than 20,000 human resources professionals each year. He has also presented at other advanced employment practices symposia and regional human resources conferences during a speaking career spanning multiple decades.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Finally, Mario is a certified mediator who has completed both basic and advanced mediation training. He helps organizations navigate mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution in employment matters. In doing so, he combines his subject-matter employment law knowledge with objective analysis and relationship finesse, helping parties pursue sensible, reasonable, and, if necessary, creative solutions to their workplace disputes so clients can avoid extensive litigation.

• Certified Mediator (Basic Mediation Training; Advanced Mediation Training), West Virginia, 2021

• Dickinson School of Law, Dickinson Law Review, Editorial Board, Notes Editor, 1996

• Named to The Best Lawyers in America (Employment Law – Management and Litigation – Labor and Employment), since 2016

• Selected to the Pennsylvania Rising Stars list by Super Lawyers, 2009, 2011, and 2013

• Defense Trial Counsel of West Virginia 
• Chair, HR Committee, West Virginia Manufacturers Association (2010-2020)
• Board Member, Pittsburgh Human Resource Association 
• Leadership West Virginia, 2011
• Coach, West Virginia University College of Law ABA L&A Section Student Trial Advocacy