Peter B. Ajalat counsels businesses throughout the country on all aspects of labor relations. As the former general counsel to a large New York City Teamsters union and former in-house labor counsel to a global manufacturing company, Peter has the unique experience of having been on "both sides of the table," and brings a wealth of experience in devising long-term labor strategies related to:

• Mergers
• Acquisitions
• Relocations
• Reorganizations
• Plant closings
• Subcontracting
• Reductions-in-force

He has negotiated hundreds of labor contracts and has extensive experience handling grievances and labor arbitrations, contract administration, union organizing drives, National Labor Relations Board elections, unfair labor practice proceedings and strikes.

Peter regularly represents clients in the waste management, ready mix concrete, food services, manufacturing, and beer distribution industries.

Peter routinely provides proactive positive employee relations training to supervisory personnel and counsels human resource professionals on the administration of federal and state employment statutes such as:

• The Family and Medical Leave Act
• Wage and hour laws
• Harassment laws

He also advises clients in union and non-union settings regarding the drafting and implementation of employee handbooks and personnel policies.

Additionally, Peter has served as professional employer trustee and counsel to Taft-Hartley multi-employer pension and welfare benefit plans, and has extensive experience with the full panoply of benefit issues arising with regard to such plans.

Peter was a partner with a full service law firm before joining Littler Mendelson. In law school, he was a member of the Seton Hall Constitutional Law Journal and participated in the Seton Hall Consumer Law Clinic.

PROFESSIONAL AND COMMUNITY AFFILIATIONS

• Member, New Jersey State Bar Association
• Member, New York State Bar Association
• Member, Bergen County Bar Association

RECOGNITION

• Named, Rising Star in Labor and Employment Law - New Jersey, Super Lawyers, 2006, 2007 and 2011