"I study my clients’ businesses in-depth to learn as much as possible, including their relative positions in their industries. These nuanced understandings allow me to best help them when problems and issues arise. We talk extensively about their long- and short-term objectives, and they receive candid assessments of what’s possible to achieve given the circumstances. I urge them to set aside emotions and choose the legally adherent strategies that best serve their companies."

Practice Overview

With a passion for mitigating business disruptions and furthering companies’ interests, Bart Sisk provides employers with wise counsel in all areas of labor and employment law nationwide. He vigorously defends management against union organizing and multi-facility organizing, advises on corporate campaigns, and provides guidance to management in union decertification elections.

Bart’s clients operate in a wide variety of industries, including healthcare, forestry and wood products, food processing, manufacturing, warehouse and storage, distribution, and transportation. These businesses rely on Bart’s four decades of experience and his deep insights in negotiations, hearings, arbitrations, layoffs, policy setting, and other high-stakes activities. He represents employers in collective bargaining and in discipline, termination, and contract interpretation grievance procedures stemming from charges of violations of these agreements.

When strikes loom, Bart assists employers in preparing contingency plans and responding to picketing and other mass demonstrations by employees and unions. In the wake of quashed union organizing efforts, he helps clients identify the factors that inspired the initial push to organize and collaborates with them on plans to address them so management doesn’t face the same dissatisfaction and pushback down the road.

Bart advocates for clients before state and federal agencies including the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the Department of Labor (DOL) and its Wage and Hour Division. His deep familiarity with the federal government’s relation to labor enables him to help clients navigate the challenges and opportunities that come with changes in presidential administrations.

An esteemed advisor who has received several awards and recognitions, Bart counsels employers through complicated processes such as reductions in force, plant closings, and sales, acquisition, and mergers. He also provides guidance concerning day-to-day employee relations issues and reviews and drafts employment policies, procedures, handbooks, and contracts, including non-compete agreements. Always looking to prevent problems, he routinely conducts training on union avoidance, recognizing and responding to sexual harassment, and compliance with other employment regulations.

Bart takes a congenial approach to all matters and treats people with professionalism and respect. He also makes clear that he expects the same courtesy in return—even during contentious negotiations and disputes. His ability to build strong, lasting relationships with clients enables him to tailor his guidance to precisely fit their needs, preferences, and risk tolerance. Employers depend on his honest, highly informed advice to help their businesses survive and thrive.