Are you prepared to conduct a proper investigation? If done correctly, investigations are truth seeking. If done wrong, they can make things worse. This 3-hour session will use real life investigations “gone bad” to explore the legal and best practices required to survive/conduct an effective and professional investigation including for example: detecting and dealing with deception; standards/models of proof; documentation; the ancient lost arts of questions and listening; investigator authority and ethical conduct; etc. In short, it's a minefield out there so it’s important to know what you can, cannot, should, and must do before your next investigation!
Joe McKenney, Great Falls City Commissioner
This session will explore the rules of contract interpretation and how arbitrators use them to aid in the determination of contractual intent. The contract is the starting point, but there are other considerations such as bargaining history and other indica of what the parties intended, including past practice to help determine what disputed language means. Learn that why one side says during bargaining can have an impact on how that language might be interpreted later.
Join Arbitrator Page A. Todd in this interactive “Top 10” ala David Letterman session as she walks through (at least) ten ways to not be prepared for an arbitration hearing. Page will incorporate her years of experience as a hearing examiner, arbitrator, and labor relations professional to not only poke at what not to do, but to also provide helpful tips on how to efficiently prepare and present your party’s arbitration case.
Studies show that post-pandemic communities speak 120,000 fewer words than before. In a world where communication is shrinking, the conversations we share carry more meaning, and the quality of how we listen matters more than ever.Active listening goes beyond simply nodding along to a speaker’s cadence. It’s a powerful, often overlooked skill that prevents misunderstandings, builds trust, and strengthens connection. After you attend our Active Listening session, you’ll rethink what it means to truly listen and walk away with practical, easy-to-apply techniques that immediately elevate your conversations.
Join us for this informative session and learn how the Montana Department of Labor & Industry’s Investigation & Mediation Bureau (IMB) supports workers, employers, and public sector partners through a broad range of free investigative and mediation services. This session outlines the IMU’s work in wage claim investigations, Human Rights investigations and mediations, and Workers’ Compensation mediation. It also highlights the IMU’s assistance with Collective Bargaining, including Labor Management Committee (LMC) and Interest Based Bargaining (IBB) and facilitation as well as CBA, Employment, and Grievance mediation. Attendees will gain a clear understanding of how these services help resolve disputes, protect rights, and strengthen labor management relationships throughout Montana.
This session will explore the perils of posting messages on social media and how employees can be disciplined or even fired for posting comments about their work, or their work environment. There are protections however for concerted activity, and protected activity on behalf of Unions and free speech issues, especially in the public sector. We will discuss how those protections can insulate employees for discipline and the considerations arbitrators use to determine cases where social media postings are the main exhibits.
Join us as three experienced arbitrators present real-world scenarios (with details changed for anonymity) addressing ethical challenges that frequently arise in labor arbitration. Through guided discussions, attendees will explore best practices for navigating each scenario.Topics include:• Disclosure obligations: Whose standards govern, how much disclosure is sufficient, oral versus written disclosures and handling late-discovered conflicts.• Artificial intelligence: Disclosure responsibilities when AI tools are used and the scope of the required disclosure.• Witness issues: Calling the opposing party's principal witness during the case-in-chief, balancing civility with neutrality.• Billing practices: Common billing challenges, loser-pays provisions and refusal to pay, and responses to late payments.• Use of mentees: Ethical considerations when involving mentees in the arbitration process.
Join us for this educational opportunity and strengthen your understanding of Labor Law! This session will provide an overview of the National Labor Relations Act, the foundational law for the practice of private sector labor law in the U.S. and for Montana in both the private and public sectors. This overview will cover the history and policy of the Act, the key sections of the Act that are routinely referenced in practice, key definitions and terms of legal significance, and court cases that have become part of the foundational law. This session will also provide guidance on issue spotting and knowledge of the structure of the Act to allow for better application and further research.
Both Labor and Management prepare to enter arbitration with assumptions on how past practices and precedent impact their positions. But as is the case in all matters that hinge on interpretation and fact-specific inquiry, the answer to how past practice and precedent will actually apply is the perennial, "It depends." This session will discuss differing perspectives on past practices and precedent, problems that commonly arise for parties when past practice is in question, and pitfalls to avoid when relying on past practice or precedent to support your position.
“If only they would have apologized from the start/at the beginning/right after it happened.” How many times have we said or heard those or similar words? This presentation will explore the elements of a proper apology and possible subsequent forgiveness with an eye towards reconciliation so all can move forward. This is especially crucial in the workplace where team members must work together to achieve common goals, and all cannot afford the luxury of differences, grudges, payback or revenge that can negatively impact the team and even the workplace at large.
Back by popular demand, this interactive session is always a crowd pleaser. Join us for one of the all-time favorite Conference Sessions! Test your knowledge as Arbitrators Jeff Jacobs, Howell Lankford, and Yuval Miller discuss arbitration cases. You be the judge. Will you deny (Red Light) or agree (Green Light) with the Grievance? This is sure to be a fun session for all. Come prepared to discuss and ask questions!
Join us immediately after the conference concludes for snacks, drinks, and networking opportunities! Hors D’oeuvres will be provided, a Cash Bar will be available for beverages.
Join us for this informative session and learn more about ethics in labor law! This session will address common ethics issues that arise in the practice of labor law, such as conflicts, confidentiality, and candor. We will discuss the Montana Rules of Professional Conduct, applicable to attorneys, and why non-lawyer advocates and parties in the practice of labor law need to be aware of these same issues to ensure proper handling of cases from intake through investigation, litigation, and appeal.
This session will unpack how the latest National Labor Relations Board decisions and enforcement priorities are impacting the workplace. The presentation explores the practical effects of shifting standards on collective bargaining, employer work rules, and unfair labor practices. Attendees from all sides will gain insight into evolving standards critical for modern labor relations.
This session will review common, and not so common, contract provisions and the pros and cons of those provisions, including how Montana law impacts the ability of the employer and the employee to negotiate terms and conditions of employment.
Sarah Green, State HR Services Bureau Chief
Jean E. Faure represents public and private employers in all labor and employment-related issues throughout Montana. She litigates wrongful termination, discrimination, wage and hour, trade secret, non-compete, and FMLA claims. She also is actively engaged in traditional labor law, representing employers in unionizing campaigns, unfair labor practices, grievance arbitration and contract negotiations.
Since 2009, Jean has been selected to the Mountain States Super Lawyers® in labor and employment law and employment defense litigation and now is placed in the Mountain States Top 100 Super Lawyers. Best Lawyers in America has named Jean the Employment Lawyer of the Year in Great Falls, Montana consistently since 2017. Jean is a member of Association of Defense Trial Attorneys and the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel, both of which are limited invitation organizations for trial attorneys who devote their professional time to defending businesses, insurance companies, insureds, associations or governmental entities in civil litigation. In 2024, Jean was elected to membership in the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) and served on the Montana Chapter Executive Committee.
Sandra’s practice is Practice limited to Dispute Resolution and she conducts hearings: virtually and in-person nationwide. She is a Member of the National Academy of Arbitrators; FMCS, AAA, AMS, NMB and LRC labor arbitration panels; multiple public and private sector labor permanent panels; SERB Fact finder and Conciliator; COLERA Executive Board; FINRA Arbitrator.
Sandra served in a plethora of hearings officer, mediator, and arbitration roles, hearings, and panels including: Hearing Officer for the State of Ohio job audit appeals; OCSEA Local 11, AFSCME, AFL-CIO- State of Ohio grievance mediation panel contract hearing officer, Ohio Department of Agriculture Chapter 119 appeals; expedited-NTA arbitration panel OCSEA- State of Ohio; OSTA-State of Ohio arbitration panel; OEA-State of Ohio mediation panel; SEIU-Ohio arbitration and mediation panels; Mediator, US Postal Service REDRESS program; Arbitrator-USPS expedited and regular arbitration panels; EEOC external mediator; SERB fact finder/conciliator panel; FINRA arbitrator; BBB mediator and arbitrator; Adjunct Professor, Capital University Law School, Labor and General Arbitration; Columbus State Community College Consultant to President; CBA Ethics and Arbitration Committees; practiced before all Ohio courts; Chapter 119 administrative hearings; NLRB hearings; Staff attorney- OEA; private practice; in house counsel, Ohio Council 8, AFSCME, AFL-CIO.
Jeff has been a practicing attorney in Minnesota since 1980 and has been a full-time labor arbitrator since 1995. He was inducted into the National Academy of Arbitrators in 2005. Prior to that he practiced extensively representing union and management clients in both the private and public sectors. Jeff is on the Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Oregon, Montana, U.S. Virgin Islands and Washington state lists and several FMCS regional panels. He is also on numerous permanent panels in the public and private sectors, including, USPS/NALC, IRS/NTEU, NMB railroad matters, Endeavor Airlines and CWA. He has numerous published decisions in BNA arbitration reporters along with hundreds of cases on public sector lists around the country.
Jeff is a frequent lecturer at arbitration seminars around the country doing both live and webinar presentations for the AAA, Labor Arbitration Institute, Montana BOPA, Minnesota Continuing Legal Education, Minnesota BMS and FMCS seminars. He has authored numerous articles in the area of labor arbitration.
Elizabeth A. Kaleva is from Missoula, Montana, where she graduated from Loyola Sacred Heart High School in 1987. She received a bachelor’s degree in history from Boston College in 1991. Bea graduated from the University of Montana School of Law in 1995 and, after graduation, clerked for a judge for year before joining the Montana School Boards Association as a staff attorney. She rose to the General Counsel position and remained with the MTSBA until 2004, when she returned to Missoula in private practice. Bea serves as counsel for school districts in all areas of employment and school law. Specific practice areas include contract negotiations, employee misconduct and discipline, student misconduct and discipline, special education and federal programs, and Board of Trustees practice and procedure. She provides litigation defense to school districts and their employees in federal and state courts, arbitrations, and administrative agencies relating to all aspects of school district operations. Bea is admitted to practice before all Montana courts, the United States District Courts, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She is a member of the American Bar Association, the National Council of School Attorneys, the Montana Council of School attorneys, a former Board member of the National Council of School Attorneys and is the President of the School Law Section of the Montana State Bar. She has been selected by her peers for inclusion in the Best Lawyers in America since 2014 for the areas of education law and employment law and was named the Best Employment Law Lawyer for the Missoula area in 2015, 2019, 2023, and 2025. In 2021, Elizabeth was honored with the AV Preeminent® Rating by Martindale-Hubbell®. This rating is the highest possible rating in both legal ability and ethical standards.
Howell Lankford is a member of the National Academy of Arbitrators and a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. Has been a Governor, Chair of the NW Chapter, and a member of the ethics committee of the NAA. He is also part of the editorial staff of the upcoming new addition of How Arbitration Works. He has been a labor management arbitrator for over 40 years after five years as an ALJ for the Oregon Employment Relations Board. He presents advocacy workshops throughout the year, for labor or management or both, at no cost beyond his expenses; and he is a faculty member of the FMCS Becoming a Labor Arbitrator program.
Yuval Miller maintains a nationwide practice as an arbitrator and mediator of labor and employment disputes, including public- and private-sector permanent panels throughout the Western United States. An esteemed speaker and moderator on labor issues, he serves on the Faculty of the Labor Arbitration Institute (LAI), Tulane Law School’s Berlin ADR Program, and Burstein-Prihar Arbitration Training (BPAT), and is Editor in Chief of the treatise Aitchison et al., INTEREST ARBITRATION (3d ed., LRIS Books, 2022).
Prior to becoming a full-time neutral, Arbitrator Miller earned his JD at Yale Law School, served as a Fulbright Scholar, taught courses at the Budapest University of Public Administration, and received his BA with Highest Distinction from the University of California, Berkeley. After clerking for the Honorable Dolores K. Sloviter of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, he represented management (Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP) and unions (McCracken, Stemerman & Holsberry, LLP) for over a decade.
Bob Oberstein has over 58 years of Labor Relations experience on both sides of the table in both the private and public sectors. Bob has also been the recipient of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service Director's Award for lifetime achievement in promoting positive Labor Management Relations.
Additionally, Bob was the Director of the Labor Management Relations Certificate and BA programs at Ottawa University, Phoenix where he also served as Ombuds for all student, faculty and staff complaints which often involved conducting investigations and where he also developed and taught Apology and Forgiveness in Society. Bob continues to assist parties with their use of apology and forgiveness in all manner of disputes and particularly in his mediation practice.
Bob has several published articles to his credit in addition to his arbitration awards and has also been recognized in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers. Additionally, Bob served on several boards, commissions, and panels where he participated in resolving or adjudicating all manner of workplace issues in a variety of industries.
In all these capacities as well as being both mediator and arbitrator Bob often reviewed investigations to determine if they had been properly performed and had merit. As an investigator he has qualified as an MD-110 investigator for Title VII and other discrimination related charges as well as being a member and lifetime certificate holder of the Association of Workplace Investigators.
Bob has also served as a negotiation and mediation competition volunteer coach for Seattle University’s School of Law as well as internationally where his teams have consistently taken top honors/recognition. Moreover, Bob earned a Master of Jurisprudence in Labor and Employment Law from Tulane University's School of Law. Bob continues to serve the labor management community as well as other groups as an Arbitrator, Mediator, Facilitator, Investigator, Trainer and Educator. Further details about Bob’s unique qualifications can be found on his LinkedIn profile at Linkedin.com/in/boberstein [linkedin.com].
Jason Slead is the Communications Director for the Department of Revenue (DOR). He has worked for the department for 20 years, with 14 years of experience in the HR Department. Jason is also the DOR’s resident recruiter and trainer. He is an excellent communicator and has a knack for using humor to build positive relationships with everyone he meets. He's always up for a good laugh and can usually be found with a cup of coffee in one hand and a guitar in the other. His passion for music and his family keeps him going, and his loyalty to his furry friends keeps him grounded.
David O’Brien Suetholz was named General Counsel for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in January 2024. He has been a Union side attorney in Kentucky for over twenty years and is a founding member of Herzfeld, Suetholz, Gastel Leniski and Wall PLLC (HSGLAW).
Dave has a proven commitment to protecting workers' rights and represented a majority of labor Unions in Kentucky at the time of his appointment. He previously served as the General Counsel of the Kentucky Labor Cabinet at the behest of the Kentucky labor movement from 2009-2011, enforcing Kentucky’s OSH, Wage and Hour, and Prevailing Wage laws. He has had notable legal victories at the National Labor Relations Board and both the Kentucky Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court. His U.S. Supreme Court victory in Thompson v. North American Stainless LP expanded Title VII protections against retaliation for workers nationwide.
He holds a degree in history and theology from Villanova University and a J.D. from Notre Dame Law School. Following his legal education, he spent nine months in Cochabamba, Bolivia, learning Spanish and assisting immigrant workers. He is able to serve the International Brotherhood of Teamsters due to the support of his wife, Ellen, and his daughters, Phoebe and Fiona.
Matt Thiel was born and raised in Montana and practices law in Missoula. Matt started his career in the labor arena in 1987 as a field representative with the Montana Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO. He left that position to attend the University of Montana School of Law, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Montana Law Review, graduating with Honors in 1993. His law practice focusses on labor law, representing several Montana and Washington based unions. His practice also includes personal injury and general litigation. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America for Labor and Employment Law. Matt was elected to the Montana State Bar Board of Trustees in 2008 and President of the Montana State Bar for 2015-2016. Matt currently serves as the American Bar Association Delegate for Montana, and he is an American Bar Foundation Patron Fellow and is President of the Western States Bar Conference for 2025.
Jasmine Taylor completed her undergraduate studies at Great Fall’s own University of Providence. She then earned her Master of Public Administration from the University of Montana. After a decade of serving the Department of Health and Human Services, she joined the Department of Labor where she currently serves as an Administrative Supervisor/ Human Rights Investigator.
Lisa W. Timmons, Esq. is a full-time neutral with extensive experience in labor, employment, and commercial disputes. She serves as an arbitrator, mediator, hearing officer, and fact-finder across the public and private sectors. Since 1998, she has led the Mediation Tribunal Association, providing alternative dispute resolution services to Michigan's state and federal courts. Timmons sits on arbitration and mediation panels for the American Arbitration Association, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, FINRA, the Labor Relations Connection, New Era ADR, and multiple state and regional labor boards.
Timmons is the immediate past chair of the ADR Section of the State Bar of Michigan. She co-chairs the Mediation Committee of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution and serves as neutral co-chair of the State and Local Government Bargaining Employees Committee of the ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law. She earned her J.D., cum laude, from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law and a Master of Arts in Dispute Resolution from Wayne State University. A former adjunct professor, she writes and speaks regularly on alternative dispute resolution topics.
Page A. Todd has over 20 years’ experience in labor and employment law and started her own arbitration practice, NW Arbitration Services, in 2024. In 2023 Page completed the FMCS Becoming a Labor Arbitrator 40-hour program. Page also serves on arbitration panels in Alaska, California, and Montana.
Page also serves the State of Washington as a neutral adjudicator, mediator, and trainer with the Washington Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC). She has externed for an Administrative Law Judge at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and worked for the U.S. Department of Labor, the Washington Public Employee Association (representing state employees), the University of Washington (representing the UW as a Senior Labor Negotiator), and as Executive Director for the Vancouver Education Association (VEA). In her spare time, you can find Page daydreaming of an alpaca farm or at a local dog park with her pup.
Betty is a former Chief Judge of the 14A District Court in Washtenaw County, MI, and a former Chair of the ADR Section of the State Bar of Michigan. She has served on numerous arbitration panels since starting her arbitration practice, Widgeon Dispute Resolution , in 1999. Arbitrator Widgeon’s practice is national in scope, and she conducts hearings and facilitations virtually as well as in person. She has served on the Michigan Supreme Court panel of Special Masters/Court Appointed Neutrals since 2017. Arbitrator Widgeon holds a B.A. degree in English and Sociology and an MAEd Degree in Education from Wake Forest University and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School. She arbitrates labor, employment, and commercial disputes and mediates for private firms and corporations.
Includes lunch on September 23, 2026
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A block of rooms has been set aside at the Heritage Inn, in Great Falls, Montana. To reserve a room, please phone the hotel at (406) 761-1900. by August 30, 2026 and identify yourself as a member of the Group Block “MONTANA ARBITRATION AND LABOR RELATIONS CONFERENCE.”
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