Clark Hill Attorney Barbara A. Ruga to Present During 2012 Labor Relations Conference “Starting and Ending on the Same Page as a Team”
GRAND RAPIDS, MI
– Clark Hill attorney Barbara A. Ruga will present to school administrators and board members during this year’s Labor Relations Conference on Thursday, February 23 in Lansing, Michigan. Ruga will co-present “Layoff and Recall – Navigating the New System” and then lead and participate on a second panel discussion, “Practical Bargaining”. The conference is jointly sponsored by the Michigan Association of School Administrators (MASA), the Michigan Association of School Boards (MASB) and the Michigan School Business Officials (MSBO). For registration and more information, please visit www.masb.org.
Ruga is a member in Clark Hill’s Grand Rapids office where she practices in the Education and Municipal Practice Group as well as the Labor & Employment Law Practice Group. For more than 30 years, Ruga has been advising and counseling public school districts and businesses on a wide variety of labor law and employment issues. Ruga has extensive experience negotiating teacher contracts in a context of scarce resources. She has also handled numerous unfair labor practice charges, fact-findings and related employment litigation. Ruga advocates for prevention through education, and to that end specializes in employee training programs.
Ruga is a highly sought after presenter, regularly delivering employment seminars and training programs statewide to businesses and associations, including the Michigan Association of School Personnel Administrators, the Michigan Schools Public Relations Association, and the Michigan Association of School Boards, among others. In addition, for over 10 years, Ruga has been a frequent lecturer for the Michigan Negotiators Association – presenting at their semi-annual annual conferences, annual training institute, and singlehandedly conducting winter mini-series across the State.
Ruga has been recognized by her peers as a leader in the school labor negotiations field through MNA’s prestigious Harlow Claggett award, received in 2007 for her contributions to public school labor negotiations.
In her spare time, Ruga loves to spend time with her grandchildren and wants to hike every national park.