|
Mr. Gonko has been a licensed
attorney for over thirty-six (36)
years after graduating from the
University of Detroit Mercy School
of Law. Since that time, he has
specialized in labor law and
employment relations both in the
public and private sector. As a
labor and employment specialist, Mr.
Gonko regularly appears as an
advocate and litigator in disputes
before the state and federal courts,
the National Labor Relations Board,
the United States Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission, The U. S.
Department of Education’s Office of
Civil Rights, the Michigan and
United States Wage-Hour Bureaus, the
Michigan Unemployment Agency, the
Michigan Employment Relations
Commission and the Michigan
Department of Civil Rights. He also
represents clients extensively in
unionization matters, collective
bargaining negotiations and
grievance arbitrations. A
substantial portion of Mr. Gonko’s
practice is spent defending
employers in litigation involving
claims of wrongful discharge and
employment discrimination. Mr. Gonko
is a member of the State Bar of
Michigan’s Labor Law and Employment
Relations Section and the Macomb
County Bar Association’s Section of
Labor and Employment Law. In 2010,
Mr. Gonko was appointed as a Case
Evaluator for the Macomb County
Circuit Court for employment cases.
He is licensed to practice before
all of Michigan’s trial and
appellate Courts, the United States
District Courts for the Eastern and
Western Districts and the United
States Court of Appeals for the
Sixth Circuit.
In 1989, Mr. Gonko was appointed to
the Michigan Employment Relations
Commission’s Panel of Arbitrators,
Mediators and Fact-Finders and has,
himself, served as an arbitrator,
mediator and fact-finder in a number
of state public sector labor
disputes. In 1996, he was bestowed
the “AV” rating by
Martindale-Hubbell; a national peer
review evaluator of lawyers and
judges and has consistently
maintained this preeminent rating
over the last 16 years. The “AV”
rating is the highest rating an
attorney can receive and equates to
having “preeminent” legal ability
and exhibiting the “highest possible
ethical standards”. In November,
2009, Mr. Gonko was named one of
Metropolitan Detroit’s Top Lawyers
by DBusiness, a premier Detroit
business journal and in 2010, Mr.
Gonko was named a “Michigan Super
Lawyer” in the area of labor and
employment law. Like Mr. Danielson,
Mr. Gonko has been rated an
“Excellent” lawyer by Avvo.
Aside from his representational
activities, Mr. Gonko is an active
member of the State Bar of
Michigan’s Lawyers and Judges
Assistance Committee. The LJAC
assists members of the bench and bar
who may have personal, mental health
and/or addiction issues. Mr. Gonko
is also a member of the State Bar of
Michigan’s Master Lawyers Section
and is a founding member of the
Macomb County Bar Association’s
Master Section.
Mr. Gonko is also engaged in several
community-focused efforts. Currently
he is the Vice-President of the
Board of Directors for Meadow Brook
Theatre in Rochester, Michigan and
is also a long-standing member and
former Chairperson of the Board of
Directors of the Village of East
Harbor, a full-service continuing
care retirement community in New
Baltimore, Michigan and part of the
Presbyterian Villages of Michigan
state-wide organization. |
Kenneth M.
Gonko
|
