Matt O’Rourke is a Member in the firm’s Employment & Labor group. Matt’s practice focuses on employment litigation, counseling clients on employment policies and practices, and traditional labor.

Employment Law Experience

Matt takes a team-building approach to his relationships with clients.  He works to understand their businesses, questions, and concerns, and seeks to identify and minimize risks before they become workplace problems.   His goal is to cut through the legal jargon and help clients develop productive and creative solutions in a variety of employment-related areas.  Matt has extensive experience counseling clients in issues like discrimination, harassment, retaliation, disabilities, accommodations, employee classification, wage and hour, overtime, workplace investigations, employee handbooks, employment agreements, and more.

Employment Litigation Experience

As a litigator, Matt collaborates with clients to develop a strategic plan that is specific to every case.  He has a strong track record of success with dismissals, wins on summary judgment, wins on appeal, and favorable settlements.  These include FMLA claims, FLSA claims, and claims of discrimination, harassment, failure to accommodate, fraud, defamation, constitutional violations, breach of contract, and more.  Matt has argued cases before both state and federal trial courts, the Michigan Court of Appeals, and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.  He has authored briefs for cases at all levels, including the United States Supreme Court.

Labor Experience

Matt has experience counseling clients who face unfair labor practice charges and has trial experience before NLRB administrative law judges.  Matt also regularly represents clients in labor arbitrations. His to-the-point and plain language approach to arbitrations is favorably received by clients and arbitrators alike.

Honors

Matt has been named as a Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch for Health Care Law, Labor and Employment Law – Management, and Litigation – Labor and Employment 2023-2025.

Education and Personal

Matt received his law degree, magna cum laude, in 2014 from the University of Notre Dame Law School, where he was a Dean’s Circle Fellow and received multiple awards.  He received his B.A. from the University of Notre Dame in 2006 and served as the Head Manager of the football team.

Matt grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and is an avid White Sox fan. He and his wife Alyssa live in the Grand Rapids area with their children, Theo and Charlotte, and their dog, Sarge.