Mark Gaston Pearce is a visiting professor and the executive director of the Workers’ Rights Institute at Georgetown University Law Center. Mr. Pearce is a former Board Member and Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) who served by appointment of President Barack Obama for two terms, concluding in August 2018. Prior to assuming his positions at Georgetown, he was a visiting senior scholar and Lecturer at Cornell University’s School of Industrial Labor Relations. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York Mr. Pearce is a graduate of Cornell University and State University of New York at Buffalo Law School. He began his career first as a Field Attorney and later, District Trial Specialist serving in several of the NLRB’s regional offices. Subsequent to entering private practice Mr. Pearce co-founded the labor law firm of Creighton, Pearce, Johnsen & Giroux. He also served by appointment of the Governor of New York State to the NYS Industrial Board of Appeals as well as several state committees and commissions. He is currently arbitrator and also served as a certified mediator for the United States District Court, Western District of New York. Mr. Pearce has testified before Congress regarding labor matters and has lectured and given continuing legal education presentations before state and national bar associations, labor management organizations and educational institutions throughout the country. He is a Fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers.
Mr. Pearce’s past service includes: The Committee on Character and fitness for the Fourth Department of the New York State Supreme Court; the Board of Directors of the Lawyers Coordinating Committee of the AFL-CIO; the Coalition for Economic Justice; the Workers’ Rights Board and the Advisory Board of the Labor and Employment Research Association of Western New York.
His community activities include prior service as president of the Volunteer Lawyers Project Inc., the Minority Bar Association of Western New York, and Housing Opportunities Made Equal. Additionally he served on the Council of the Burchfield-Penney Art Center and the WNY Workforce Investment Board. He is a Silver Life Member of the Buffalo Chapter of the NAACP and is a class of 2000 graduate of Leadership Buffalo.
Mr. Pearce’s many honors and statements of recognition from labor and community organizations include special recognition from the Lawyers Coordinating Committee of the AFL-CIO; Honor Roll of the National Employment Law Project; the Leadership Award from the Western New York Council on Occupational Safety and Health and the Workplace Justice Champion Award from the Employment Justice Center of Washington, D.C.
Scholarship
Congressional Testimony
"Safeguarding Student-Athletes from NLRB Misclassification": Hearing Before the Joint Subcomm. on Health, Emp., Labor, & Pensions and Higher Educ. & Workforce Dev. of the H. Comm. on Educ. & Workforce, 118th Cong., Mar. 12, 2024 (Statement of Mark Gaston Pearce)(CIS-No.:Pending). [WWW]
In Solidarity: Removing Barriers to Organizing: Hearing Before the Comm. on Educ. & Lab., 117th Cong., Sept. 14, 2022 (Statement of Mark Gaston Pearce)(CIS-No.:Pending). [W]
The Right to Organize: Empowering American Workers in a 21st Century Economy: Hearing Before the S. Comm. on Health, Educ., Lab. & Pensions, 117th Cong., July 22, 2021 (Statement of Mark Gaston Pearce)(CIS-No.: Pending).
The Protecting the Right to Organize Act: Deterring Unfair Labor Practices: Hearing Before Subcomm. on Health, Emp’t, Labor, and Pensions of H. Comm. on Educ. & Labor, 116th Cong., May 8, 2019 (Statement of Mark Gaston Pearce)(CIS-No.: 2020-H341-2036).
Mark Gaston Pearce, It Gets Hot in the Kitchen: New Challenges for the NLRB, inThe Challenge for Collective Bargaining: Proceedings of the New York University 65th Annual Conference on Labor 1-1 to 1-12 (Michael Z. Green & Samuel Estreicher eds., New Providence, N.J.: LexisNexis 2013).
