JOHN B. BECHTOL
John’s active and innovative law practice is concentrated in the areas of labor and employment law wherein he represents employers, insurance carriers, and insurance administrators in employment, labor and Pennsylvania workers’ compensation law matters. John’s representation of management in both federal and state court litigation has included unemployment compensation matters, employment discrimination cases, Equal Pay Act cases, employment-at-will cases, Fair Labor Standards Act cases and Federal black lung cases. 

In addition to his litigation-oriented practice, John provides services for management (for profit, not-for-profit, municipal) in traditional areas of labor and employment law including the negotiation of collective bargaining agreements, the presentation of arbitration cases, and the provision of general advice on matters of hiring, conditions of employment, and employment termination.

John is a frequent lecturer to industry, education, and health care agencies on a variety of employment and labor issues.

PRACTICE AREAS
• Employment Law
• Labor Law
• Workers’ Compensation Law

Representative Matters
• Defended clients in employment discrimination claims before the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission, Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, Ohio Civil
Rights Commission and the Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations, securing
numerous dismissals at both state and federal levels.
• Represented employers in hundreds of labor arbitrations securing employers’
management rights and supporting employer disciplinary actions, as well as before
the National Labor Relations Board in unfair labor practice and representation cases.
• Represented management in obtaining wildcat and mass picketing injunctions.
• Obtained the reversal of recent decisions by two workers’ compensation judges in
which the judges had found the client to be a successor to the liabilities of a former
plant owner, exposing the client to significant monetary damages for employee
hearing loss.
• Obtained the dismissal of multiple unfair labor practice charges filed by a union
against the client for allegedly having failed to bargain over the implementation of
plant rules.

EXPERIENCE
• 2008  Metz Lewis LLC
Chairman, Employment and Labor Group
• 1992  Bechtol and Lee, P.C.
• 1979  Partner, Reed Smith Shaw & McClay
• 1974  Director-Industrial Relations, Levinson Steel Company
• 1980-1992 Adjunct Professor of Industrial Relations, St. Francis University
• 1980-1992 Adjunct Professor, La Roche College

EDUCATION
• 1979  J.D., Duquesne University
• 1969  B.A., Slippery Rock University

ADMISSIONS
• Pennsylvania
• U.S. Supreme Court
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
• U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS AND HONORS
• Allegheny County Bar Association, Member, Finance Committee
• Recognized as an AV® rated attorney by Martindale-Hubbell peer review
• Board of Directors, Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix Association
• Advisory Board, Lightening Wrench Software, LLC