Deborah M. Gaines is a full-time arbitrator and mediator who has served exclusively as a neutral since 2008. She resolves labor-management and employment disputes in the public and private sectors and has handled more than 1,600 arbitrations and mediations involving contract interpretation, discipline and discharge, statutory employment claims, and other workplace disputes.
Ms. Gaines is a member of the National Academy of Arbitrators and served as Chair of the Academy’s New York/New Jersey Metro Region. She serves on the labor arbitration rosters of the American Arbitration Association, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the National Mediation Board, the Labor Relations Connection, the New York City Office of Collective Bargaining, and several state labor relations agencies. She also serves as a permanent arbitrator under numerous collective bargaining agreements in industries including education, public transit, law enforcement, healthcare, entertainment, commercial real estate, manufacturing, and higher education. Her arbitration practice includes a broad range of issues under collective bargaining agreements, including discipline, contract interpretation, seniority, management rights, discrimination, subcontracting, wages and benefits, and statutory employment claims.
Before becoming a full-time neutral, Ms. Gaines developed extensive experience representing both employers and labor organizations in senior legal and labor relations positions. She served as General Counsel and Deputy General Counsel for the New York City Mayor’s Office of Labor Relations, Vice President of Human Resources at Goldman Sachs, Director of Employee Relations and Employee Relations Counsel for ASARCO Incorporated, and Assistant Executive Director of the Directors Guild of America. That experience on both sides of the bargaining table informs her work as a neutral.
Ms. Gaines frequently speaks on labor arbitration and workplace dispute resolution. She served as Chapter Editor for the second and third editions of Discipline and Discharge in Arbitration (BNA Books). She earned her J.D. from Hofstra University School of Law and her B.S. from Cornell University.
