Vedder Price

Vedder Thinking

Thomas M. Wilde

Shareholder

222 North LaSalle Street Chicago, Illinois 60601

+1 (312) 609 7821

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Thomas M. Wilde

Shareholder

Thomas M. Wilde is a Shareholder in the Labor and Employment practice at Vedder Price and has served on the firm’s Board of Directors.

He represents employers in all types of employment and labor relations matters. He is also outside legal counsel to a number of health care regulatory, licensing and certification organizations throughout the United States.

Mr. Wilde provides practical, cost-effective guidance to employers on employee relations issues including workforce reductions; discipline and discharge; harassment and workplace investigations; disability accommodation; FMLA compliance and employee leaves of absence; wage and hour compliance; collective bargaining; and policy development and administration. Mr. Wilde also conducts wage and hour compliance audits to help clients reduce the risk of wage and hour claims.

Mr. Wilde’s litigation work includes defending employers from wrongful discharge, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, equal pay and wage and hour claims. Mr. Wilde has significant experience representing employers in wage and hour class and collective actions, Department of Labor audits and investigations.

Mr. Wilde has been named in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers in Business and was selected for inclusion from 2009 to 2021 in Illinois Super Lawyers. Mr. Wilde was ranked in Chambers USA in the Illinois Labor and Employment category. The Legal 500 United States guide recommends Mr. Wilde in the Labor and Employment—Labor and Employment Litigation: Labor and Employment—Labor-Management Relations categories. In addition, he received a "Distinguished" Peer Rating in Martindale-Hubbell. Mr. Wilde has been selected by his peers from 2013 to 2021 as a Leading Lawyer in Employment: Management and Labor: Management, and in the Employment Law-Management and Labor Law-Management categories in the 2023 edition of Best Lawyers.

Thomas M. Wilde

Shareholder

Education

  • DePaul University College of Law, J.D., 1993, with honors
  • Northern Illinois University, B.A., 1990, cum laude

Thomas M. Wilde

Shareholder

Bar Admissions

  • Illinois, 1993
  • Massachusetts, 1996

Court Admissions

  • U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, 1994
  • U.S. District Court, Central District of Illinois, 1998
  • U.S. District Court, Northern District of Indiana, 2001
  • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Wisconsin, 2003
  • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan, 2014
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit, 1997
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit, 1998
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit, 2012
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit, 2017

Affiliations

  • Member, Human Resources Management Association, Chicago

Thomas M. Wilde

Shareholder

Thomas M. Wilde

Shareholder

Thomas M. Wilde

Shareholder

Experience

  • Won a jury trial in federal court in Miami, Florida on behalf of a global corporation where a former employee claimed age discrimination
  • Achieved dismissal of a lawsuit in state court in Tampa, Florida on behalf of a global technology company where a former employee claimed race discrimination, harassment and retaliation
  • Obtained early dismissal of a class action wage and hour lawsuit in Phoenix, Arizona on behalf of a global logistics company
  • Won a labor arbitration in Chicago, Illinois on behalf of a national manufacturing company where the Teamsters Union challenged work assignment practices
  • Won summary judgment in federal court in Toledo, Ohio on behalf of a national printing company where a former employee claimed age and disability discrimination
  • Won summary judgment in federal court in Nashville, Tennessee on behalf of a global manufacturing company where a former employee claimed race discrimination
  • Obtained early dismissal of a class action wage and hour lawsuit in Birmingham, Alabama on behalf of a global logistics company
  • Won summary judgment in federal court in Detroit, Michigan on behalf of a global manufacturing company where a former employee claimed race discrimination
  • Won summary judgment in federal court in Indianapolis, Indiana on behalf of a global manufacturing company where 27 former employees sued for race and age discrimination
  • Won a labor arbitration in Los Angeles, California on behalf of a national manufacturing company where the Teamsters Union challenged premium pay practices
  • Won labor arbitrations in California, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Tennessee and Wisconsin on behalf of multiple clients in various contract interpretation and discipline/discharge disputes
  • Defeated class certification in a wage and hour lawsuit in Portland, Oregon on behalf of a national construction company
  • Defeated class certification in two consolidated wage and hour lawsuits in Chicago, Illinois on behalf of a health care organization