IN MEMORIAM—ARTHUR F. ROSENFELD

Arthur F. Rosenfeld, the Director of the 

Office of Labor-Management Standards

(OLMS), passed away on May 16, 2020. 

In the words of Secretary of Labor Eugene 

Scalia, “the Department and the labor and 

employment bar have lost an accomplished 

lawyer and public servant, admired 

colleague, and treasured friend.”

Director Rosenfeld had over 40 years of 

labor law and labor-management 

experience in the private and public 

sectors. He managed three key Federal 

agencies instrumental in labormanagement relations, collective 

bargaining, and dispute mediation and 

arbitration. He managed each agency with 

a combination of unsparing intellect and 

warm humor.

Director Rosenfeld began his work with OLMS in July of 2018. While OLMS 

Director, the agency engaged in multiple complex rulemakings, easing regulatory 

burdens, and increasing labor organization transparency and financial integrity. 

Under his leadership, OLMS processed billions of dollars of mass transit grant 

applications, enabling transit authorities to receive grant funds, while ensuring that 

arrangements were in place to protect the interests of mass transit employees. He

also reintroduced a long-dormant international compliance audit program, focusing 

on the most difficult and complex labor organization finances.

Director Rosenfeld strengthened a voluntary compliance program by providing 

approximately 40 international and national union partners with compliance 

assistance tools and information. While leading OLMS, he introduced new training

programs to ensure that OLMS investigators had the skills they needed to 

accomplish the agency mission. Ever mindful of our agency’s history, he joined 

the Deputy Secretary of Labor in commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the 

Landrum-Griffin Act with a Department of Labor Hall of Honor induction 

ceremony.
Director Rosenfeld held a JD from Villanova School of Law, an MBA from 

Lehigh University, and a BA from Muhlenberg College. He was a member of the 

District of Columbia Bar and the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Director Rosenfeld was a labor law attorney for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce

from 1979 to 1984, and worked as a litigation attorney for Hansell & Post from 

1984 to 1986. From 1986 to 1997, he held various positions in the Department of 

Labor, including Acting Associate Deputy Secretary of Labor, and Special 

Assistant to the Solicitor. He served as Senior Labor Counsel of the Senate 

Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions from 1997 to 2001.

The Senate unanimously confirmed Arthur F. Rosenfeld to be General Counsel of 

the National Labor Relations Board on May 26, 2001. There he served, until 2006,

as the chief prosecutor with final authority concerning the investigation of charges 

and issuance and prosecution of complaints arising under the National Labor 

Relations Act.

From 2006 to 2009, he was the 16th Director of the Federal Mediation and 

Conciliation Service. While heading this independent federal agency, whose 

primary mission is to prevent or minimize labor-management disputes, he 

personally mediated disputes of national impact, including helping to end a 52-day 

national strike by members of the International Association of Machinists and 

Aerospace Workers against the Boeing Company in 2008.

Later, as a private attorney, Director Rosenfeld maintained a practice specializing 

in labor-management dispute resolution, arbitration and mediation. He also worked 

for the District of Columbia Public Employee Relations Board Hearing Office.

Prior to joining OLMS, Director Rosenfeld served as Senior Counselor to the 

Solicitor of Labor. In that role, he provided advice to the Solicitor of Labor on 

representing the Secretary and client agencies in all necessary litigation, including 

enforcement actions and defensive litigation, and in alternative dispute resolution 

activities. “Arthur was an exceptional attorney and an even better friend,” said 

Solicitor of Labor Kate O’Scannlain. “He had a larger-than-life presence and a 

razor-sharp sense of humor and wit. May God bless Arthur and may he rest in 

eternal peace. We will miss him dearly.”

The Office of Labor-Management Standards extends heartfelt condolences to the 

family of Director Rosenfeld. He was an exceptional individual who led with 
decisiveness and vision. His lifelong dedication to the rule of law and to labormanagement harmony and equity has left a lasting impact on OLMS and on our 

Nation’s employers and workers.