Law professor appointed to U.S. State Department panel

A South Carolina expert in labor law could soon be mediating disputes between the nation’s diplomats.

Joseph Seiner, a professor of law and federal practice at the Joseph F. Rice School of Law at the University of South Carolina, has been appointed as a presiding member of the U.S. Foreign Service Grievance Board, a news release says. The appointment was made by U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken.

Established by the Foreign Service Act of 1980, the board independently and objectively addresses disputes involving members of the U.S. Foreign Service community.

“As a leading employment law expert and labor arbitrator, Seiner will help resolve workplace disputes during his two-year appointment as presiding chair of a rotating three-member panel,” the release says.

Said Steiner in the release: “I’m excited to help resolve disputes arising in the U.S. foreign affairs community, and to have the opportunity to work with the superb staff at the [board] and an incredibly accomplished group of U.S. Foreign Service dignitaries.”

Before coming to Rice Law, he clerked for Judge Ellsworth Van Graafeiland of the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals; practiced law with Jenner & Block in Chicago and as an appellate attorney with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Washington; and served as an adjunct faculty member at the Georgetown University Law Center, his biography on the law school’s website says.

He also is the author of “The Supreme Court’s New Workplace” and “The Virtual Workplace” and is writing a third book, “The Dignity of Work,” all published by Cambridge University Press.