Ronald W. Taylor

Partner
Taylor Ronald

Ron Taylor is chair of Venable’s Maryland Labor and Employment Practice Group. Recognized as one of the leading lawyers in Maryland, Ron advises and defends employers—including public and private business of all sizes, and nonprofit organizations nationwide—on labor, employment, and occupational safety and health matters. He has extensive experience handling wage and hour, privacy, non-compete, collective bargaining, employment discrimination, disability, occupational safety, and wrongful discharge issues. He has obtained summary judgment or dismissal of claims, or prevailed after hearing in numerous employment and occupational safety cases.

Ron also has extensive experience in the public sector negotiating collective bargaining agreements, including prevailing following impasse arbitrations and fact findings, and in collective bargaining and labor arbitration for private sector employers. Ron has successfully advised and defended clients against citations issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in virtually every state plan counterpart.

Experience

Representative Matters

Discrimination and Employment
  • Handled the first Maryland case to establish the proposition that a disclaimer in an employee manual can prevent it from becoming a contract
Public Sector Collective Bargaining
  • Secured a victory for an employer during a week-long impasse arbitration hearing, saving the client hundreds of thousands of dollars annually
Occupational Safety and Health
  • Defended a large construction manager against willful violations arising from the death of a contractor's employee, when a tunnel collapsed at Dulles Airport
  • Obtained dismissal of citations issued to a construction company when its tower crane collapsed, resulting in two fatalities
  • Defended an electrical contractor against citations issued after an accident that resulted in an explosion that seriously burned two employees
  • Defended a nationwide retailer and a national construction employer in OSHA enforcement actions in virtually all U.S. states

Insights

Credentials
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Education

  • J.D. William & Mary Marshall-Wythe School of Law 1981
    • Articles Editor, The William and Mary Law Review
  • B.A. with high distinction University of Virginia 1977
    • Echols Scholar

Bar Admissions

  • Maryland

Court Admissions

  • U.S. Supreme Court
  • Supreme Court of Maryland (formerly the Court of Appeals of Maryland)
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
  • U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland

Professional Memberships and Activities

  • Past co-chairman, American Bar Association, Committee on Occupational Safety and Health, 1998 - 2001
  • Past adjunct professor, Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health
  • Fellow, College of Labor and Employment Lawyers
  • Invited by Governor William Donald Schaeffer to present the private sector view on effective enforcement and related issues to the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health agency; also spoke on issues relating to alcohol and drug use
  • Invited to testify as a witness before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on OSHA Reform Legislation
  • Conducted OSHA recordkeeping and compliance seminars for national and international companies

Recognition
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  • The Best Lawyers in America, 2006 – 2024
    • Lawyer of the Year, Employment Law – Management, Baltimore, 2022
    • Lawyer of the Year, Labor Law – Management, Baltimore, 2024
  • Lawdragon, 500 Leading U.S. Corporate Employment Lawyers, 2021 – 2024
  • Martindale-Hubbell, AV® Peer-Review Rated
  • Chambers USA
    • Labor and Employment, Maryland, 2003 – 2023
    • Occupational Health and Safety, Nationwide, 2023
  • Super Lawyers
    • Maryland, 2008 – 2024
    • Top 100, 2012 – 2015, 2017 – 2018, 2020, 2022
  • Venable LLP, Benjamin R. Civiletti Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year, 2010
  • Maryland Daily Record, Employment Law Power List, 2023