Returning to Work: Your Questions Answered

Angelo Amador is senior vice president of legal advocacy and regulatory counsel for the National Restaurant Association. He also is executive director of the Restaurant Law Center, an incorporated public policy law firm affiliated with the Association that represents the industry before the courts and federal regulatory agencies.

Amador serves as chief litigation officer for the Association, prioritizing legal matters to be pursued through amicus briefs or first party litigation. He also represents the Association’s interests by advocating before regulatory agencies; testifying at public hearings; drafting and filing regulatory comments; and, when necessary, recommending and managing legal challenges.

Prior to his current role, Amador was vice president of labor and workforce policy. He was responsible for working with the business community to develop the restaurant industry’s position on labor, health care, immigration, education and other issues affecting the benefits, availability and quality of the workforce. He advocated on behalf of the Association and its members before Congress and the executive branch.

Before joining the National Restaurant Association, Amador served as an executive director in the Labor, Immigration and Employee Benefits Division of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. At the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, he had responsibility for workforce issues, global migration, and travel/border policy. Previously, he was in private practice and served as law clerk to the Hon. David T. Stitt, judge in the 19th Judicial Circuit of Virginia. Prior to his clerkship, he worked in Washington, D.C., for the governor of Puerto Rico as assistant director/legislative counsel and as staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Amador has been an adjunct professor of law at the George Mason University School of Law, and served on the faculty of the Virginia Beach Law Enforcement Training Academy. He is fluent in German, Spanish, English and Portuguese and is a member of both the Virginia State Bar and the District of Columbia Bar.

Amador is a graduate of the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland and obtained a Master of Arts in international transactions from George Mason University. He graduated cum laude from his Juris Doctor at George Mason University School of Law and with distinction from his Master of Laws in International and Comparative Law from the Georgetown University Law Center, where he received the Thomas Bradbury Chetwood Award for graduating with the highest academic ranking in his program.

Derek Havel is a partner in the Labor and Employment Practice Group in the firm's Los Angeles office, where he is also the Office Managing Partner.

Derek handles all facets of the litigation process in labor and employment disputes. He has significant experience in defending wage and hour class actions, including claims for overtime pay, meal and rest period violations and vacation pay. In particular, Derek has extensive experience in the healthcare, retail and insurance industries. He has successfully defeated class certification motions and prevailed on summary judgment motions in class actions.

Derek has considerable jury trial experience in defending both class actions and single plaintiff employment cases. He has successfully defended labor and employment disputes under both state and federal law, including discrimination on the basis of race, sex, age, religion, disability, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation and other classifications. He has specific experience under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, Title VII, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and other labor and employment laws.

Derek regularly provides advice and counsel to employers regarding California and federal employment law, including employee hiring and discipline procedures, unfair competition matters, worker classification issues, leaves of absence, wage and hour law, and employee severance and termination strategies.

Peter Romeo is Editor At Large and Vice President of Content Innovation for the foodservice group of Winsight Media, which includes RestaurantBusinessOnline.com and FoodServiceDirector.com, along with their print reflections.

He also helps to plan content for Winsight’s foodservice-related conferences and expositions, including the National Restaurant Association’s annual convention, the Restaurant Leadership Conference, Restaurant Directions, MenuDirections and FSTEC.

As VP of content innovation, Romeo is also involved in brainstorming new ways of delivering content and generating revenue for the foodservice group.

The multi-media positions cap a 40-year career as a business journalist, including 30 years as a chain-restaurant specialist for such information channels as Nation’s Restaurant News, QSR magazine, and the website of the National Restaurant Association. Romeo’s columns for Restaurant Business earned him two Jesse H. Neal Awards, business publishing’s equivalent of the Pulitzers.

He has been a frequent speaker at industry events, and delivered the commencement address to the graduating class of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY, in 2007.

Romeo graduated from New York University in 1979 with honors in history and journalism, and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. He resides in the upstate New York town of Olivebridge with his wife, Holly Klokis; three rescued greyhounds; and four slightly nervous cats.