Diana Nobile is a Partner at McGillivary Steele Elkin LLP. Since joining the firm in the fall of 2009, Diana has passionately represented clients nationwide in Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and state wage and hour litigation. This has included multi-plaintiff class and collective actions, brought against both private and public sector employers, and has recovered millions of dollars on behalf of her clients. For example, as lead counsel in cases on behalf of uniformed members of the Los Angeles Fire Department, Diana recovered over $6 million in unpaid overtime and liquidated damages for her clients under the FLSA. Diana was also on the trial team in Perry v. City of New York, a collective action tried to a jury over three weeks involving the FLSA claims of 2,519 FDNY EMTs and Paramedics resulting in a jury verdict for the plaintiffs and a final judgment of over $19,000,000. The verdict was upheld on appeal in 2023.
Diana advocates on behalf of numerous federal sector unions in grievances brought to recover unpaid overtime and liquidated damages for bargaining unit members who were wrongly exempted from the FLSA, denied overtime pay for work performed before and after their tour of duty, and denied pay for work performed during uncompensated meal breaks. These cases have resulted in tens of millions of dollars in recovery for union members nationwide.
Additionally, Diana represents union officials who faced adverse employment actions for engaging in associational activities and speech on matters of public concern by challenging adverse actions under the First Amendment and state law. She has also successfully represented union members and officers in grievance arbitrations that led to their reinstatement and full backpay compensation after unlawful termination decisions.
In 2024, Diana successfully argued before the Texas Supreme Court on behalf of the Austin Firefighters Association, which upheld as constitutional the Union leave provision of the collective bargaining agreement between the Union and the City of Austin. The decision marked the culmination of a nearly 8-year battle to defend the rights of the Austin Firefighters Association against the attacks of individual plaintiffs, backed by the Goldwater Institute and Texas Public Policy Foundation, and the Texas Attorney General.
Diana also provides advice and guidance to union officials regarding a wide-range of labor-management relations matters, including negotiation of collective bargaining agreements, processing of grievances, administrative appeals, unfair labor practice complaints, and analyzing the applicability of state and federal laws to bargaining unit members.
Diana is actively involved in the Labor and Employment Law community, where she takes on new responsibilities and practice areas. For the last two years, she has served as the Union/Employee Co-Chair for the American Bar Association’s Family Medical Leave Act Subcommittee, and she is an Editor of the FMLA Treatise. As Union/Employee Co-Chair, she presented on FMLA hot topics at the ABA’s Fair Labor Standard Legislation Committee’s 2024 Mid-Winter Meeting. In November 2020 she presented the employee/union perspective on a panel titled “Innovative Strategies for Crafting State-of-the-Art Settlement Agreements” at the ABA 14th Annual Labor and Employment Law Conference. In February 2018, she spoke on a panel at the ABA’s Fair Labor Standard Legislation Committee’s Mid-Winter Meeting titled “New Developments in Pay Equity Law.” In November 2017, Diana moderated a panel at the ABA’s Labor and Employment Law Annual Section Conference titled “Class Arbitrability and Class Waiver: Where Are We Now, and Where Do We Go from Here?” She spoke at the Wonder Woman Tech Conference educating female tech professionals in 2018, about their rights to fair and equal pay in a presentation called “Wonder Women Who Know Their Rights About Fair and Equal Pay Fly Higher.” Consistent with her commitment to workplace equity, Diana is a member of the Legal Network for Gender Equity and the TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund, and will continue working to guarantee a safe and fair workplace for women.
Prior to joining the firm, Diana graduated cum laude from the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law, where she served as the Lead Articles Editor of the Catholic University Law Review. She set her sights on a career where she could make an impact in her clients’ everyday lives and consistent with that goal, immediately following law school, Diana began her career with the Firm, where she’s honed her passion for representing workers, unions, and their members.
