Zikas, Jonas S.

Practice Description: Mr. McCargo has an extensive background in the areas of labor and employment litigation and has served extensively as an arbitrator of issues involving the private sector, public sector and nonprofit industries. He also has significant experience in the areas of corporate reengineering, health plan operations, corporate compliance, human resources, departmental reorganization and corporate communications.

Background: Mr. McCargo has served on the State Bar of Michigan's Board of Commissioners and on the Committees for Awards, Budget and Finance, Character & Fitness, Communications, Judicial Qualifications, Membership Services and Personnel. Mr. McCargo is also a member of the American Arbitration Association. Mr. McCargo is a former member of its AAA Michigan Regional Labor Advisory Board, the University of Michigan Committee of Visitors, Michigan Association of Health Plans, American Association of Health Lawyers and the Michigan Defense Trial Lawyers Association.

Concentration of Defense Litigation Experience (1987-1995)

Premises Liability; slip and falls, ice and snow, foreign substances, design defects, construction projects (plant and facilities remodeling, modifications and expansions), child injuries, employee injuries, independent contractor injuries, equipment and machinery related injuries; Medical Malpractice; failure to diagnose, cardiac, gynecology and obstetrics, emergency room, psychiatric, respiratory, and infectious disease; Automobiles; intersections, pedestrian, rear-end, defective equipment, owner liability, leased vehicles, serious impairments, and no-fault insurance; Mechanical Power Presses & Production Machinery; OSHA standards and regulations; ANSI standards and regulations, MIOSHA standards and regulations, safety devices, point of operation guarding, misuse and alteration of machines, expert witnesses and testing, sale, distribution and resale of machinery, "dealers" in used machinery, warnings, retro-fitting machinery, and catastrophic damages/loss; Governmental Immunity; public schools (K-12) and colleges and universities; Third Party Action/Work Compensation; Construction, trucking, premises, property design defects; and slip and falls. Federal Constitutional Litigation; remedial phase litigation in public school desegregation (Bradley vs. Milliken ~ Detroit Public Schools); proceedings and litigation in Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, and US Supreme Court (1975-1981).

Concentration of Labor and Employment Legal Experience (1975-Present)

Employment Litigation: Litigation of wrongful discharge cases, sex discrimination and harassment cases, race discrimination and harassment cases, employee insurance and benefits cases, workers compensation cases, unfair labor practices charges, duty of fair representation cases, and corporate restructuring and staff reduction cases. Negotiations and Contract Implementation: Management Chief Negotiator for collective bargaining agreements in a wide array of industries and involving a wide array of unions; negotiated contracts covered wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment. Duties included: representation of management interests in the bargaining process; recommending and selecting appropriate members of management for the negotiating team(s); accumulation of necessary data used in preparation for negotiations; recommending agreements for approval to contract oversight level or corporate governing board(s); planning, organizing and representing public employers in fact findings, arbitration, and representation cases heard before public commissions or other such bodies; coordinating all aspects of contract administration during the term of various contracts with employee organizations; interpreting the negotiated contracts to members of the staff, as appropriate, and administering the contract and salary schedule for all personnel; assisting in developing and recommending salary policy and structure; and, administering and implementing discipline, discharge and grievance procedures and programs. Alternative Dispute Resolution Experience: Extensive experience in NLRB, MERC, MESC and Arbitration proceedings. Activities included service as an Arbitrator in labor, employment, consumer and community disputes. Also alternative dispute resolution service has included role as ad hoc hearing officer for the Michigan Department of Public Health and the Michigan Department of Civil Service. Further, activities included numerous lectures and training sessions on construction arbitration, arbitration procedure, commercial arbitrations and structuring mini-trials. Current activities include participation on the ADR/Labor Panel for the UAW and State of Michigan, the American Arbitration Association, and as a committee member for numerous ADR organizations

Significant Executive/Administrative Experiences and Activities:

Corporate Reengineering: Oversight, direction and coordination of activities and efforts of task force(s) appointed by the CEO to spearhead the corporate reformation(s) (1997/1998; and 1999/2000). The duties and responsibilities of the task force(s) included, but were not limited to: guiding project direction; ensuring quality, timely deliverables; developing structure and conducting analysis; synthesizing and communicating findings; and developing recommendations. Focused reviews were performed in the following areas: revenue collection; commercial business (pricing discipline); broker rationalization; pharmacy optimization; claims processing; payment accuracy; third-party liability; and process efficiency. A complete evaluation of strategic options was completed, including: assessment of competitive position; reformulation of business, operational and organizational strategies; evaluation of alternatives to achieve strategic goals; and development of plans for implementation. Claims Value Chain: Chair & Direct Activities of Claims Value Chain Steering Committee & Executive Committee (2000/2001). Assist in strategic planning activities for corporate restructuring and improvement of Claims Value Chain, incorporating recommendations from Claims Diagnostics and Excellence Projects and staff recommendations for changes and activities necessary to support corporate goal of immediate establishment of an improved operational functioning of the Claims Value Chain. Collect information from internal and external sources and specialized consultants related to claims processing activities and processes associated with corporation's Claims Value Chain; identify potential barriers to the success of the project; investigate internal sources of actual resistance to implementation of Claims Value Chain improvements; and assist in identifying financial and structural impediments to changes. Health Plan Operations Group: Serve as Executive Liaison to Health Plan Operations Group (2001-Present). Assist in facilitating the collection of information from internal and external sources and specialized consultants related to Health Plan Operations; investigate internal sources of actual resistance to implementation of Health Plan Operations improvements; and assist in identifying financial and structural impediments to changes. Direct and oversee the review the evaluation of all health plan operations and related corporate policies; and assist in facilitating the direction and monitoring of all necessary revisions and changes to bring policies into compliance with newly established Health Plan Operations Group standards, guidelines and other requirements for successful Health Plan Operations within the corporation. Assist in establishing mechanisms to initially and continually, review and reconcile all health plan operations related policies; assist in establishing processes and procedures to accomplish this reconciliation throughout the corporation with the oversight of the Health Plan Operations Group. Assist in establishing procedures and mechanisms for oversight, review and approval of all future Health Plan Operations Group related corporate policies. Corporate Compliance. In this area, duties included serving as Corporate Compliance Officer. Established and implemented (1) a comprehensive Corporate Compliance Program and (2) a Departmental Unit through which the program was implemented (1998-2000). Human Resources. Developed and implemented an HRD Corrective Action Plan (CAP) in response to concerns from a 1998 Corporate Internal Customer Satisfaction survey; and corrected all areas of unsatisfactory human resource performance (1997-1999). Departmental Reorganizations. Reorganized and made necessary internal personnel, upgrading, functional and procedural changes in each unit under direct supervision (HRD, P&GR, Compliance, Communications, and Corporate Development); with special focus on inter-unit interfaces, coordination of complementary departmental strategies, deadline controls, enhanced use of computer hardware/software technology and interdepartmental reporting and cooperative functioning (1998-2000). Corporate Communications. Served as the Corporate Communications Officer and developed and defined long term and short term corporate themes and messages; identified necessary subject areas for corporate policies regarding themes, messages and information dissemination; drafted and proposed appropriate policies regarding corporate information and its dissemination; reviewed, revised and upgraded corporate information policies, themes and messages (1998-2000).