Kent Y. Hirozawa

Kent Y. Hirozawa has dedicated his career to strengthening workers’ rights through advocacy, litigation, and leadership in labor law. He rejoined Gladstein, Reif & Meginniss after serving as a Member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from 2013 to 2016, following his nomination by President Barack Obama and confirmation by the Senate.

During his seven years at the NLRB—first as Chief Counsel to Chairman Mark Gaston Pearce and later as a Board Member—Mr. Hirozawa helped shape landmark decisions on union organizing, joint-employer standards, independent contractor status, mandatory collective-action waivers, and the right of student assistants at private universities to unionize. He also advanced the modernization of NLRB election rules, improving access to fair and timely representation elections. His work at the Board left a lasting mark on labor law and expanded protections for workers nationwide.

Before his federal service, Mr. Hirozawa was a partner at Gladstein, Reif & Meginniss for more than two decades, representing unions and employee benefit funds in federal and state court, arbitration, and before agencies including the NLRB and the New York State Public Employment Relations Board, and advocating for individual employees and groups of workers in wage-and-hour litigation, civil rights matters, and professional discipline cases, securing strong protections and remedies for working people.

After his term at the NLRB, and before returning as a partner in the Firm, Mr. Hirozawa continued to contribute to the field as a visiting scholar at New York University School of Law and as a labor law professor at the City University of New York School of Law, mentoring the next generation of labor advocates. His lifelong commitment to workplace justice was recognized with the Peggy Browning Award in 2024.

Fluent in Spanish, Mr. Hirozawa brings decades of experience to his work representing unions and workers in complex and high-stakes matters.