Chief Judge John M. Vittone

The Chief Judge is responsible for the overall management of the Office of Administrative Law Judges, whose judges conduct hearings on a wide variety of case types, including black lung, longshore, immigration, and traditional labor cases (e.g. whistleblower, Davis-Bacon, child labor). The Office of Administrative Law Judges is composed of approximately 45 judges and 110 staff employees in Washington, D. C. and seven district offices. The Chief Judge is responsible for the financial management of the office, assignment of all cases, timely disposition of all cases, and supervision of the staff. Judge Vittone hears and decides cases in all program areas, and also serves as the Chair of the Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals. Finally, he serves as liaison between the office and other agencies within the Department of Labor, other federal agencies, and congressional offices.

Judge Vittone was appointed Chief Judge of the United States Department of Labor's Office of Adminstrative Law Judges on April 28, 1996. Judge Vittone joined the Department of Labor as Deputy Chief Judge in 1987.

Prior to joining the Department of Labor, Judge Vittone was a judge with the Department of Transportation and Civil Aeronautics Board where he specialized in international route selection proceedings and airline mergers. As an attorney, Judge Vittone was on the staff of the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission. He served in the United States Army from 1968 to 1970 and was honorably discharged with the rank of Captain.

Judge Vittone graduated from the University of Richmond in 1964 and the University of Kentucky Law School in 1967. Judge Vittone was elected to be the Judicial Member-at-Large to the Board of Governors of the American Bar Association from 2000-2003. He is the past Chair of the ABA Justice Center and is a member of the ABA House of Delegates. Judge Vittone is a member of the ABA Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession.

During his tenure with DOL, Judge Vittone has met with many delegations of attorneys and officials from numerous countries to discuss the administrative judicial system in the United States and concepts of legal reform. Judge Vittone was the senior official for two delegations composed of judges, court administrators, and attorneys to Chile in 2002 and 2005. The delegations to Chile were sponsored by the Bureau of International Labor Affairs of DOL. He has also participated in a Workshop on Administrative Reconsideration/Adjudication in Beijing, China in 2007. The workshop was sponsored by the China Law Center of Yale University Law School.