Charles Center

Charles Center was appointed Chief Administrative Law Judge for the Federal Labor Relations Authority in March 2006.  Prior to that, he served as the chief judge for the Baltimore hearing office of the Social Security Administration’s Office of Disability Review and Appeal.    In addition to managing the judges and support staff assigned to the Office of Administrative Law Judges, he conducts hearings and issues decisions related to unfair labor practice complaints that are issued by the Office of the General Counsel.

Upon graduation from the University Of Georgia School Of Law, Center served as a judge advocate in the Air Force.  He was chief of civil law at Holloman AFB for one year before being named area defense counsel, a position he held for two additional years before moving to Andersen AFB, Guam, where he served as chief of military justice, labor law, and environmental law for a year before being named deputy staff judge advocate.  His demonstrated leadership in the legal office and litigation skill in the courtroom led to his selection as an assistant professor for the U.S. Air Force Academy where he taught in the Department of Law for three years.  After eight years of active duty, Center declined a promotion to major and entered private practice in Atlanta, Georgia.

While in private practice, his legal achievements included successful litigation before the Georgia Court of Appeals on the issue of proximate cause in a wrongful death case and before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on the issue of a state law tort claim for conspiracy to engage in predatory pricing.  Center then returned to federal service as a civilian, accepting the position of regional attorney for the Social Security Administration’s Seattle region.  In that position he served as the agency’s chief negotiator for bargaining the initial master agreement with the newly recognized unit of SSA judges.  In January 2003, he accepted a position as deputy chief counsel to the Chairman of the FLRA and relocated to Washington D.C.  He served in that position until his appointment as an administrative law judge in April 2004.  Center’s initial judicial assignment was with SSA in Macon, Georgia, and six months later he became chief judge for the Baltimore hearing office, where he managed a staff of sixty, including ten administrative law judges until accepting his current position.