2026 Speakers
Leslie Osborn, Oklahoma Commissioner of Labor
In 2018 Leslie Osborn was elected State Labor Commissioner and re-elected in 2022. Prior to that she served ten years in the OK House of Representatives for District 47. During her time there she was the first female to chair the Judiciary committee of the House, and in December of 2016 she was named the first Republican female chairman of the House Appropriations and Budget Committee.
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During her tenure she authored landmark workers' compensation reform and passed into law the first Pay for Success contract in Oklahoma, which was a public-private partnership with the Department of Corrections and the Kaiser Foundation to move women from incarceration to the Women in Recovery Program.
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Osborn received a B.S. in business administration from Oklahoma State University and resides in Mustang, Oklahoma. Leslie owned and operated her own business for 22 years selling heavy duty truck parts, Osborn Pick-Up Accessories, and is the mother of two children.
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Osborn serves on the advisory board of OK Small Business Development Centers, the Oklahoma Academy, THRIVE to prevent teen pregnancy, and the Canadian Valley Technology Center Foundation. She was in Leadership OK Class 27 and served as the state director of the national group Women in Government.
Forrest Bennett, President
Oklahoma AFL-CIO
Charlie Plumb, Attorney
McAfee & Taft, PC
Charlie Plumb represents management in all phases of employment law and labor relations. Much of his practice is dedicated to counseling employers on compliance with a broad range of state and federal employment laws and regulations and educating management on best practices for avoiding disputes arising from the employer/employee relationship. He also has extensive litigation experience before federal and state courts, regulatory and administrative agencies, and in arbitration matters involving claims of discrimination, wrongful discharge, retaliatory discharge, breach of contract, and constitutional law violations.
As part of his labor practice, Charlie represents unionized employers in collective bargaining negotiations with labor unions, arbitrates grievances, and defends management against a variety of claims before the National Labor Relations Board and Department of Justice and in state and federal courts. He also represents employers who seek to maintain a non-unionized workforce by counseling management on union avoidance strategies and by providing training and advice to management and supervisors. His clients include numerous municipalities throughout Oklahoma and companies engaged in the manufacturing and distribution, construction, energy, public utility, technology and business services industries.
Charlie is a member of the American Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Section and the Oklahoma Bar Association’s Labor Council. He is also the designated representative of McAfee & Taft as the exclusive member firm representing Oklahoma in the Employers Counsel Network. He has previously served as leader of the firm’s Labor & Employment Group.
Charlie is a frequent speaker on labor and employment issues before state, regional and national audiences, has been interviewed by local and national media on a variety of state and federal employment law matters, and has been a guest legal columnist and contributing author to numerous business and professional publications, including The Oklahoman, The Journal Record, HRlaws.com, and EmployerLINC. He is also co-editor of the Oklahoma Employment Law Letter, as well as co-editor for the Oklahoma section of the annual guidebook for employers and human resources professionals, 50 Employment Laws in 50 States.
John Doern, FMCS Retired
Texoma Conflict Resolution Center, LLC
John has 46 years of experience in conflict resolution as an advocate, mediator and arbitrator. During John’s multiple career experiences, he has developed an extensive working knowledge of the interworking's of the Federal, Private, and Public Sectors. His work not only involved collective bargaining negotiations and mediation, but relationship development training and alternative dispute mediation.
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John has been active in the Oklahoma Labor/Management Conference, Texas Labor Management Conference, the Mid-America Labor/Management Conference, the Quad-Cities Labor Management Conference and Mock Mediation for High School students in the Quad-Cities area of Illinois and Iowa. While assigned to the Chicago, IL Field office John was active in the Youth Initiative/Peer Mediation Program in Bradley/Boubonnais High School.
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In 2019 John established the Texoma Conflict Resolution Center LLC providing arbitration and mediation services in the Federal, Public and Private Sectors. Currently, John is active in several arbitration cases in the Midwest Region.
Eric Warner, Attorney
DeWitt Paruolo & Meek, PLLC
Phil Bruce, Attorney
McAfee & Taft, PC
Phil Bruce counsels and represents employers exclusively in all aspects of labor and employment law, including matters involving wage and hour law, non-competition and non-solicitation agreements, employee handbook policies and procedures, hiring and onboarding procedures, USCIS Form 1-9 immigration compliance, discipline and termination, drug and alcohol testing, medical and disability leave, litigation avoidance, and compliance with a myriad of state and federal laws. He also defends employers in state and federal courts, before administrative agencies, and in arbitration against claims of workplace harassment, Title VII employment discrimination, FLSA violations, and wrongful discharge and retaliation.
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A portion of Phil’s practice is devoted to complex business litigation, including breach of contract cases, breach of confidentiality cases, and cases involving Lanham Act violations.
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Phil’s achievements have earned him inclusion in Chambers USA Guide to America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, Best Lawyers (employment law – management), and Oklahoma Super Lawyers.
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Phil is a member of the Employers Counsel Network and a contributing author and co-editor of the Midwest Employment Law Letter, a monthly review of new court decisions, regulations and laws affecting Oklahoma employers. His other major writing credits include co-authoring and updating Oklahoma Employment Law: Practice and Forms Manual, published by Data Trace Publishing Company, since 2013.
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Prior to graduating from law school, Phil served as a judicial extern to the Honorable Timothy DeGiusti, U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Oklahoma, and worked as a research assistant for two law professors. While an undergraduate at the University of Kentucky, he served as an honors intern in the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C.
Tony Puckett, Attorney
McAfee & Taft, PC
Tony Puckett represents management in all aspects of labor and employment law. His practice involves counseling employers in employment issues and representing employers in discrimination cases, wrongful discharge cases, wage and hour actions, charges investigated by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigations, National Labor Relations Board proceedings, union negotiations and arbitrations. In addition to representing private employers, Tony also represents municipalities in all areas of labor relations, including union negotiations, grievance and interest arbitrations, unfair labor practice proceedings and civil rights employment actions. Tony served as the leader of the firm's Labor & Employment Group from 2005 - 2007
Tony's achievements have earned him inclusion in Chambers USA Guide to America's Leading Lawyers for Business, The Best Lawyers in America (employment law – management; labor law – management; labor and employment litigation) and Oklahoma Super Lawyers. He was named by Best Lawyers as "Oklahoma City Labor Lawyer of the year (Management)" in 2014 and 2016.
Tony is a frequent speaker at seminars and institutes on employment law issues in the public and private sectors. He has also presented sessions at the Annual Labor Management Conference, sponsored by the National Academy of Arbitrators Southwest Region, and the International Personnel Management Association.
He is also the author of numerous articles, including “Supreme Court Broadens Liability for Sexual Harassment”, Oklahoma Bar Journal (8/98); “Supreme Court Decides Same-Sex Sexual Harassment Issue,” Oklahoma Bar Journal (4/25/98); and “Reviewing the State’s Drug and Alcohol Testing Act,” Oklahoma Cities and Towns (2/28/99). He also co-authored Age of Discrimination in the Workplace: A Primer for Human Resource Professionals, published by the Society of Human Resource Management Foundation, and was a contributing author to the sixth edition of How Arbitration Works, published by BNA.