Rod Tanner is the founding shareholder of Tanner and Associates, PC, a Fort Worth, Texas firm. Mr. Tanner has a diverse labor and employment law practice focusing on civil litigation, administrative proceedings, arbitrations, and collective bargaining. His clients include various international, national, and local labor organizations, professionals, employees, and public figures. He has extensive experience in complex litigation including employment class actions.
Board Certified in labor and employment law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization since 1990, Mr. Tanner has appeared in THE BEST LAWYERS IN AMERICA (Woodward White 2021) for 24 consecutive years. U.S. News & World Report, Texas Lawyer and Thompson Reuters (2003-2021) have recognized him as one of the state’s preeminent labor and employment attorneys. Texas Super Lawyers selected Mr. Tanner to the Top 100 Texas Super Lawyers list for 2019-2021. He has spoken frequently before professional, labor and other groups on subjects ranging from the National Labor Relations Act to employment discrimination class actions. He is co-editor and a contributing author of TEXAS EMPLOYMENT LAW (James Publishing Inc. 2018).
Mr. Tanner’s notable cases include Aiello v. United Air Lines, 818 F.2d 1196 (5th Cir. 1987) (holding that employee handbook may be enforced as contract modifying employment at-will doctrine under Texas law notwithstanding disclaimer), and Int’l Ass’n of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Local Lodge 2121 v. Goodrich Corp. (5th Circuit), cert. denied, 126 S. Ct. 647 (2005) (holding that a labor organization had standing to represent retired employees in arbitration proceedings to enforce a benefits provision in a collective bargaining agreement).
Mr. Tanner is a Fellow in The College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, past Chair of the State Bar of Texas Labor and Employment Law Section, Founding Member of the Texas Employment Lawyers Association, Co-Chair of the National Employment Lawyers Association Labor Law Practice Group, and a former Director of the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee. He received a Bachelor of Arts with Honors from the University of Texas at Austin in 1973 and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from The University of Texas School of Law in 1976. He is admitted to practice in the State of Texas, United States Supreme Court, Fifth and Tenth U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals, and U.S. District Court for the Northern, Western, Eastern and Southern Districts of Texas.
U.S. News & World Report has named Tanner and Associates, PC as a Tier 1 law firm in Dallas-Fort Worth in the fields of Litigation -- Labor and Employment, Labor Law -- Unions, and Employment Law -- Individuals.
