Washington, D.C.

Gerald L. Gilliard is the founder, managing partner and principal counsel of the Law Office of Gerald L. Gilliard, Esq. a law firm representing plaintiffs with regard to employment and housing discrimination and other violations of civil rights, whistleblower retaliation, False Claims Act qui tam actions, revocations of security clearance, and  failure to accommodate under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act. 

Mr. Gilliard provided nationwide representation of Federal employees facing workplace discrimination and unwarranted adverse actions as Staff Counsel for a 600,000-member strong Federal labor union.  Mr. Gilliard has since served as counsel to the employment law and government contracts departments of two prominent D.C. law firms, and most recently, as the founder of a plaintiff’s law firm protecting and defending employees against discrimination and adverse actions. 

Mr. Gilliard’s successful legal representation includes securing a September 2012 grant of a Petition for Review from the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, restoring the employment of two African-American male officers terminated for wearing hair braids despite their compliance with the Agency’s uniform policy, successfully maintaining the security clearance of a federal officer in the face of a threatened revocation of security clearance due to his dual citizenship in the U.S. and in the nation of Jordan, obtaining back pay and reinstatement of a Federal officer fired for allegedly falling asleep on post, maintaining the employment of a federal employee removed for airing controversial political views at work, securing both an undisclosed monetary settlement and agency cooperation in the disability service retirement application of an African-American female veteran removed from Federal service in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and orchestrating the dismissal of an agency executive guilty of falsifying payroll records, harassing and suborning perjury of employees following an internal investigation into her alleged falsification of payroll records, harassment, and subornation of perjured testimony from employees.  He is sole counsel in the ongoing Whistleblower Protection Act representation of two GS-15 Army civilian executives before the MSPB and Office of Special Counsel. 

Mr. Gilliard practiced with the only law firm in America to successfully prosecute companies who profited illegally from the war in Iraq, per the False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. §§ 3729–3733.

Mr. Gilliard’s subject matter expertise includes employment and labor relations law, adverse and performance based actions, alleged discrimination and whistleblower reprisal, security clearance revocations, competitive and non-competitive promotions, suitability determinations, background investigations, probationary periods, pay and benefits, hours of duty and time and attendance, performance assessment and deficiencies, and disability retirement, and removal, standards of conduct, and investigations.

The son of a U.S. Army Reserve sergeant and union activist, Mr. Gilliard graduated with honors from New York’s Stuyvesant High School, and with the help of scholarships from the U.S. Air Force and AFSCME SSEU Local 371, he enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania.  He went on to matriculate at Georgetown University Law Center, where he helped found and serve as a staff member on the Georgetown Journal of International Law.  In law school, Mr. Gilliard completed internships with the Hon. Henry H. Kennedy, Jr. of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, and with U.S. Congressman James Clyburn, and additionally, served as a procurement Law Clerk for the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) of the United States Department of Defense (DoD). 

Gerald Gilliard is a licensed attorney in Virginia and the District of Columbia, and is a member of the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Mr. Gilliard is a past board member of the D.C. Bar Labor and Employment Law Steering Committee and is a current member of the Metropolitan Washington Employment Lawyers Association, an affiliate of the National Employment Law Association.    Mr. Gilliard is a member of the Alpha Omega Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. and father of two.

Areas of Practice:
Federal Sector Discrimination Law
Federal Sector Employment law
Federal Procurement Law
Security Clearance Revocations
Internal Agency Investigations
Family and Medical Leave Act
Whistleblower/Qui Tam
U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board - Appeals and Petitions for Review
U.S. Office of Special Counsel - Complaints concerning Prohibited Personnel Practices
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission – Complaints of Discrimination
U.S. Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs – Complaints of Discrimination by Government Contractors
Inspector General Complaints

Bar Admissions:
Virginia, 2005
District of Columbia, 2006
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, 2007
U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, 2009
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, 2010

Professional Associations and Memberships:
District of Columbia Bar (Labor and Employment Law Steering Committee, 2010-2011)
Virginia State Bar
American Bar Association, Member, Labor and Employment Law Section
Federal Bar Association, Member, Government Contracts Section, and Labor and Employment Law Section
University of Pennsylvania Alumni Association

Employment:
Of Counsel, Tully Rinckey PLLC
Of Counsel and Co-Chair, Government Contract Law Section, Perry, Krumsiek & Jack, LLP
Counsel, American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO
Associate, Kubli & Associates, P.C.

Education:
Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C., J.D.
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, B.A.S.