Melissa Hatfield

As the Associate General Counsel (Labor Relations), Melissa Hatfield is responsible for the Labor Relations program at GPO that involves 12 unions. Hatfield serves as GPO’s principal contact with the Federal Labor Relations Authority and the in Federal Services Impasses Panel. She advises management and is responsible for the negotiation of all labor-management agreements and grievance procedures. She is also responsible for establishing working relationships with representatives of GPO’s bargaining units, including the AFGE/PCJC and the Joint Council of Unions.

Ms. Hatfield has more than a decade of experience of working with legal, labor relations and human resources issues in both the Federal Government and private sector. She came to GPO in 2013 from the Department of Education where she served as the Director of Workforce Relations and was responsible for advising senior management on employee and labor relations matters, managing the retirement program, and implementing new programs for benefits, telework, and performance management. Hatfield also held management positions in employee and labor relations at the Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Prior to working for the Federal Government, Hatfield worked in the private sector in Human Resources and at the National Treasury Employees Union where she served as the lead negotiator representing many Federal agencies. She received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Master of Science in Labor and Industrial Relations from West Virginia University. She earned her law degree from Wake Forest University School of Law, and is a licensed attorney. She is the great, great, great granddaughter of the Judge Valentine “Wall” Hatfield, of the famous West Virginia Hatfield family