Erik M. Dullea is Of Counsel in the Denver, Colorado, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. He practices in the regulatory compliance areas, with a focus on the mining and transportation industries and government contractors.
Mr. Dullea has represented clients during adjudicative matters before various federal agencies, including the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), as well as litigation matters in federal and state courts.
Mr. Dullea has represented a variety of mine operators during enforcement actions brought by MSHA, challenging the legal and factual bases of the allegations, either eliminating or dramatically reducing the gravity of the violations and the associated penalties. Mr. Dullea has advised and counseled mine operators during fatality investigations, special investigations targeting individual mine managers and responses to MSHA’s attempts to place the operators on its Pattern of Violations enforcement program.
Mr. Dullea has advised companies during their challenges of various federal and state OSHA enforcement actions, to include OSHA improperly characterizing repairs as construction, and improper assessments at multi-employer job sites. Mr. Dullea advised an airline operator who prevailed against frivolous whistleblower claims raised by OSHA, demonstrating that the airline’s proper use of disciplinary policies were not linked to the alleged protected activity.
Mr. Dullea’s work before the FAA includes defending pilots and operators during FAA enforcement actions and providing collaborative representation for a Colorado community’s safety concerns with respect to specific airport landing patterns.
On behalf of government contractors, Mr. Dullea provides advice and counsel on transactional matters, bid protests and civil litigation. Mr. Dullea holds an active security clearance, and with the appropriate government authorizations, can assist clients working with classified materials. In this capacity, he served as co-counsel for a prime contractor’s bid protest before the Court of Federal Claims involving classified information.
Mr. Dullea brings 20 years of experience in the aviation industry to Jackson Lewis’ clients. He spent 10 years flying fighter and attack jets from Navy aircraft carriers in the Pacific Ocean and the Persian Gulf, and 11 years at United Airlines flying the Boeing 757’s and 767’s. At United, Mr. Dullea was also a pilot instructor and FAA-designated evaluator, and was elected for two terms as the Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Airline Pilots’ Association (ALPA) Local Executive Council at the United Airlines Flight Training Center. During those terms, he was heavily involved in airline training and safety issues, labor relations and bankruptcy matters. Mr. Dullea also volunteered and completed specialized training with the Transportation Security Administration related to aviation safety and security.
Mr. Dullea continues to serve in the Naval Reserves as an intelligence officer and currently holds the rank of Commander. He has completed tours with the Office of Naval Intelligence, NORAD/Northern Command, the Naval Mining and Antisubmarine Warfare Command and the Defense Intelligence Agency where he was on the faculty of the National Intelligence University, teaching graduate students in the field of national security law and its application to the intelligence community. During 2008 and 2009, Mr. Dullea returned to active duty and deployed with a joint special operations task force in Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Mr. Dullea is currently the Commanding Officer of the Office of Naval Intelligence reserve unit in Salt Lake City, Utah.
