Elizabeth Welch Lykins

Elizabeth Welch Lykins of The Lykins Law Firm, PLC practices exclusively in the area of labor and employment law. Her work includes assisting management with issues related to hiring and firing, wage and hour compliance, union avoidance and negotiations, as well as all aspects of employment law with various government agencies on the local, state and federal levels. She has extensive experience practicing in front of the National Labor Relations Board, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, and the state/federal Departments of Labor. Elizabeth is also a trained mediator.

In 1995, Elizabeth received her law degree from Ohio State University, where she served as a top editor for the Law Journal. She graduated from Penn State University with a history/business degree with honors and magna cum laude in 1992. After law school, she practiced labor and employment law with Greenebaum Doll & McDonald, PLLC, a large firm located in Louisville, Kentucky. She then returned home to Grand Rapids, Michigan and joined Miller, Johnson, Snell & Cummiskey, PLC, where she continued her labor and employment law practice.

Elizabeth's clientele ranges from small family-owned business entities to larger corporations with a range of labor-employment needs. Her clients include builders and subcontractors, nonprofit associations and charities, service-based businesses (such as doctors' and dentists' offices) as well as several manufacturing entities.

Elizabeth is very involved in Grand Rapids' vibrant non-profit community. She is a graduate of the Leadership Grand Rapids program and is the immediate past chair of the Board of Directors for Home Repair Services, an organization dedicated to assisting low income homeowners. She is the past Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Home & Building Association of Greater Grand Rapids, where she served as a Board Member for three years and is a long-time chairperson of the Human Resources Task Force. Elizabeth is a past board member for Camp Henry as well as Big Brothers/Big Sisters, the Hugh Michael Beahan Foundation (which serves St. Andrew's school students), and Social Venture Philanthropy (a Grand Rapids Community Foundation fundraising group). She is also active at Westminster Presbyterian Church and with the West Michigan Center for Arts & Technology (WMCAT) (an organization that engages youth through the arts to keep them in school).

Elizabeth regularly presents on hiring/firing, wage and hour compliance/overtime laws, and coordinated disability/leave issues (Americans with Disabilities Act; Family and Medical Leave Act). She is a frequent contributor to West Michigan Builder, a newsletter serving thousands of Home and Building members in the Grand Rapids area as well as HUB International's local newsletter. She also served for many years as a Chapter Editor for the Developing Labor Law, a labor treatise published yearly by the American Bar Associations' Labor/Employment Law Section.