Candidate Biography (submitted by campaign):

For the past 18 years, Robin has been a labor and employment attorney working hard to represent North Carolinians. She has worked tirelessly to represent working families and has been an advocate for companies that play by the rules. 

Robin grew up on her family’s farm.  She worked throughout her college years, including a summer at the local pickle plant – packing cucumbers on a factory production line.  While an undergrad in college, she interned with Congressman John Conyers, an experience that inspired her interest in civil rights.  After school, Robin moved with her family to the Raleigh area, and immediately fell in love with North Carolina.

Having worked for seven years after college, and as her son turned one-year-old, Robin entered law school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  After graduating, she clerked with the Honorable Louis B. Meyer, the Senior Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina. 

Following her clerkship, Robin entered into private practice and in 1997 she joined the Raleigh law firm of Nicholls & Crampton, P.A. as a partner, concentrating in employment law. Her areas of legal expertise include race, gender, age and disability discrimination; sexual harassment; wrongful termination and retaliatory discharge; wage and hour violations; and contract disputes.  In 2007, Robin was recognized by her peers as one of the best in her field and was named as a member of the Legal Elite, Business North Carolina.

In addition to her law practice, Robin currently serves as Chair of the State Personnel Commission.  Appointed by Senator Marc Basnight in 1999, she became the first female Chair in 2003 when named by Governor Mike Easley.  Additionally, she served as guest lecturer for the MBA program at Meredith College.

I am running for North Carolina Labor Commissioner because I am committed to protecting the health and safety of each worker across the state.  The office must protect workers' rights while ensuring that we encourage economic growth.  As Commissioner, my top priority will be to protect working families.

The North Carolina Department of Labor has many duties to workers - for example, prosecuting wage & hour violations; encouraging continual improvement in workplace safety and health; and prevention of retaliation for exercising protected activities (whistleblower). Under the current administration these duties are paid little more than lip service. It is imperative that the Commissioner of Labor not only conduct thorough investigations on the charges brought by workers but proactively exercise her authority to enforce compliance.

For the past 18 years I have worked as a trial attorney litigating wage and hour claims, discrimination and retaliation matters -- the exact issues that the Commissioner of Labor is responsible for overseeing. I have represented NC workers who are trying to do nothing more than earn an honest living. If elected, I will continue my work to ensure that all workers in North Carolina are paid a fair wage and have a safe and healthy workplace.