A top U.S. Labor Department lawyer who continued to represent a private client in a federal court case against a union was suspended for two weeks without pay last year for exercising “bad judgment,” the agency said.

Michael Avakian was formerly the principal member in the Washington office of Atlanta-based Wimberly, Lawson, Steckel, Schneider & Stine before joining the Labor Department in April as associate deputy secretary in the agency’s front office.