Mark Konkel is a nationally recognized advocate for employers across industries and chairs the firm’s Labor and Employment practice. He has a long track record of winning judgments and dismissals in employment disputes, defeating certification of employment class actions, winning injunctions to prevent unfair competition, and creating effective strategies for responding to and working with organized labor.
The breadth of Mark’s extensive experience makes him an ideal legal partner for companies of all sizes, nationally and internationally.
Employment Litigation and Disputes
Mark successfully defends companies in employment, labor and commercial disputes in court, arbitration, mediation and before governmental agencies. He wins superior results for his clients in disputes involving discrimination, breach of contract, organized labor, employee privacy, restrictive covenants and trade secrets, employment agreements and class action claims. Mark’s efficiency and proactive communication minimizes the drag on his clients’ businesses throughout the dispute process.
Advice and Counsel
Mark provides seasoned strategic advice on HR law, discrimination law, employee privacy, protection of intellectual property, noncompetition agreements and other restrictive covenants, M&A transactions, and business expansions and reductions-in-force. Mark’s clients appreciate his practical focus on their operational objectives and the economic and regulatory pressures they face.
Employment Class Action Defense
Mark leads the firm’s employment class action defense team and routinely defeats class actions in state and federal jurisdictions across the country, reducing potentially large class actions into a manageable handful of easy-to-resolve individual claims.
Organized Labor
Mark practices regularly before the National Labor Relations Board in regions across the U.S. He works closely with leaders across industry sectors to develop and drive company-wide strategies for responding effectively to organized labor. His extensive experience in traditional labor law translates into a deep, practical knowledge of the real-world, real-time tactics that make a labor strategy effective. Mark also handles major collective bargaining, unfair labor practice charges and trials before the NLRB, and union organizing.
Corporate Transactions
Mark serves as lead labor and employment law counsel in corporate transactions, including mergers, sales, acquisitions, due diligence, and business consolidations. His transactional experience includes advising both domestic and international enterprises on cross-border employment and labor issues.
Internal and Government Investigations and Audits
Mark guides companies through sensitive internal and government investigations of discrimination, harassment, wage-and-hour violations, whistleblower issues and ethics violations. He manages communications and public relations during an investigation to free his clients to focus on running their businesses while he focuses on managing their risk.
Mark is a lead editor for Kelley Drye’s
Labor Days blog. Mark is a member of the Labor & Employment Sections of the American Bar Association and New York Bar Association and the International Association of Privacy Professionals.
Leveraged arguments under labor agreements and federal law to reduce a putative class claim involving thousands of construction workers and alleged violations of multiple California wage-and-hour laws, resolving three related class actions for roughly 2% of their alleged value.
Defeated claims pursued by the New York State Department of Labor against a major U.S. insurer that its insurance agents were improperly classified as independent contractors rather than as employees. Given the centrality of the use of contractors to the insurer’s business model and the difficult regulatory environment in the U.S. on independent contractor law, this was a bet-the-company win.
Defeated certification of a large alleged class of nursing assistants alleging widespread violations of wage-and-hour laws under federal and New York law in a litigation pursued against a preeminent New York medical institution. Mark and his team fought to significantly limit the scope of pre-certification discovery, saving the client from significant burden and cost.
Led an international team of lawyers in 25 jurisdictions across the world in a global project to harmonize the policies, agreements and employment practices of a large multinational manufacturer.
Won complete summary judgment in federal litigation alleging race and national origin discrimination at a prominent medical center in New York. In an unusual opinion dismissing the case, the federal court noted in its dismissal order that a lengthy opinion was unnecessary and “would have been needlessly undertaken by the Court in a thinly disguised exercise in plagiarism” of Kelley Drye’s own motion papers.
Won a major arbitration in Texas pursued by a prominent U.S. labor union against large, multinational chemical manufacturer. The victory was unusual in that the union withdrew its claims in the middle of the arbitration hearing.
Defeated administrative claims of age discrimination pursued with the Texas Civil Rights Commission against a global provider of business process management and outsourcing solutions worldwide, and forced an early dismissal of a related employment arbitration.
Won outright dismissal of age discrimination claims pursued by a former employee against a prominent national investment banking and financial advisory services firm with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission.
Defeated claims of “reverse” race discrimination pursued by a Caucasian employee against a leading manufacturer of wind and solar energy infrastructure at the Florida Commission on Human Relations.
Defeated a race and gender discrimination claim filed with the District of Columbia Office of Human Rights, successfully limiting invasive demands for documents and information in a governmental investigation.