These days, a union protest or picket that doesn’t include a 16-foot inflatable rat, well, just isn’t really a protest. Expect to see more of them after the Board’s decision yesterday in Brandon Regional Medical Center (pdf). (For an enormous compilation of rat photos, see this link). 
Mark W. Batten
Mark W. Batten is a partner in the Labor & Employment Law Department and co-head of the Class & Collective Actions Group.
Mark represents employers nationwide at all stages of complex employment litigation, including class and collective actions on wage and hour matters and discrimination claims. Ranked by Chambers USA, Mark is hailed as “a fabulous lawyer, handling interesting and complex cases.” Clients “highly recommend him to anyone seeking litigation counsel in the Boston area,” as well as note “he is responsive, pragmatic and team-oriented, and offers excellent legal advice.”
He assists clients with all aspects of employment policies and practices, including hiring, termination, leaves, accommodation of disabilities, and other matters. Mark also handles diverse civil litigation, including litigation of noncompetition agreements, ERISA matters, discrimination and wrongful termination litigation in federal and state courts; proceedings before the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination; wage and hour matters; and labor arbitrations. He is also an experienced appellate attorney both in employment cases and other civil litigation, handling appeals at all levels in the state courts and in the United States Courts of Appeals.
Mark also has substantial experience with traditional labor matters. He regularly represents employers in a variety of industries, including a number of newspaper and media companies, in collective bargaining, practice before the NLRB, labor arbitrations, union organizing campaigns, and day-to-day advice on administration of collective bargaining agreements. He regularly advises clients in both union and non-union settings on diligence matters in corporate acquisitions and financings. He also has experience on behalf of securities firms in arbitrations before the NASD and NYSE of customer and employee complaints.
Mark also practices on behalf of newspapers and other media in newsroom litigation, including libel defense and representation of reporters under subpoena, and has substantial experience in litigation involving access to sealed records and judicial proceedings on behalf of media companies.
Before joining Proskauer, Mark was a trial attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, where he was lead counsel in major litigation for over two dozen federal agencies, ranging from the U.S. Air Force, the CIA, and the U.S. Secret Service to the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Mark regularly writes and lectures on employment-related matters, including, for instance, MCLE's Representing Clients Before the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.
In his spare time, Mark is an experienced computer programmer, conversant in C, C++, and other languages. He has ported software between computer operating systems and has published several commercial computer games.
Class Action Waiver – What About Section 7?
The Supreme Court’s decision in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, issued yesterday, overturned a Ninth Circuit decision and held that class action waivers in arbitration agreements are permissible under the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”). Concepcion was a consumer case, but the reasoning is almost certainly applicable in the employment context…
New worry for employers – “denigrating” the union
Rhetoric back and forth between union and employer representatives is nothing new, but employers may have to start watching their words more carefully in light of the Board’s surprising Jan. 31 decision in Regency House of Wallingford (PDF). After an ALJ ordered rescission of a unilateral wage increase…