Mark Ford Wilson, Esq., is a partner with The Law Firm of John P. Mahoney, Esq., Attorneys at Law, PLLC, who specializes in federal employment and labor law. Attorney Wilson has practiced as a labor and employment law litigator for more than 35 years within the federal courts, before numerous federal agencies and both locally within the District of Columbia and nationwide. His areas of expertise have included numerous facets of federal employment law, primarily related to representation in Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), administrative investigations, discrimination and reprisal matters, as well as performance and misconduct issues.
Prior to joining The Firm, Attorney Wilson practiced both public sector and private sector labor and employment law and has done so from the enforcement agency perspective (National Labor Relations Board) and the employee and union rights perspectives (Mulholland & Hickey; Communications Workers of America; and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association) as well as on the management side (United States Postal Service). As a result, his expertise is broad and deep and provides a unique skill set perfectly suited to the nuanced demands of federal employment law.
Mr. Wilson received his Juris Doctor degree from the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law in Washington, D.C. While there, he was a member of the Law Journal (“Contemporary Health Law and Policy”). Later, Attorney Wilson was the Chairman of the District of Columbia Bar’s Committee on Labor and Health Standards.
Attorney Wilson’s first job after law school was working as a Field Attorney for the National Labor Relations Board (Baltimore, Maryland, Region 5 office). He promptly moved up to running his own substantial caseload of trials as first-chair within his second year at the NLRB.
At the law firm of Mulholland & Hickey in Washington, D.C., Mr. Wilson specialized in federal court litigation related to major class-actions concerning Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) wage and hour claims, primarily on behalf of firefighters, first-responders and other public-safety personnel. Attorney Wilson’s work included all aspects of district court litigation such as advice, investigations, discovery, pleadings and first-chair trial advocacy (including jury trials in federal district courts).
Mr. Wilson worked as Headquarters Counsel for the Communications Workers of America (CWA) in Washington, D.C. He represented employees in discipline and discharge matters in arbitration as well as before federal agencies such as the NLRB. He engaged in collective bargaining contract enforcement in arbitration and in federal court proceedings. He appeared and advocated before numerous federal agencies, such as the NLRB, EEOC, OSHA/DOL, as well as the FCC. Some of Attorney Wilson’s work as an off-shoot during this period was representing police officers and supervisors and police unions such as the consortia of Maryland COPS and Virginia COPS and the International Union of Police Associations.
Attorney Wilson also worked at the National Air Traffic Controllers Association as Senior Labor Counsel in Washington, D.C. While there, he specialized in contract arbitration, employee rights claims (investigations, discipline, license revocations) as well as advocating for the union and FAA employees before numerous federal agencies, such the FLRA, NLRB, MSPB, NTSB, EEOC and DOL. In one of the largest wage arbitration victories against the FAA, and certainly the largest on behalf of NATCA, Attorney Wilson won a $30,000,000 wage case for a group of FAA air traffic controllers. To round out his practice there, Attorney Wilson was also the president of the Internal Staff Union (employees of the national union itself) and engaged in contract enforcement and sat across the collective bargaining table from the NATCA executives.
California beckoned, so Attorney Wilson took a position at the United States Postal Service as a management-side Employment and Labor Law attorney performing contract enforcement work in arbitration as well as in federal district court, initially at the USPS Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Mr. Wilson then transferred to the USPS San Francisco office where he represented management in claims before the NLRB on a national level, advised local clients about various aspects of employment law, participated in arbitration and appeared in federal court litigation. Attorney Wilson’s NLRB-related work included numerous cases before several of the Federal Circuit Courts of Appeal. While at USPS, Attorney Wilson received a variety of accolades and merit awards for client outreach and proactive efforts to prevent and mitigate legal claims, and (as a corollary) achieving substantial reductions in claims made against the client, and obtaining favorable resolutions in those claims that were filed.
Attorney Wilson briefly had a spotlight as lobbyist and employee-advocate concerning efforts by the Department of Labor (Wage & Hour Division) to revamp the “White-Collar” overtime rules, in a way that would have denied millions of employees coverage under the FLSA. He authored a lengthy white-paper for House and Senate Committee Leadership, and was asked to be an advisor to the Senate Committee Chair (Sen. Kennedy) during DOL hearings on the proposed regulations. Attorney Wilson appeared as a guest expert on NPR, as well as in television news and in print news nationwide.
Mr. Wilson is admitted to the New York bar, the Washington, D.C. bar, the Maryland bar, a variety of federal district courts, and several Federal Appellate Courts including the Second Circuit, D.C. Circuit, Fourth Circuit and the Ninth Circuit.
In his spare time, Mark enjoys ultimate frisbee, pick-up soccer, farming, cooking, winemaking and polemics.
