Tod Cochran has been practicing labor law since 1993. For the first six years of his career, Mr. Cochran represented the Teamsters, AFTRA, and various public-sector unions, including SEIU and the California Teachers Association, in the state and federal courts, National Labor Relations Board and arbitration tribunals throughout California.

In 1999, Mr. Cochran returned to New England where he has practiced labor and employment law ever since. His primary clients are SEIU Local 509 and the Southeastern Public Employees Association and he litigates a wide array of cases before arbitrators, state and federal courts, the National Labor Relations Board, and the Massachusetts Labor Relations and Civil Service Commissions.  Mr. Cochran also represents a variety of plaintiffs in wage and hour disputes.

Major Cases

Local 509, Service Employees Intern. Union v. Fidelity House, Inc.
--- F.Supp.2d ----, 2007 WL 2840389 (confirming an arbitrator’s award reinstating an employee discharged for supposed misconduct over the employer’s objection that reinstatement to the same position violated public policy)

SEIU Local 509 v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Social Services (2004) (arbitrator found no just cause for termination and granted full back-pay after union successfully challenged employer’s failure to provide reasonable accommodation)

Belmont Firefighters, Local 1637, IAFF, Nancy O'Neill, and Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts; MUPL-04-4480, (October 3, 2007).  (Labor Relations Commission held that intervenor Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts did not violate any duty of fair representation vis-à-vis the grievant's membership in an affiliated local).

SEIU Local 509 v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Education (2001) (arbitrator reinstated and granted full back-pay after union successfully challenged employer’s decision to terminate teacher because it disagreed with the material she taught in class)

Reich v. Local 890, Intern. Broth. of Teamsters, 930 F. Supp. 439 (N.D.Cal. 1996) (holding that Secretary of Labor was precluded under LMRDA from challenging union-dues payroll deduction system to fund election of union officials because the union candidate challenging the election process did not first exhaust her internal remedies)

Cal-Compack Foods, and IBT, Local 890, 105 LA 865 (Oestreich, 1995) (arbitrator reinstated employee and granted full back-pay where union successfully challenged the company’s introduction of disciplinary material not included in the discharge letter and company failed to produce first-line supervisor, thus giving rise to an adverse inference)

River Ranch Fresh Foods & IBT Local 890, LCC Bulletin # 10618(b) (1997) (arbitrator ordered employer to pay $100,000 unpaid overtime, finding that vacation article and other provisions of agricultural workers’ collective bargaining agreement implied a 6-day work week)

In the News

Arbitrator Rules Against Dismissal of Sex Educator, Boston Globe, August 22, 2001

Publications

Cochran, Tod A., Golden State of Labor Preemption, 44 Hast. Law Journal (1992).

Education

• Hastings Law School, J.D., 1993
• Harvard College, B.A., cum laude, 1982

Professional Affiliations

• Member, Massachusetts Bar Association
• Council-member, MBA Labor and Employment Section, and former chair of the Section’s Collective Bargaining Practice Group from 2002 to present
• Member, AFL-CIO Lawyers’ Coordinating Committee

Bar and Court Admissions

• Member, State Bar of Massachusetts, since 1999
• Member (inactive status), State Bar of California, since 1993
• Admitted to practice before the Massachusetts Superior Court; the U.S. District Courts of Massachusetts; the California Superior Court; the Northern, Eastern, and Central Districts of California; and the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit

Speaking Engagements

• Lecturer at Union educational seminars and Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education seminars

Tod A. Cochran
Partner

617-367-7200, ext. 214
617-367-4820 (fax)
TCochran@prle.com

Practice Areas

Union-side labor law in the private and public sectors

Represents unions and their members in arbitration, negotiations, and in front of the National Labor Relations Board, Massachusetts Labor Relations Commission, and Civil Service Commission

Staff Assistant

Sharon Dupiche
sdupiche@prle.com