Employment

  • June 18, 2024

    Feds Say Discovery Order Exposes Migrants To Retaliation

    The U.S. Department of Labor is urging a Mississippi federal court to reconsider ordering the disclosure of informants' identities in an investigation into a fish farm's labor practices, saying the May order exposed the informants, who are also migrant employees at the farm, to possible retaliation.

  • June 18, 2024

    Seattle Can't Stop Firefighters' COVID Vaccine Suit

    Firefighters who sued over Seattle's COVID-19 vaccine mandate have offered sufficient evidence to allege they faced religious discrimination, according to a federal magistrate judge who trimmed some claims on Tuesday but refused to toss the lawsuit.

  • June 18, 2024

    Ex-Twitter Workers Seek Class Cert. In Arbitration Fee Fight

    A group of former Twitter workers who accuse X Corp. of stalling their employment disputes by refusing to pay arbitration fees urged a California federal judge Monday to certify multiple classes of workers over allegations their arbitration efforts have been thwarted by the social media giant.

  • June 18, 2024

    Meat Plant Workers Seek OK On Latest $4M Wage-Fix Deal

    Red meat processing plant workers have sought preliminary approval for their latest settlement over wage-fixing claims, a $4 million deal that adds American Foods Group LLC to the list of companies to cut deals that also includes JBS, Tyson, Perdue, Seaboard, Triumph and consulting firm Webber Meng Sahl & Co.

  • June 18, 2024

    9th Circ. Nixes City's Win In Wash. Firefighter Vax Order Suit

    The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday revived a lawsuit by a group of firefighters who claim the city of Spokane, Washington, violated their constitutional rights when it fired them for refusing to get COVID-19 vaccines and instead relied on first responders from nearby agencies who also hadn't gotten the shot, ruling they'd asserted a viable First Amendment claim.

  • June 18, 2024

    DuPont, Corteva Must Face Pension Benefits Class Action

    Chemical companies DuPont and Corteva can't escape a class action claiming they illegally stripped retirement benefits from hundreds of workers following a merger and subsequent spinoff, a Pennsylvania federal judge ruled, finding factual disputes that need to be sorted out at trial.

  • June 18, 2024

    7th Circ. Brings Back Cruise Worker's OT Suit

    The Seventh Circuit revived a proposed collective action Tuesday accusing a steamboat cruise company of depriving workers of overtime wages, finding Indiana arbitration law states that the pact the worker and company signed is governed by, and is invalid under, the Federal Arbitration Act.

  • June 18, 2024

    2nd Pa. Jury Can't Agree On Uber Black Drivers' Status

    A second Pennsylvania federal jury was unable to determine whether Uber Black drivers are the company's employees or independent contractors, telling the trial judge on Tuesday that the eight members were hopelessly deadlocked.

  • June 18, 2024

    5th Circ. Rules On 'Heated' Discovery Row In LSU Bias Case

    The Fifth Circuit has undone a ruling that a former assistant athletic director for the Lousiana State University football team had plausibly shown university officials may have violated public records law in connection with a Title IX investigation.

  • June 18, 2024

    Ogletree Adds Quarles & Brady Litigator In San Diego

    Labor and employment firm Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC has hired from Quarles & Brady LLP a new shareholder for its San Diego office who has more than a decade of experience.

  • June 18, 2024

    Epstein Becker Partner Rejoins Ogletree In Rhode Island

    Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC has rehired an attorney who spent the past three years working with Epstein Becker & Green PC on a range of employment-related matters, the firm announced Tuesday.

  • June 18, 2024

    Amazon Union Workers Vote To Affiliate With Teamsters

    Workers at the only unionized Amazon warehouse in the U.S. have voted to fold their independent outfit into the Teamsters, the transportation and logistics union announced Tuesday.

  • June 18, 2024

    Mayer Brown Adds Litigation Vet As Employment Co-Chair

    Mayer Brown LLP said Tuesday it added an employment litigation veteran with nearly two decades of experience to co-lead the firm's employment litigation and counseling practice.

  • June 18, 2024

    Worker Says Meta Penalized Him For Standing Up For Women

    An engineer sued Meta on Tuesday in New York federal court alleging his manager gave him false negative performance reviews and told him to resign after he spoke up on behalf of female employees who were being stripped of responsibilities, passed over for promotions and unfairly criticized.

  • June 18, 2024

    McElroy Deutsch Says Exec Embezzled Money For Home

    McElroy Deutsch Mulvaney & Carpenter LLP has doubled down on its bid for a constructive trust on the home of two former executives accused of stealing from the firm.

  • June 18, 2024

    10th Circ. Won't Revive Airline's Union Election Challenge

    A low-cost airline based in the Salt Lake City area lost its challenge to a union representation as the Tenth Circuit ruled that a Utah federal judge correctly dismissed the case.

  • June 18, 2024

    Calif. Staffing Firm Settles DOJ's Noncitizen Bias Claims

    A California staffing agency must pay penalties and revise its employment policies as part of a settlement to resolve allegations of discrimination against foreigners by demanding certain types of documents to prove work authorization, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday.

  • June 18, 2024

    5th Circ. Wrongly Slashed $366M Bias Verdict, Justices Told

    A Black former FedEx employee urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review the reduction of a $366 million jury verdict in her suit alleging she was fired for reporting race discrimination, arguing the Fifth Circuit incorrectly held that her employment contract could shorten her window for filing suit.

  • June 18, 2024

    9th Circ. Won't Revive Vax Mandate Case Amid Judge DQ Bid

    In a nonprecedential opinion, the Ninth Circuit has refused to restore a COVID vaccine mandate suit brought by federal workers and contractors who also sought to disqualify a judge they believed was conflicted, finding the workers lacked standing because they named officials who cannot reinstate them rather than their employers.

  • June 18, 2024

    Va. City Can't Ax Atty's Wrongful Firing Suit Over FMLA Fraud

    A federal judge declined to toss an attorney's suit claiming the Virginia city he worked for illegally fired him and accused him of doctoring a medical form he needed to care for his sick mother, saying he showed the city may have stepped on his medical leave rights.

  • June 18, 2024

    Ex-USC Linebacker Cops To Pandemic Unemployment Fraud

    A former linebacker for the University of Southern California football team pled guilty to fraudulently seeking over $1 million in pandemic-era unemployment benefits.

  • June 18, 2024

    Treasury Finalizes Labor Rules For Bonus Energy Tax Credits

    The U.S. Treasury Department released final labor rules Tuesday for clean energy projects seeking to significantly boost the value of their tax credits, emphasizing due diligence by developers and announcing that more IRS resources will go toward enforcement of the rules.

  • June 17, 2024

    Trader Claims Firm Owes Bonus On $37M Texas Storm Profits

    A trader told a Denver jury Monday that a Colorado energy marketing company fired him as retaliation after he accused the CEO of failing to pay out his cut of $37 million from trades made during a 2021 Texas storm that caused natural gas prices to spike.

  • June 17, 2024

    Teamsters Plan Says Health Network Has Monopoly In Conn.

    A Teamsters healthcare benefits plan and a Connecticut public transit provider have sued the healthcare network Hartford Healthcare Corp., accusing it of having a monopoly over healthcare in a half-dozen regions of the state.

  • June 17, 2024

    'Anderson Method' Copyright Claim Gets Cut Ahead Of Trial

    A California federal judge has handed Tracy Anderson's former employee Megan Roup a summary judgment win on the celebrity fitness trainer's copyright claim accusing Roup of ripping off her "Tracy Anderson Method" exercise routines, but concluded a jury should decide Anderson's sole remaining breach-of-contract claim in an upcoming November trial.

Expert Analysis

  • For Lawyers, Pessimism Should Be A Job Skill, Not A Life Skill

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    A pessimistic mindset allows attorneys to be effective advocates for their clients, but it can come with serious costs for their personal well-being, so it’s crucial to exercise strategies that produce flexible optimism and connect lawyers with their core values, says Krista Larson at Stinson.

  • Broadway Ruling Puts Discrimination Claims In The Limelight

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    A New York federal court's recent decision in Moore v. Hadestown Broadway that the employers' choice to replace a Black actor with a white actor was shielded by the First Amendment is the latest in a handful of rulings zealously protecting hiring decisions in casting, say Anthony Oncidi and Dixie Morrison at Proskauer.

  • Opinion

    Requiring Leave To File Amicus Briefs Is A Bad Idea

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    A proposal to amend the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure that would require parties to get court permission before filing federal amicus briefs would eliminate the long-standing practice of consent filing and thereby make the process less open and democratic, says Lawrence Ebner at the Atlantic Legal Foundation and DRI Center.

  • Beware OSHA's Aggressive Stance Toward Safety Violations

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    The solicitor of labor's recent enforcement report shows the Occupational Safety and Health Administration will increasingly consider creative enforcement measures and even criminal referrals to hold employers accountable for workplace safety infractions, say Ronald Taylor and Page Kim at Venable.

  • 4 Ways To Motivate Junior Attorneys To Bring Their Best

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    As Gen Z and younger millennial attorneys increasingly express dissatisfaction with their work and head for the exits, the lawyers who manage them must understand and attend to their needs and priorities to boost engagement and increase retention, says Stacey Schwartz at Katten.

  • The Tricky Implications Of New Calif. Noncompete Laws

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    Two new California noncompete laws that ban certain out-of-state agreements and require employers to notify certain workers raise novel issues related to mergers and acquisitions, and pose particular challenges for technology companies, says John Viola at Thompson Coburn.

  • Patent Ownership Issues In Light Of USPTO AI Guidance

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    Recently published guidance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office establishes that inventions created using artificial intelligence may be patentable if a human also significantly contributes, but ownership and legal rights in these types of patents are different issues that require further assessment, says Karl Gross at Leydig Voit.

  • Calif. Ruling Shows Limits Of Exculpatory Lease Clauses

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    A California court's recent decision in Epochal Enterprises v. LF Encinitas Properties, finding a landlord liable for failing to disclose the presence of asbestos on the subject property, underscores the limits of exculpatory clauses' ability to safeguard landlords from liability where known hazards are present, say Fawaz Bham and Javier De Luna at Hunton.

  • Breaking Down California's New Workplace Violence Law

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    Ilana Morady and Patrick Joyce at Seyfarth discuss several aspects of a new California law that requires employers to create and implement workplace violence prevention plans, including who is covered and the recordkeeping and training requirements that must be in place before the law goes into effect on July 1.

  • Series

    Serving As A Sheriff's Deputy Made Me A Better Lawyer

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    Skills developed during my work as a reserve deputy — where there was a need to always be prepared, decisive and articulate — transferred to my practice as an intellectual property litigator, and my experience taught me that clients often appreciate and relate to the desire to participate in extracurricular activities, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.

  • Fears About The End Of Chevron Deference Are Overblown

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    While some are concerned about repercussions if the U.S. Supreme Court brings an end to Chevron deference in the Loper and Relentless cases this term, agencies and attorneys would survive just fine under the doctrines that have already begun to replace it, say Daniel Wolff and Henry Leung at Crowell & Moring.

  • What A Post-Chevron Landscape Could Mean For Labor Law

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    With the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Chevron deference expected by the end of June, it’s not too soon to consider how National Labor Relations Act interpretations could be affected if federal courts no longer defer to administrative agencies’ statutory interpretation and regulatory actions, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Former Minn. Chief Justice Instructs On Writing Better Briefs

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    Former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea, now at Greenberg Traurig, offers strategies on writing more effective appellate briefs from her time on the bench.

  • Preparing For Possible Calif. Criminal Antitrust Enforcement

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    Though a recent announcement that the California Attorney General's Office will resume criminal prosecutions in support of its antitrust enforcement may be mere saber-rattling, companies and their counsel should nevertheless be prepared for interactions with the California AG's Antitrust Section that are not limited to civil liability issues, say Dylan Ballard and Lillian Sun at V&E.

  • Studying NY, NJ Case Law On Employee Social Media Rights

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    While a New Jersey state appeals court has twice determined that an employee's termination by a private employer for social media posts is not prohibited, New York has yet to take a stand on the issue — so employers' decisions on such matters still need to be assessed on a case-by-case basis, say Julie Levinson Werner and Jessica Kriegsfeld at Lowenstein Sandler.

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