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Employment
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August 29, 2024
6th Circ. Reverses OSU's Win In Student's Harassment Suit
The Sixth Circuit scrapped wins handed to Ohio State University and a professor in a former graduate student's suit claiming her Ph.D. adviser sabotaged her doctoral candidacy exam after she rejected his romantic advances, ruling that key evidence had been impermissibly blocked from trial.
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August 29, 2024
Chicago Bears Settle Hiring Bias Suit From White Law Student
The Chicago Bears have quietly settled a discrimination lawsuit brought by a DePaul University law student who accused the team of discrimination when it declined to hire him as a "legal diversity fellow" because he is a white male.
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August 29, 2024
Under-The-Radar Gov't Contracts Cases: Midyear Report
Alongside blockbuster rulings so far this year shaking up the federal contracting landscape are lower-profile decisions with noteworthy legal outcomes, addressing issues such as when late submissions matter, when they don't, and whether local wage requirements can affect federal contracts. Here are four lower-profile decisions from the first half of 2024 with significant legal findings that could impact federal contractors.
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August 28, 2024
Dr.'s Suit Blames Practice's Buyer For Chaos After Sale
A North Carolina doctor struck back in a lawsuit blaming him for business challenges following the sale of his practice to another physician, alleging in counterclaims that the purchasing physician lied about his intentions for the practice and ultimately led it to ruin.
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August 28, 2024
Ex-Exec's $1M Suit Accuses Houston McNair Family Of 'Coup'
A longtime employee of the Houston McNair family has accused the children of late businessman Bob McNair of staging a "coup" to oust him from the family's companies, denying him more than $1 million in post-termination benefits in the process.
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August 28, 2024
Disabled Radio Host's Discrimination Suit Gets Trimmed
An Illinois federal judge has granted Midway Broadcasting Corp. summary judgment on a former radio host's Rehabilitation Act claim in a suit alleging his show was canceled because he has cancer, concluding the law didn't apply to the company.
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August 28, 2024
Co. Pushed Director To Work With Broken Fingers, Suit Says
A military contractor forced a department head to work with broken fingers and a spinal injury following a serious fall, refused to provide short-term disability leave paperwork and ultimately fired him when he raised concerns, according to a complaint filed in Connecticut federal court.
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August 28, 2024
Teamsters Can't Arbitrate Sysco Pension Spat, Judge Says
A Teamsters local can't take its challenges about a monthly early retirement benefit to arbitration, a Michigan federal judge determined Wednesday, finding that the grievance process under a collective bargaining agreement doesn't cover the dispute.
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August 28, 2024
11th Circ. Trans Health Redo May Spark Supreme Court Fight
The Eleventh Circuit's recent decision to rehear Georgia county officials' appeal seeking to exclude gender-confirmation surgery from its employee healthcare coverage rekindles an appellate debate on the extent to which Title VII protects transgender workers that could soon reach the U.S. Supreme Court, attorneys say.
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August 28, 2024
Wash. AG Fears Kroger Will Move Goalposts For Merger Trial
The Washington Attorney General's Office told a state court Wednesday that Kroger refuses to commit to sticking with the current terms of its divestiture package in its merger with Albertsons, which the state fears would unfairly "move the goalposts" less than three weeks before a trial on the state's merger challenge kicks off.
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August 28, 2024
Instacart Can Arbitrate Driver's Suit, But 2nd Circ. To Weigh In
A New York federal judge shipped to arbitration a driver's lawsuit alleging that Instacart misclassified him as an independent contractor but said the Second Circuit can weigh in on whether the Federal Arbitration Act's exemption applies that allows cases from transportation workers to stay in court.
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August 28, 2024
Conn. Investment Firm Withheld Pay, Commissions, Suit Says
Six former employees of Connecticut investment advisory firm Excel Wealth Management LLC have sued the company and its members in state court seeking hourly wages or commissions they claimed they were never paid, with some alleging they were terminated for speaking out about their compensation.
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August 28, 2024
Covering Up For Mayor Not Fire Chief's Job, 6th Circ. Says
Covering up alleged misconduct to help a Michigan mayor pursue reelection was not part of an ex-fire chief's official job duties, a Sixth Circuit panel said Tuesday, finding the fire chief's refusal to lie was protected speech and denying the mayor immunity.
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August 28, 2024
Ga. Appeals Court Says Worker Should Get Pandemic Aid
The Georgia Court of Appeals overturned a superior court order affirming the denial of pandemic unemployment assistance benefits to a college student who worked part-time at a Chick-fil-A, saying both the trial court and the Georgia Department of Labor's review board wrongly found he quit his job for personal reasons.
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August 28, 2024
Bloomberg Staffers Secure Class Cert. In Unpaid OT Suit
A New York federal judge signed off on seven classes of field organizers who accused Michael Bloomberg's 2020 presidential campaign of failing to pay them overtime wages, saying the former workers adequately showed that they had largely uniform job duties.
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August 28, 2024
Ex-Defender Opposes Bid To Fix Record In Harassment Case
A former assistant public defender in North Carolina who lost her suit accusing the judiciary of botching her sexual harassment complaint has called out mistakes in the trial transcripts but opposed the government's method for correcting them, calling the proposal "fundamentally unfair."
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August 28, 2024
Ex-Assistant DA Can't Revive Retaliation Suit At 9th Circ.
The Ninth Circuit declined Wednesday to reinstate a former assistant district attorney's suit claiming he was fired by the city of San Francisco for whistleblowing about what he alleged was misconduct, ruling there's not enough proof he was canned for going to the media with his concerns.
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August 28, 2024
USPTO Atty Union Loses Bid For Right To Review Settlements
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office must give its attorneys' union a copy of any settlements it reaches in cases involving the attorneys' work conditions, but the agency does not have to let the union review those settlements in advance, an arbitrator held.
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August 28, 2024
Worker Lowers Fee Request In 3rd Bid For OT Deal Approval
A corporate office furnisher and a former employee again asked a Georgia federal court to greenlight a deal that would resolve the worker's suit alleging he was fired for complaining about unpaid overtime, saying this third settlement draft adequately reduces an attorney's fees.
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August 28, 2024
Top Gov't Contracts Cases To Watch In The 2nd Half Of 2024
Federal courts in the latter half of 2024 are expected to scrutinize a strict federal registration requirement for contractors and decide whether whistleblower False Claims Act cases are constitutional, potentially affecting a key federal anti-fraud tool. Here, Law360 previews key disputes that government contractors should have on their radar in the second half of the year.
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August 27, 2024
Wells Fargo Says 'Good Faith' Efforts Ax Investors' Bias Suit
Wells Fargo & Co. urged a California federal judge Tuesday to toss a derivative lawsuit filed by a putative class of shareholders claiming the bank's board of directors failed to address its discriminatory lending and hiring practices, saying there's evidence of "good-faith" efforts to monitor compliance in those areas.
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August 27, 2024
Walmart Has To Face EEOC Again After Losing Bias Trial
The Seventh Circuit gave the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission another chance Tuesday to force Walmart to boost its disability accommodation training after a jury found it intentionally discriminated against an employee with Down syndrome, and affirmed what was originally a $125 million jury verdict later reduced to $419,000.
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August 27, 2024
X Wins Dismissal of Former Workers' Sex Bias Suit, For Now
A California federal judge agreed to throw out former X Corp. workers' suit claiming Elon Musk's takeover of the company formerly named Twitter caused women to lose their jobs, but the judge gave the workers another opportunity to amend their claims.
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August 27, 2024
Revlon Says Ex-Workers Stole Britney Spears Fragrance Deal
Global beauty and cosmetics brand Revlon sued several former fragrance marketing executives and upstart competitor Give Back Beauty in New York federal court, alleging they stole trade secrets and breached contracts when luring Britney Spears' perfume line away from Revlon.
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August 27, 2024
Judges Upend Alaska Airlines Loss, Blame Jury Instruction
A Washington state appeals court on Tuesday threw out a jury verdict granting an Alaska Airlines flight attendant workers' compensation for catching COVID-19 while away from home for her job, in an opinion that said a jury instruction misstated a legal doctrine covering traveling workers.
Expert Analysis
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Preparing For The NLRB's New Union Recognition Final Rule
The National Labor Relations Board's impending new final rule on union recognition puts the employer at a particular disadvantage in a decertification election, and best practices include conducting workplace assessments to identify and proactively address employee issues, say Louis Cannon and Gerald Bradner at Baker Donelson.
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Law Firms Should Move From Reactive To Proactive Marketing
Most law firm marketing and business development teams operate in silos, leading to an ad hoc, reactive approach, but shifting to a culture of proactive planning — beginning with comprehensive campaigns — can help firms effectively execute their broader business strategy, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.
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OSHA Workplace Violence Citation Highlights Mitigation Steps
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration's recent citation against behavioral health company Circles of Care sheds light on the enforcement risks companies may face for failing to prevent workplace violence, and is a reminder of the concrete steps that can help improve workplace safety, say attorneys at Benesch.
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From Muppet Heads To OJ's Glove: How To Use Props At Trial
Demonstrative graphics have become so commonplace in the courtroom that jurors may start to find them boring, but attorneys can keep jurors engaged and improve their recall by effectively using physical props at trial, says Clint Townson at Townson Consulting.
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Opinion
The Big Issues A BigLaw Associates' Union Could Address
A BigLaw associates’ union could address a number of issues that have the potential to meaningfully improve working conditions, diversity and attorney well-being — from restructured billable hour requirements to origination credit allocation, return-to-office mandates and more, says Tara Rhoades at The Sanity Plea.
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Opinion
It's Time For A BigLaw Associates' Union
As BigLaw faces a steady stream of criticism about its employment policies and practices, an associates union could effect real change — and it could start with law students organizing around opposition to recent recruiting trends, says Tara Rhoades at The Sanity Plea.
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Why DOJ's Whistleblower Program May Have Limited Impact
The U.S. Department of Justice’s new whistleblower pilot program aims to incentivize individuals to report corporate misconduct, but the program's effectiveness may be undercut by its differences from other federal agencies’ whistleblower programs and its interplay with other DOJ policies, say attorneys at Milbank.
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CFPB's Earned Wage Access Rule Marks Regulatory Shift
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's newly issued interpretive rule on earned wage access products, classifying them as extensions of credit, marks a significant shift in their regulatory landscape and raises some important questions regarding potential fringe cases and legal challenges, say Erin Bryan and Courina Yulisa at Dorsey & Whitney.
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How Calif. Justices' Prop 22 Ruling Affects The Gig Industry
The California Supreme Court's recent upholding of Proposition 22 clarifies that Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and other companies in the gig industry can legally classify their drivers as independent contractors, but it falls short of concluding some important regulatory battles in the state, says Mark Spring at CDF Labor.
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Takeaways From Virginia's $2B Trade Secrets Verdict Reversal
The Virginia Court of Appeals' recent reversal of the $2 billion damages award in Pegasystems v. Appian underscores the claimant's burden to show damages causation and highlights how an evidentiary ruling could lead to reversible error, say John Lanham and Kamran Jamil at Morrison Foerster.
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How Justices Upended The Administrative Procedure Act
In its recent Loper Bright, Corner Post and Jarkesy decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court fundamentally changed the Administrative Procedure Act in ways that undermine Congress and the executive branch, shift power to the judiciary, curtail public and business input, and create great uncertainty, say Alene Taber and Beth Hummer at Hanson Bridgett.
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Employers Face Uncertainty After Calif. Justices' Slur Ruling
In Bailey v. San Francisco District Attorney's Office, the California Supreme Court recently ruled that a singular use of a racial slur may be sufficiently severe to support a hostile work environment claim, leaving employers to speculate about what sort of comments or conduct will meet this new standard going forward, says Stephanie Roeser at Manatt.
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9th Circ. Ruling Flags Work Harassment Risks Of Social Media
The recent Ninth Circuit ruling in Okonowsky v. Garland, holding an employer could be liable for a co-worker's harassing social media posts, highlights new challenges in technology-centered and remote workplaces, and underscores an employer's obligation to prevent hostile environments wherever their employees clock in, say Jennifer Lada and Phillip Schreiber at Holland & Knight.
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2 Vital Trial Principles Endure Amid Tech Advances
Progress in trial technologies in the last 10 years has been transformative for courtroom presentations, but two core communication axioms are still relevant in today's world of drone footage evidence and 3D animations, say Adam Bloomberg and Lisa Walters at IMS Legal Strategies.
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Key Steps To Employer Petitions For Union Elections
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
Since the National Labor Relations Board shifted the burden of requesting formal union elections onto employers in its Cemex decision last year — and raised the stakes for employer missteps during the process — companies should be prepared to correctly file representation management election petitions and respond to union demands for recognition, says Adam Keating at Duane Morris.