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Employment
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October 23, 2024
No Xenophobia Taint In Fired Prof's Jury Trial, Panel Says
An Ohio state appellate court has upheld a jury's finding that a Cincinnati medical center did not violate employment law when it fired a tenured associate professor, rejecting the professor's argument that the medical center attempted to stoke "xenophobic bias" in the jury by mentioning his Chinese heritage during trial.
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October 23, 2024
Full 9th Circ. Passes On SF Nurses' Salary Basis Case
The full Ninth Circuit said Wednesday it won't reconsider a panel's ruling that it wasn't clear whether a group of San Francisco city nurses in two consolidated cases were paid on a salary basis and could therefore be considered overtime-exempt.
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October 23, 2024
Combs, Feds At Odds Over Gag Order Amid Press Blitz
Attorneys for Sean "Diddy" Combs told a Manhattan federal judge on Wednesday that they are unable to agree with prosecutors about who should be barred from talking to the press about the hip-hop mogul's sex-trafficking and racketeering case.
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October 23, 2024
Amazon Must Face Drivers' Tip Suit Despite FTC Settlement
A Washington federal judge largely refused Wednesday to toss a proposed class action accusing Amazon of violating Evergreen State laws by withholding portions of drivers' tips, saying the claims are still valid despite the Federal Trade Commission reaching a nearly $62 million deal with the company over the same alleged conduct.
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October 23, 2024
NYC Lawmakers Propose Giving Workers Sick Time For Pets
Two New York City Council members introduced a bill Wednesday that would let workers use sick leave to care for pets and service animals, a novel move that one lawmaker said is meant to promote the health benefits of animal ownership.
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October 23, 2024
Ex-VA Worker Must Repay Sex Harassment Award, Judge Says
A former U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs worker must return a $90,000 award she won in internal proceedings accusing a supervisor of sexual harassment, a Mississippi federal judge ruled, saying she must pay back the money because she lost a subsequent court case over the same allegations.
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October 23, 2024
Penn State To Pay $1.25M To Resolve FCA Cybersecurity Suit
Pennsylvania State University will pay $1.25 million to settle a False Claims Act suit accusing it of failing to comply with cybersecurity requirements for defense and NASA contracts, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.
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October 23, 2024
Fired Norton Rose Worker Ends Suit Over COVID Vax Mandate
A Texas federal judge on Wednesday signed off on a former Norton Rose Fulbright IT worker's agreement to drop his lawsuit, which accused the firm of discriminating against the ex-employee when it fired him after he refused to get a COVID-19 vaccine because he didn't feel peace with the Holy Spirit about being inoculated.
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October 23, 2024
United Worker Fired Over Online Pics Gets Bias Suit Revived
A California appeals court revived a United Airlines flight attendant's sex bias suit claiming she was unlawfully fired for appearing in uniform on a social media page advertising her OnlyFans account, crediting her argument that male flight attendants didn't face the same consequences for similar behavior.
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October 23, 2024
Trial Consulting Firm Says Ex-Worker Stole Trade Secrets
Jury analysis firm Jury-X has accused a former employee of taking off with its trade secrets and exploiting a "backdoor" she put in the company's data tables to start her own competing juror selection services business that also copied her old employer's appearance online.
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October 23, 2024
Law Firm Accuses Ex-Paralegal Of 'Sabotage' In Bears Case
An Illinois law firm has accused one of its former paralegals of attempting to stiff the firm for work it did settling his discrimination suit against the Chicago Bears, alleging that the erstwhile employee declined to file key paperwork and deleted critical files.
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October 23, 2024
5th Circ. Upholds Workers' Win In Health Co. Wage Suit
A group of workers for an at-home healthcare company are employees, not independent contractors, a Fifth Circuit panel ruled, affirming a Louisiana federal court decision in three consolidated cases claiming the company cheated workers out of overtime.
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October 23, 2024
Chemical Co. GC Fires Back At Pregnancy Bias Claims In NJ
Arxada and its general counsel struck back at a former in-house attorney's claims in a New Jersey state court lawsuit that the specialty chemicals company unlawfully dismissed her in the days after she talked about taking leave to recover from a miscarriage.
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October 23, 2024
Harvard Enabling 'Outrageous' Antisemitism, Court Told
Harvard University is intentionally protecting students and faculty accused of antisemitism and an assault on a Jewish student last year, "hoping this whole thing goes away," a lawyer for two student groups said during a hearing Wednesday on the Ivy League school's bid to end a second civil rights lawsuit.
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October 23, 2024
Harvey Weinstein Must Face All NY Charges At Retrial
A New York state judge on Wednesday denied Harvey Weinstein a separate trial for his new sexual assault charge, ruling that he must face that allegation alongside his original indictment at a retrial that is now expected to begin in early 2025.
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October 23, 2024
Mercedes, Staffing Firm Failed To Pay OT, Ex-Worker Says
Mercedes-Benz and a staffing agency failed to pay a former employee at all for the hours she worked over 40 per week, let alone at the federally mandated time-and-a-half rate, she said in a suit filed in Georgia federal court.
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October 22, 2024
UFC Fighters Win Initial OK On $375M Wage Suppression Deal
A Nevada federal judge on Tuesday gave his blessing to a $375 million settlement resolving a group of former UFC fighters' claims that the organization for years underpaid match participants, the fighters' counsel confirmed.
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October 22, 2024
Connecticut GOP Challenges Ex-Aide's Bias Suit Timeline
A former press secretary for Republican lawmakers in the Connecticut House of Representatives failed to prevent or correct alleged workplace harassment that included cursing by waiting a year to report a key incident cited in her complaint, state House Republicans argued in an answer to the ex-spokesperson's discrimination lawsuit.
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October 22, 2024
Calif. Panel Says Panera Must Face PAGA Claims
A California state appeals court on Monday reversed a state trial court's ruling compelling a Panera restaurant employee to arbitrate Private Attorneys General Act claims against the bakery and café chain, saying an arbitration agreement the worker had entered explicitly excluded PAGA claims.
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October 22, 2024
Ex-Worker Says DOJ Retaliated Over Accommodation Request
A former human resources officer in the Southern District of Texas lodged a retaliation suit against the U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday, claiming she had to wait 100 days for her post-traumatic stress disorder-related accommodation request to be approved.
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October 22, 2024
Supervisor Could've Prevented Electrician's Death, Widow Says
The widow of a man who was electrocuted told a Texas appeals court during oral arguments Tuesday that it wouldn't matter if there was a supervisor looking over the deceased man's shoulder, claiming the question never came up because there wasn't a qualified supervisor on site.
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October 22, 2024
IQVIA, Veeva Blast Summary Judgment Bids In Secrets Suit
Life sciences data giant IQVIA Inc. and competitor Veeva Systems Inc. slammed each other's summary judgment bids made public Tuesday in a trade secrets lawsuit in New Jersey federal court, with Veeva arguing that IQVIA's purported trade secrets are hardly confidential and IQVIA saying Veeva's assertions are "a last-ditch effort to avoid liability."
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October 22, 2024
Ga. Tech Says No Basis For Feds' Cybersecurity FCA Suit
The Georgia Institute of Technology has urged a Georgia federal judge to toss a False Claims Act suit accusing the university of knowingly failing to comply with U.S. Department of Defense cybersecurity standards, saying those rules didn't apply to its research contracts.
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October 22, 2024
Israeli Intel VP Must Use Real Name In Bias Suit, Judge Says
A former Intel executive must reveal his name in his suit claiming the company fired him for complaining that his boss openly supported Hamas, a New York federal judge ruled Tuesday, finding concerns of retaliation from Hamas or anti-Israel protesters are too speculative to justify anonymity.
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October 22, 2024
Ohio Pension Funds Say Boeing Puts Profits Over Safety
Two Ohio pension funds joined a Virginia federal lawsuit accusing Boeing executives and board members of putting profits over safety and regulatory compliance, causing a series of catastrophes and losing millions of dollars for investors, the Ohio Attorney General's Office said Tuesday.
Expert Analysis
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NCAA Settlement May End The NIL Model As We Know It
The recent House v. NCAA settlement in California federal court, in which the NCAA agreed to allow schools to directly pay March Madness television revenue to their athletes, may send outside name, image and likeness collectives in-house, says Mike Ingersoll at Womble Bond.
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5 Steps For Gov't Contractor Affirmative Action Verification
As the federal contractor affirmative action program certification deadline approaches, government contractors and subcontractors should take steps to determine their program obligations, and ensure any required plans are properly implemented and timely registered, say Christopher Wilkinson at Perkins Coie and Joanna Colosimo at DCI Consulting.
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Boeing Saga Underscores Need For Ethical Corporate Culture
In the wake of recent allegations about Boeing’s safety culture, and amid the U.S. Department of Justice’s new whistleblower incentives, business leaders should reinvigorate their emphasis on compliance by making clear that long-term profitability requires ethical business practices, says Maxwell Carr-Howard at Dentons.
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New OSHA Memo Helps Clarify Recordkeeping Compliance
Based on recent Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidance on whether musculoskeletal disorders are recordable injuries under the agency's recordkeeping regulation, it appears that OSHA may target active release techniques and stretching programs during its inspections, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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A Closer Look At Feds' Proposed Banker Compensation Rule
A recently proposed rule to limit financial institutions' ability to award incentive-based compensation for risk-taking may progress through the rulemaking process slowly due to the sheer number of regulators collaborating on the rule and the number of issues under consideration, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
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Why Jurors Balk At 'I Don't Recall' — And How To Respond
Jurors often react negatively to a witness who responds “I don’t remember” because they tend to hold erroneous beliefs about the nature of human memory, but attorneys can adopt a few strategies to mitigate the impact of these biases, say Steve Wood and Ava Hernández at Courtroom Sciences.
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Series
Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Atop the list of ways fishing makes me a better lawyer is the relief it offers from the chronic stress of a demanding caseload, but it has also improved my listening skills and patience, and has served as an exceptional setting for building earnest relationships, says Steven DeGeorge at Robinson Bradshaw.
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Exploring Alternatives To Noncompetes Ahead Of FTC Ban
Ahead of the Sept. 4 effective date for the Federal Trade Commission's noncompete ban, employers should seek new ways to protect their proprietary and other sensitive information, including by revising existing confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements, says Harvey Linder at Culhane.
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10 Tips To Build Trust With Your Witness During Trial Prep
Preparing a witness for deposition or trial requires more than just legal skills — lawyers must also work to cultivate trust with the witness, using strategies ranging from wearing a hat when conducting mock cross-examination to offering them a ride to court before they testify, say Faye Paul Teller and Sara McDermott at Munger Tolles.
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DOL's New OT Rule Will Produce Unbalanced Outcomes
The U.S. Department of Labor's new salary level for the Fair Labor Standards Act overtime exemption is about 65% higher than the current threshold and will cause many white collar employees to be classified as nonexempt because they work in a location with a lower cost of living, not because of their duties, says Stephen Bronars at Edgeworth Economics.
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5th Circ. Venue-Transfer Cases Highlight Mandamus Limits
Three ongoing cases filed within the Fifth Circuit highlight an odd procedural wrinkle that may let district courts defy an appellate writ: orders granting transfer to out-of-circuit districts, but parties opposing intercircuit transfer can work around this hurdle to effective appellate review, says Charles Fowler at McKool Smith.
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A Healthier Legal Industry Starts With Emotional Intelligence
The legal profession has long been plagued by high rates of mental health issues, in part due to attorneys’ early training and broader societal stereotypes — but developing one’s emotional intelligence is one way to foster positive change, collectively and individually, says attorney Esperanza Franco.
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To Make Your Legal Writing Clear, Emulate A Master Chef
To deliver clear and effective written advocacy, lawyers should follow the model of a fine dining chef — seasoning a foundation of pure facts with punchy descriptors, spicing it up with analogies, refining the recipe and trimming the fat — thus catering to a sophisticated audience of decision-makers, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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3 Wage And Hour Tips For A Post-Chevron World
Employers can take three steps to handle day-to-day wage and hour compliance in the event that the U.S. Supreme Court soon reshifts the administrative law landscape by overturning the Chevron doctrine, which could cause a massive sea change in the way we all do business, say Seth Kaufman and Matthew Korn at Fisher Phillips.
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8 Steps Companies Should Take After An Internal Investigation
Given the U.S. Department of Justice’s increasing focus on corporate compliance and remediation of misconduct, companies must follow through in several key ways after an internal investigation to ensure history does not repeat itself, say Jonathan Aronie and Joseph Jay at Sheppard Mullin.