Try our Advanced Search for more refined results
Employment
-
August 01, 2024
Calif. Justices Block Drivers From Intervening In PAGA Deal
The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that ride-hail drivers bringing claims under the state's Private Attorneys General Act lack standing to intervene in a separate case that reached a settlement.
-
July 31, 2024
Split 9th Circ. Won't Use New Law To Revive Trafficking Suit
A split Ninth Circuit panel on Wednesday refused to revive a human trafficking suit former Cambodian seafood factory workers launched against a Californian importer, saying a new law that expanded liability after the distributor's summary judgment win didn't apply retroactively.
-
July 31, 2024
UFC Fighters' $335M Wage Deal Rejected Amid Scrutiny
A Nevada federal court has rejected a $335 million deal that would end claims from mixed martial arts fighters accusing Ultimate Fighting Championship of suppressing their wages, setting up a potential trial later this year.
-
July 31, 2024
Pa. Panel Upholds Post-Gazette Strikers' Win
The Pennsylvania Superior Court on Wednesday delivered a win for striking unions picketing outside the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's warehouse, upholding a county court's decision that the newspaper's claims that the unions disrupted deliveries were out of its jurisdiction.
-
July 31, 2024
Netflix's Culture Created A 'Sexual' Workplace, Suit Says
Netflix has been hit with a wrongful firing suit in California state court by a former employee who accused it of fostering a workplace environment that's "very sexual in nature," requiring that employees engage in one-on-one meetings that are "nothing more than speed dating" and that subjected her to unwanted advances.
-
July 31, 2024
Wash. Hospital Workers Keep $230M Wage Win, Attys Get 30%
A Washington state court rejected a hospital system's attempt to undo its nearly $230 million loss in a class wage and hour case, ruling Wednesday that jurors reasonably relied on expert damages calculations, while also signing off on a roughly $70 million attorney fee award for class counsel.
-
July 31, 2024
11th Circ. Revives Suit Over Ga. City's Ouster Of White Manager
A white ex-city manager of a small Georgia city who was fired after a new administration allegedly vowed to replace him with a Black person will get another shot at pressing his racial discrimination claims as the Eleventh Circuit gave the case new life Wednesday.
-
July 31, 2024
DOL's Debarment Of Contractor Over Wages Fight Is Upheld
A decision from the U.S. Department of Labor's Administrative Review Board to debar a painting contractor in Minnesota is sustained, a federal judge ruled, saying the company didn't show how the agency abused its discretion with its order over allegedly unpaid prevailing wages.
-
July 31, 2024
Colo. Judge Won't Combine DaVita FLSA Suits
A Colorado federal judge has declined to consolidate two collective wage actions against DaVita Inc., saying she is skeptical of a former nurse's arguments that the parallel cases would create extra expenses for the parties, and the judge is reluctant to halt one case to wait for the other to catch up.
-
July 31, 2024
Union Effort Underway At DOJ's Civil Rights Section
Attorneys in the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division are in the early stages of organizing a union, the union they're seeking to join confirmed Wednesday.
-
July 31, 2024
Wyo. Biotech Wants Its Ex-CEO Sanctioned In Docs Fight
The former CEO of a Wyoming-based flavoring and aromas business should be sanctioned for failing to produce any documents in a Connecticut state court lawsuit accusing him of withholding company money and property after refusing to work, the plaintiff said.
-
July 31, 2024
Jury Instruction Error Kills $21M Verdict Over Noncompete
Three former employees of a consulting group who jumped to a competitor in 2016 were let off the hook for a $21 million jury verdict Wednesday by an intermediate Massachusetts appellate court over a prejudicial error in jury instructions.
-
July 31, 2024
Worker Snags Deal To End OT Suit With Pilgrim's Pride
A worker who claimed that one of the country's largest chicken producers misclassified her as overtime-exempt told a Colorado federal judge she reached a settlement with the company to end her proposed collective action.
-
July 31, 2024
Antitrust Group Backs Naval Engineers' No-Poach Case
An advocacy group that supports robust enforcement of antitrust laws has urged the Fourth Circuit to revive a case from former naval engineers accusing military shipbuilders of using secret "no-poach" agreements to avoid competing for workers.
-
July 31, 2024
Mortgage Co.'s $300K Wage Deal Gets Initial OK
A California federal judge has given an initial stamp of approval to a $300,000 settlement between a mortgage company and a class of its employees, ending claims that the company failed to pay hourly wages or provide meal and rest breaks.
-
July 31, 2024
Black Worker Says PBGC Didn't Promote Him Due To His Race
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. passed over a Black worker for a senior director role in favor of a less qualified white woman and retaliated against him for a previously filed race discrimination complaint, a lawsuit filed in D.C. federal court said.
-
July 31, 2024
NBCUniversal Worker Says HIV Status Got Him Fired
NBCUniversal reprimanded an HIV+ employee for missing work due to illness and then fired him two days after he submitted paperwork for intermittent leave, a former animation technician said in a lawsuit filed in California Superior Court.
-
July 31, 2024
CVS Appeal Blocked In Whistleblower Suit Over Drug Prices
A Pennsylvania federal judge has barred CVS Health Co. from making an interlocutory appeal over his interpretation of regulations in a whistleblower's lawsuit claiming the company's prescription entities falsely reported drug prices to the government. The judge recommended that a trial date be set in the decade-long litigation instead.
-
July 31, 2024
Yale Hospital Fired Worker In Cancer Treatment, Estate Says
Yale New Haven Hospital "effectively" terminated a physician's assistant while she was on medical leave after a cancer diagnosis, then allowed her to return but refused to let her work remotely during chemotherapy treatments and fired her months before her death in September 2023, according to a lawsuit from her estate.
-
July 31, 2024
4 Mass. Rulings You May Have Missed In July
Massachusetts state court judges refereed a damages dispute between a real estate titan and a Big Four consultant, ruled in favor of allegedly underpaid healthcare workers and untangled a defamation suit over a labor executive's old social media posts, among other notable rulings during the month of July.
-
July 31, 2024
Honesty Worries Justify Gas Co. Worker Firing, 4th Circ. Says
The Fourth Circuit upheld a Baltimore gas company's win over a former mechanic's lawsuit alleging he was unlawfully terminated for taking medical leave because of a diabetes-related condition, ruling Wednesday that suspicions of dishonesty provided a credible reason for letting him go.
-
July 31, 2024
Manufacturer Inks $400K Deal To End DOL Hiring Bias Probe
A manufacturer of bedding and furniture components will pay more than $400,000 to resolve allegations from the U.S. Department of Labor that it favored Asian job seekers in the hiring process to the detriment of Black, white and Hispanic applicants.
-
July 31, 2024
Del. Justices Reject 'Half-Hearted' Arbitration Bid In Fee Fight
Delaware's Supreme Court has affirmed a ruling that an entity that invests in tech companies waited too long to try to arbitrate a manager's legal fee advancement suit, rejecting a "half-hearted suggestion" that it was unaware of an arbitration provision until "its third set of counsel" joined the case.
-
July 31, 2024
1st Circ. Mostly Backs $5M Award In Biotech Recruiting Spat
The First Circuit left intact the vast majority of a $5 million post-trial award against a life sciences recruiting firm found to have misappropriated trade secrets from a rival involving placements at Takeda and Vedanta Biosciences.
-
July 31, 2024
Ga. Judge Gets Suspension And Reprimand In Harassment Case
Georgia state Superior Court Judge Robert "Bobby" Reeves will be suspended for 30 days and has promised not to run for reelection for numerous counts of misconduct, the Georgia Supreme Court decided Tuesday.
Expert Analysis
-
Handling Neurodivergence As The Basis Of Disability Claims
Three recent discrimination claims in Rhode Island and New Jersey show how allegations of adverse treatment of neurodivergent individuals will continue to be tested in court, so employers should create an environment that welcomes the disclosure of such conditions, says Ting Cheung at Sanford Heisler.
-
Employers Should Take Surgeon's Sex Bias Suit As A Warning
A Philadelphia federal jury's recent verdict in a sex bias suit over Thomas Jefferson University's inaction on a male plaintiff's sexual harassment complaint is a reminder to employers of all stripes about the importance of consistently applied protocols for handling complaints, say attorneys at Williams & Connolly.
-
Litigation Inspiration: A Source Of Untapped Fulfillment
As increasing numbers of attorneys struggle with stress and mental health issues, business litigators can find protection against burnout by remembering their important role in society — because fulfillment in one’s work isn’t just reserved for public interest lawyers, say Bennett Rawicki and Peter Bigelow at Hilgers Graben.
-
Generative AI Adds Risk To Employee 'Self-Help' Discovery
Plaintiffs have long engaged in their own evidence gathering for claims against current or former employers, but as more companies implement generative AI tools, both the potential scope and the potential risks of such "self-help" discovery are rising quickly, says Nick Peterson at Wiley.
-
5 Ways To Hone Deposition Skills And Improve Results
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
Depositions must never be taken for granted in the preparations needed to win a dispositive motion or a trial, and five best practices, including knowing when to hire a videographer, can significantly improve outcomes, says James Argionis at Cozen O'Connor.
-
Series
Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
A lifetime of skiing has helped me develop important professional skills, and taught me that embracing challenges with a spirit of adventure can allow lawyers to push boundaries, expand their capabilities and ultimately excel in their careers, says Andrea Przybysz at Tucker Ellis.
-
Navigating Trade Secret Litigation In A High-Stakes Landscape
Recent eye-popping verdicts are becoming increasingly common in trade secret litigation — but employers can take several proactive steps to protect proprietary information and defend against misappropriation accusations in order to avoid becoming the next headline, say Jessica Mason and Jack FitzGerald at Foley & Lardner.
-
Opinion
UK Whistleblowers Flock To The US For Good Reason
The U.K. Serious Fraud Office director recently brought renewed attention to the differences between the U.K. and U.S. whistleblower regimes — differences that may make reporting to U.S. agencies a better and safer option for U.K. whistleblowers, and show why U.K. whistleblower laws need to be improved, say Benjamin Calitri and Kate Reeves at Kohn Kohn.
-
Think Like A Lawyer: Forget Everything You Know About IRAC
The mode of legal reasoning most students learn in law school, often called “Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion,” or IRAC, erroneously frames analysis as a separate, discrete step, resulting in disorganized briefs and untold obfuscation — but the fix is pretty simple, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
-
Opinion
There Is No NCAA Supremacy Clause, Especially For NIL
A recent Tennessee federal court ruling illustrates the NCAA's problematic position that its member schools should violate state law rather than its rules — and the organization's legal history with the dormant commerce clause raises a fundamental constitutional issue that will have to be resolved before attorneys can navigate NIL with confidence, says Patrick O’Donnell at HWG.
-
Employer Pointers As Wage And Hour AI Risks Emerge
Following the Biden administration's executive order on artificial intelligence, employers using or considering artificial intelligence tools should carefully assess whether such use could increase their exposure to liability under federal and state wage and hour laws, and be wary of algorithmic discrimination, bias and inaccurate or incomplete reporting, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.
-
The Pros And Cons Of Protecting AI As Trade Secrets
Despite regulatory trends toward greater transparency of artificial intelligence models, federal policy acknowledges, and perhaps endorses, trade secret protection for AI information, but there are still hurdles in keeping AI information a secret, say Jennifer Maisel and Andrew Stewart at Rothwell Figg.
-
Complying With Enforcers' Ephemeral Messaging Guidance
Given federal antitrust enforcers’ recently issued guidance on ephemeral messaging applications, organizations must take a proactive approach to preserving short-lived communications — or risk criminal obstruction charges and civil discovery sanctions, say attorneys at Manatt.
-
Race Bias Defense Considerations After 11th Circ. Ruling
In Tynes v. Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed that the McDonnell Douglas test for employment discrimination cases is merely an evidentiary framework, so employers relying on it as a substantive standard of liability may need to rethink their litigation strategy, says Helen Jay at Phelps Dunbar.
-
How Firms Can Ensure Associate Gender Parity Lasts
Among associates, women now outnumber men for the first time, but progress toward gender equality at the top of the legal profession remains glacially slow, and firms must implement time-tested solutions to ensure associates’ gender parity lasts throughout their careers, say Kelly Culhane and Nicole Joseph at Culhane Meadows.