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Mealey's Employment

  • February 05, 2025

    Battery Maker Seeks Rehearing After 3rd Circuit Rules On Back Pay In DOL Case

    PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania battery manufacturer filed a petition for rehearing and rehearing en banc after a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that it must pay its workers for the true time they spend completing tasks and not the time the employer determines is “reasonable” and bears the burden of proving that such time is de minimis when using that defense.

  • February 05, 2025

    FBI Workers Involved In Trump Cases File 2 Suits To Keep Identities Private

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two complaints, one of which is a putative class action, and two motions for temporary restraining orders (TROs) were filed Feb. 4 by current and former employees of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Agents Association (FBIAA) in a federal court in the District of Columbia seeking to stop the publication or dissemination of a list allegedly being compiled of FBI employees who were involved in investigating two events involving President Donald J. Trump; the complaints allege that releasing the workers’ identifies will violate their privacy rights and put them at risk of retribution.

  • February 05, 2025

    Attorney Disclaims AI Use, Says Citation Error Is Simple Mix Up

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — An attorney representing a woman in an age discrimination suit said he would never use artificial intelligence and that incorrect cites in briefing were the result of confusion arising from the handling of numerous cases and citations.

  • February 05, 2025

    City Employees Failed To Identify Fundamental Rights Violated By Vaccine Mandate

    SEATTLE — A Washington federal court granted the motion to dismiss of a city and its mayor and dismissed with prejudice a lawsuit by several employees who were terminated after they refused to become vaccinated for COVID-19, concluding that the employees were unable to establish that they experienced a violation of any fundamental rights that would create a cause of action against the city.

  • February 05, 2025

    Federal Judge Won’t Reconsider Summary Judgment Ruling In Vaccine Mandate Case

    KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A federal judge in Missouri denied an employer’s request that she reconsider a summary judgment ruling that allows two workers who were fired for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine to proceed with a religious discrimination failure-to-accommodate claim brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and a portion of a religious discrimination claim brought under state law, opining that questions of fact remain as to the issue of undue hardship.

  • February 04, 2025

    7th Circuit: Woman Fired Over Vaccine Owes Legal Fees After Arbitration Challenge

    CHICAGO — A Seventh Circuit panel affirmed a trial court’s referral to arbitration and dismissal of a complaint by a former employee of a health care software company who alleges that she was illegally terminated for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine and awarded sanctions for the employee’s “uniformly frivolous” objections to arbitration but also noted that the lower court should have stayed the case instead of dismissing it.

  • February 04, 2025

    High Court Ruling Sought On Grievance, Tolling In Social Media, Suspension Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A police officer filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court seeking consideration of tolling and grievance questions after a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that the officer’s claims that his suspension over Facebook posts constituted First Amendment violations under 42 U.S. Code Section 1983 failed to show that the clock on his claims was stalled while he challenged his suspension or that the applicable one-year prescriptive period was interrupted by two state court petitions.

  • February 04, 2025

    2 Unions, Group Sue Treasury Department Over Elon Musk’s Alleged Privacy Intrusion

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Less than two weeks after the Jan. 20 inauguration, Elon Musk and/or other members of the newly formed “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) were provided unfettered access U.S. Treasury Department records in violation of the Privacy Act of 1974 and the Internal Revenue Code, an advocacy group and two unions, each with members that are current or former federal employees, allege in a complaint filed Feb. 3 in a federal court in the District of Columbia.

  • February 04, 2025

    Federal Government Employees File Privacy Class Suit Over OPM ‘Test’ Emails

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two federal workers referred to only as Jane Does filed a class complaint in a federal court in the District of Columbia accusing the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) of failing to conduct and publish a privacy impact assessment (PIA) before allegedly sending out “test” emails that the workers claim are being used to collect information on workers that is being sent to someone working for Elon Musk.

  • February 03, 2025

    Transit Employees Who Won $7.8M For COVID-19 Vaccine Refusal Firings Cross-Appeal

    SAN FRANCISCO — Former employees of a state transit agency on Jan. 31 filed a notice of cross-appeal to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals seeking review of a California federal court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the agency on the employees’ First Amendment free exercise claim, as well as the court’s final pretrial order, after a jury awarded the employees more than $1 million each for the agency’s failure to accommodate their religious objections to being vaccinated for COVID-19.

  • February 03, 2025

    Amici Support Ohio Agency’s Arguments In High Court Sexual Orientation Bias Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A civil rights group and others filed the second amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the position of an Ohio agency as respondent in a sexual orientation bias case; the agency argues that employees who allege bias must show “a causal nexus between a protected characteristic and an adverse employment decision” but disputes the argument by the petitioner that the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that majority group plaintiffs are held to a higher burden than that placed on minority plaintiffs.

  • January 31, 2025

    Petition For Rehearing Expected After Wash. Wage Law Found To Apply To Detainees

    SEATTLE — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted an extension for filing a petition for rehearing after a split panel ruled that the application of the Washington Minimum Wage Act (WMWA) to voluntary work programs for federal immigration detainees housed in the Northwest Immigration and Customs Enforcement Processing Center (NWIPC) run by a for-profit company does not violate the doctrine of intergovernmental immunity, the state law is not preempted by federal law and the for-profit company does not have derivative sovereign immunity.

  • January 31, 2025

    California Transit Agency Seeks Stay Of $7.8M Judgment Against It Pending Appeal

    SAN FRANCISCO — A state transit agency on Jan. 30 moved a California federal court for stay of enforcement of judgment pending appeal after seeking review by the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals of the lower court’s decision denying its motion for judgment as a matter of law or, in the alternative, for a new trial in the wake of a California federal jury’s award to six former employees of more than $1 million each for failing to accommodate their religious objections to being vaccinated for COVID-19.

  • January 31, 2025

    Amici To 2nd Circuit: Reverse ERISA Determination On Deferred Compensation Plans

    NEW YORK —  A handful of amici curiae organizations are urging the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to vacate or reverse a determination that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act governs the compensation incentive and equity incentive plans at issue in a suit over a Morgan Stanley deferred compensation program, with the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) arguing that the lower court’s “conclusions run counter to significant contrary case law and regulatory guidance and upend employers’ longstanding understanding of the rules applicable to incentive plans.”

  • January 30, 2025

    2 Unions Representing Federal Workers Sue President, OPM Over Reclassification EO

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — An executive order (EO) signed by President Donald J. Trump following his inauguration “puts politics over professionalism” as it strips civil service protections from “many career civil servants” and leaves them more vulnerable to firing, two unions that represent federal workers allege in a complaint filed Jan. 29 in a federal court in the District of Columbia against the president, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the OPM acting director.

  • January 29, 2025

    Lawsuit Filed Over Presidential Executive Order Banning Transgender Service Members

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Six transgender service members and two prospective service members filed a complaint on Jan. 28 in a federal court in the District of Columbia alleging that an executive order signed by President Donald J. Trump on Jan. 27 violated the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by banning transgender people from serving in the military.

  • January 29, 2025

    Nonprofit Sues Alleging Executive Order Ends Civil Servants’ Job Protections

    GREENBELT, Md. — An executive order (EO) signed by President Donald J. Trump on Inauguration Day “undermine[s] the meritocratic system Congress enacted and return[s] to a spoils system” in violation of the Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA) and the U.S. Constitution, a nonprofit that provides legal services to federal employees and whistleblowers alleges in a complaint filed Jan. 28 in a federal court in Maryland.

  • January 29, 2025

    Federal Judge Approves Alaska Airlines’ $4.75M USERRA Payless Leave Settlement

    SPOKANE, Wash. — A federal judge in Washington granted final approval of a $4.75 million settlement between Alaska Airlines Inc., Horizon Air Industries Inc. and a class of commercial airline pilots who allege that they were denied pay during short-term military leaves; the agreement will result in a gross average of $8,928 per class member plus prospective relief.

  • January 28, 2025

    Contractor Seeks High Court Ruling On Removals, Review Standard For NLRB Rulings

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A road construction contractor petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court asking it to decide whether the deferential standard of review is still applicable post-Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo to interpretations of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by the National Labor Relations Board and whether cause is required for the president to remove the NLRB general counsel.

  • January 28, 2025

    Judge Issues Show Cause Order After Potential AI Citation Issue In Employment Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — After concluding that a plaintiff’s attorney may have used artificial intelligence (AI), a federal judge in the District of Columbia dismissed the employment case and ordered the attorney to explain how briefing included nonexistent citations, in a lawsuit that involves a woman who claims that mental health issues prevented her from properly prosecuting the case.

  • January 27, 2025

    Pa. Top Court Permits Torts For Time-Barred Occupational Disease Claimants

    HARRISBURG, Pa. — The bargain between employees and employers in the occupational disease system cannot countenance completely extinguishing an asbestos claim that would be time-barred by the law, a divided Pennsylvania Supreme Court said in affirming lower courts while relying on the same logic it applied in the workers’ compensation system setting a decade ago.

  • January 27, 2025

    No Error In Excluding Experts, Dismissing Claim In Suit Against Driver, Employer

    RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said a district court did not abuse its discretion in barring experts from testifying on the timing of inclement weather that a tractor-trailer driver encountered before a crash or in excluding expert testimony on whether the driver was acting within the standard of care.

  • January 27, 2025

    1st Circuit Revives Religious Discrimination Claims Over COVID-19 Vaccine Firing

    BOSTON — A woman who was terminated from her job at a global biopharmaceuticals company for not getting the COVID-19 vaccine stating that it went against her “personal, private and sincerely held religious beliefs” may still have grounds to sue her employer for religious discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the corresponding Massachusetts state law after a panel of the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals partially reversed the lower court’s dismissal of her claims.

  • January 27, 2025

    NLRB Appeals Constitutional Ruling On NLRB Judges’ Multiple Tenure Protections

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Labor Relations Board, the general counsel, three NLRB members and an administrative law judge (ALJ) filed a notice of appeal after a federal judge in the District of Columbia ruled that NLRB ALJs are “‘officers of the United States’” and must not protected from presidential removal via multiple levels of protection.

  • January 24, 2025

    U.S. High Court Will Consider Limited Question In Class Case Over Veterans’ Pay

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court granted a veterans’ petition for a writ of certiorari in a class case over retired pay and agreed to hear a limited question concerning whether the Barring Act’s “default procedures and limitations” is displaced by a “settlement mechanism” in 10 U.S. Code Section 1413a.