Newsletter RSS

Mealey's Employment

  • December 20, 2024

    After Partial Dismissal, Garda Data Breach Suit Settled, Stayed, Closed

    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — On the heels of a ruling in which she partly granted a security firm’s motion to dismiss privacy and negligence claims over a data breach that exposed employees’ personally identifiable information (PII), a Florida federal judge granted the plaintiffs’ motion to stay the suit in light of a postruling announcement that the parties reached a conditional settlement of the putative class action.

  • December 20, 2024

    Split 9th Circuit: Arbitrator Ruling Can Preclude Relitigation Of SOX Issues

    PASADENA, Calif. — While a ruling by an arbitrator can’t preclude a Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) claim, it can “preclude relitigation of issues underlying such a claim,” a divided Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, affirming dismissal of a whistleblower retaliation claim.

  • December 19, 2024

    11th Circuit Upholds Ruling Against Starbucks In COBRA Notice Case Arbitration Bid

    ATLANTA — Upholding a ruling in a dispute over allegedly deficient Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) notice, an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled in part that the spouse of a former Starbucks worker “was not a party to the arbitration agreement” and therefore “cannot be compelled to arbitrate absent another principle of law or equity.”

  • December 19, 2024

    FedEx Worker Whose $366M Retaliation Verdict Was Slashed Announces Settlement

    HOUSTON — A former FedEx Corporate Services Inc. employee whose more than $366 million jury verdict in a retaliation case was reduced to less than $250,000 filed a notice of settlement in a federal court in Texas less than three months after the U.S. Supreme Court denied her petition for a writ of certiorari.

  • December 19, 2024

    Worker Granted Extension To Respond To Class Tolling High Court Petition

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 18 granted a motion by Union Pacific Railroad Co. workers for an extension of time to respond to a petition by the company seeking a ruling on whether tolling under American Pipe & Construction Co. v. Utah extends “to non-class members so long as they were not ‘unambiguously excluded” from the class.

  • December 18, 2024

    Morgan Stanley Expenses Settlement Reaffirmed, Attorney Fees Disgorgement Denied

    SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California reaffirmed the fairness of a more than $10 million settlement in a case accusing Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC (MSSB) of various wage violations and declined to vacate a supplemental attorney fees award, deny further distributions or disgorge past payments.

  • December 18, 2024

    Amended Complaint Allowed In Disney Wage Suit After $233M Settlement Reached

    SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California judge on Dec 18 permitted an amended complaint to be filed in a lawsuit accusing a theme park operator and the company running its restaurants of wage violations in light of a $233 million proposed settlement that would resolve all claims related to allegedly underpaid service charges under the Anaheim, Calif., Living Wage Ordinance (LWO).

  • December 17, 2024

    Expert In Wages Case Cannot Testify On Legality Of Company’s Actions, Judge Says

    KANSAS CITY, Kan. — An expert retained by a landscaping company facing allegations that it failed to properly pay its workers cannot testify, a Kansas federal judge ruled, because his conclusions are entirely improper legal conclusions, which are inadmissible under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.

  • December 16, 2024

    Patients, Employees Settle Data Breach Suit Against Dental Chain For $2.7 Million

    DETROIT — A Michigan federal judge granted final approval to a $2.7 million agreement that settles negligence and implied contract claims brought by the employees and patients of a multistate dental chain related to a February 2023 data breach that exposed the personally identifiable information (PII) of almost 2 million people.

  • December 16, 2024

    United Tells 5th Circuit Class Incorrectly Certified In Vaccine Mandate Suit

    NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge in Texas erred in partially granting a motion for class certification filed by United Airlines Inc. employees in a case over the company’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate as Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23’s commonality, predominance or superiority requirements were not satisfied, United Airlines argues in an appellant/cross-appellee brief filed in the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • December 16, 2024

    9th Circuit Vacates Sending Wage Class Suit Arbitrability To Arbitrator

    PASADENA, Calif. — A collective bargaining agreement’s (CBA) arbitration provision requires a court, not an arbitrator, to determine the arbitrability of wage-and-hour class claims brought under California law, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled in a Dec. 13 unpublished memorandum, vacating an order that denied the employers’ motion to compel arbitration pending a decision by an arbitrator.

  • December 12, 2024

    Religious Discrimination In, Disability Discrimination Out In COVID Vaccine Suit

    PORTLAND, Ore. — In a lawsuit by a former employee alleging that her employer failed to make a good faith effort to accommodate her religious beliefs and medical disability, both of which led her to decline a company-mandated COVID-19 vaccination and caused her dismissal, an Oregon federal judge on Dec. 11 adopted the findings and recommendation of a magistrate judge and granted the employer’s motion for judgment on the pleadings as to the employee’s disability discrimination claim but denied the motion as to the employee’s religious discrimination claim.

  • December 12, 2024

    Judge: Assignee Lacks Standing To Recover Emotional Distress Damages From Insurer

    CHICAGO — A California federal judge held that an assignee cannot establish standing under California Insurance Code Section 11580(b)(2) to recover her emotional distress damages from an insurer as judgment creditor of her former employer, granting the insurer’s motion to dismiss her lawsuit arising from an underlying discrimination judgment in her favor but allowing the assignee leave to amend one of her claims.

  • December 12, 2024

    Federal Judge: Multiple Tenure Protections For NLRB Judges Are Unconstitutional

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — National Labor Relations Board administrative law judges (ALJs) are “‘officers of the United States’” and must not protected from presidential removal via multiple levels of protection, a federal judge in the District of Columbia ruled in a case brought by a Massachusetts acute-care hospital accused by the union representing its nurses of violating various provisions of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

  • December 12, 2024

    6th Circuit Reinstates State Farm Worker’s Hostile Environment, Retaliation Claims

    CINCINNATI — A former State Farm Insurance claims manager who alleges she was fired after telling other workers about a racist letter she and others received and not because of emails containing confidential information that she sent to outside addresses may proceed with her hostile work environment and retaliation claims, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, finding a sufficient showing of pretext for the firing.

  • December 11, 2024

    Granite Installer Awarded Reduced Attorney Fees After Age Bias Verdict

    PITTSBURGH — A granite installer awarded nearly $80,000 for compensatory damages and front and back pay on age bias claims by a federal jury was awarded more than twice that in attorney fees and costs by a federal judge in Pennsylvania.

  • December 11, 2024

    Split 3rd Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Class Suit Over Cannabis Use Firing

    PHILADELPHIA — A New Jersey law prohibiting the firing of workers for cannabis use does not create a private cause of action, a split Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, declining an alternative request to certify a question on the law and a question regarding pre-employment discrimination to the New Jersey Supreme Court.

  • December 11, 2024

    Employer’s Rehearing Request Denied; Default Judgment Upheld In Wage-And-Hour Suit

    ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc filed by a steel fabricator after an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that there was no error when a trial court entered default judgment against the employer in a collective wage-and-hour lawsuit as a sanction due to a finding of bad faith during discovery.

  • December 11, 2024

    8th Circuit Reverses Summary Judgment For Hospital On Chair’s Speech Claim

    ST. PAUL, Minn. — An Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel reversed summary judgment for a hospital on a former department chair’s claim of First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution retaliation, finding that there was evidence that social media posts were discussed leading up to the chair’s demotion.

  • December 11, 2024

    Employee Seeks Reconsideration Of Ruling On Retroactivity Of BIPA Limits Act

    CHICAGO — A worker moved for reconsideration of a federal judge’s ruling that an August amendment to Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) that places limits on an individual’s recovery for certain data release violations applies retroactively, citing a Nov. 22 ruling he says reached the opposite conclusion.

  • December 11, 2024

    U.S. High Court Requests Response From Former Detainee To County’s Wage Petition

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court asked a former detainee to respond to a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a Maryland county seeking a ruling on “[w]hether inmates working in furtherance of public works projects for the government charged with their custody and care” are employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

  • December 10, 2024

    Straight Worker’s High Court Bias Brief Challenges ‘Background Circumstances’

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A heterosexual worker who claims that she was discriminated against due to her sexual orientation tells the U.S. Supreme Court in her Dec. 9 petitioner brief that the requirement that she present sufficient “background circumstances” is placed only “on majority-group plaintiffs” and that such a “heightened evidentiary burden contravenes” the text of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

  • December 10, 2024

    Supreme Court Justices Hear Arguments On Differential Pay For Reservists

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Civilian employees who serve in the reserves and are “called to active duty under any provision of law must receive differential pay” when the call comes during a national emergency, the attorney representing a U.S. Coast Guard reservist told the U.S. Supreme Court during oral arguments heard Dec. 9.

  • December 03, 2024

    COMMENTARY: The Future Of Work: Exploring The Employment And Data Protection Law Implications Of The Use Of Artificial Intelligence (AI) In European Workplaces

    By Matthew Howse, Louise Skinner, Vishnu Shankar and William Mallin

  • December 09, 2024

    Union, Others Oppose Professors’ 1st Amendment Representation Petition

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The union representing City University of New York (CUNY) professors, the school itself and others filed two responses in the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 6 opposing the professors’ arguments in a petition for a writ of certiorari that their First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution rights are being violated as they are required to belong to a bargaining unit they accuse of engaging in anti-Semitic and anti-Israel conduct.