Mealey's Employment : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Employment

May 07, 2024
Chamber Of Commerce’s Suit Over FTC’s Noncompete Rule Stayed Due To Earlier Case

TYLER, Texas — A federal judge in Texas pursuant to the first-to-file doctrine stayed a lawsuit by the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America and two other groups challenging the Federal Trade Commission’s new rule banning noncompete agreements, stating that the groups should notify the court if their claims are accepted through plaintiffs intervention or addition as parties in a similar complaint filed in another federal court in the same state one day earlier.
May 07, 2024
Nebraska Federal Judge Agrees To Limit Testimony In Trade Secrets Dispute

OMAHA, Neb. — A Nebraska federal judge rejected arguments from four former employees of an agricultural product distributor who are being sued for stealing trade secrets and confidential information when they resigned to work for a competitor that the company failed to properly disclose expert witnesses but agreed to limit their testimony.
May 07, 2024
Illinois School District Will Pay More Than $200,000 To End EEOC Age Bias Suit

CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois issued an opinion and order approving a consent decree between an Illinois school district and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission under which the district will pay $206,301 to end claims that it limited annual pay increases of teachers older than 45 to avoid a pension-contribution surcharge pursuant to a provision in a collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
May 07, 2024
Tech Firm Must Provide Records In Age Discrimination, Retaliation Lawsuit

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge largely granted a plaintiff’s motion to compel further discovery responses from his former employer, finding that “liberal civil discovery rules” were appropriate to permit the plaintiff to find support for his allegations of a companywide practice of discrimination, as well as the claim that he was retaliated against for reporting illegal behavior by a company executive.
May 06, 2024
Minnesota Attorney General: 3M Will Pay Nearly $1M For Unauthorized Pay Deductions

ST. PAUL, Minn. — 3M Co. will pay more than $960,000 in back wages to 1,690 employees to end claims that it deducted pay without prior consent from employees to correct overpayments for things such as COVID-19 pandemic-related absences, incorrect calculations of salary base pay and incorrect overtime calculations, the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office announced.
May 06, 2024
3rd Circuit: Chinese Software Engineer May Proceed With Bias, Retaliation Claims

PHILADELPHIA — A Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel partially vacated a trial court’s summary judgment ruling for a software company accused of bias and retaliation by a former software engineer, finding that the lower court misapplied the McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green burden shifting test and ignored evidence that was favorable to the engineer.
May 03, 2024
Advocacy Group Appeals Standing Ruling In Suit Over Tipped Pay

OAKLAND, Calif. — An advocacy organization whose focus is on eliminating subminimum cash wages filed a notice of appeal on May 2 in a federal court in California after a judge denied its motion for leave to file a motion for reconsideration of a March order dismissing its wage case against Darden Restaurants Inc. for a lack of statutory standing.
May 03, 2024
Judge Lifts Limited Stay In Employment Group’s Suit After ACA Rule Reveal

FARGO, N.D. — A federal judge in North Dakota lifted a limited stay after federal defendants in a lawsuit over Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) Section 1557 filed notice that they issued a final rule governing the handling of the law’s provision prohibiting discrimination in health care.
May 03, 2024
COVID-19 Contact Tracing Staffing Company Will Pay $2.7M To Settle Privacy Claims

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A company hired by the Pennsylvania Department of Health to provide staffing for COVID-19 contact tracing will pay $2.7 million to settle claims pending in a federal court in Pennsylvania that it failed to implement sufficient cybersecurity measures to protect collected data, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced.
May 02, 2024
EEOC Touts Insight As Amicus In AI Hiring Discrimination Case

SAN FRANCISCO — The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission touted its unique perspective on discrimination claims allegedly arising from the use of artificial intelligence hiring programs, saying in a reply brief filed in support of its status as amicus curiae in a federal court in California that the case may be the first to address such issues and could have far reaching ramifications.
May 02, 2024
Officer’s ‘Hateful’ Facebook Posts Violated Public Policy, Pennsylvania Panel Rules

PHILADELPHIA — Reversing an arbitrator’s award that reinstated a police officer to his position on a university’s patrol, a Pennsylvania appeals court panel on May 1 found that the Facebook posts for which he was fired violated dominant public policy against discrimination, making his termination not without just cause and, therefore, not in violation of the governing collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
May 02, 2024
Washington Jury Awards Hospital Workers More Than $98M In Wage, Hour Damages

SEATTLE — A Washington jury returned a more than $98 million damages verdict for health care workers in a wage and hour class suit in which they alleged unlawful rounding practices and meal break denials.
May 01, 2024
Preliminary Injunction Denial Upheld In Federal Contractor Minimum Wage Suit

DENVER — A trial court did not err in denying a motion seeking to preliminarily enjoin a U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) rule requiring federal contractors to pay workers a minimum of $15 per hour as the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act (FPASA) likely authorizes the rule, a 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel majority ruled April 30.
May 01, 2024
Retaliation Claim Dismissed Against DME Supplier With $24.2M In FCA Liability

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — A West Virginia federal judge on April 30 granted a durable medical equipment (DME) supplier’s motion to reconsider his ruling denying summary judgment for a retaliatory discharge claim regarding a former employee’s reporting to supervisors alleged overbilling by the supplier that settled a separate False Claims Act (FCA) suit for $24.2 million, finding that the previous order should be revised “to prevent manifest injustice.”
April 30, 2024
Employee Who Refused COVID Tests Appeals Dismissal Of Constructive Discharge Case

MINNEAPOLIS — A former Minnesota county public defender filed a notice of appeal to the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 29, seeking review of a Minnesota federal court’s dismissal of the public defender’s complaint alleging that she was constructively discharged from her position and resigned under duress after she refused to submit to COVID-19 testing in lieu of vaccination as the county transitioned back to an in-office working environment.
April 30, 2024
Judgment Denied In Suit Against DME Supplier Subject To $24.2M In FCA Liability

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — A West Virginia federal judge denied in part a durable medical equipment (DME) supplier’s motion for summary judgment in a suit alleging retaliation, retaliatory discharge and outrage regarding a former employee’s reporting to supervisors alleged overbilling by a supplier that settled a separate False Claims Act (FCA) suit for $24.2 million, finding that disputed material facts remain regarding whether she was terminated for retaliatory reasons.
April 30, 2024
Ohio Trucking Companies To Pay $460,000 To End EEOC Sex Orientation Harassment Suit

CLEVELAND — Two Ohio trucking companies will pay $460,000 and provide other relief to settle a lawsuit by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging that they permitted gay mechanics to be harassed and fired due to their sexual orientation, according to the consent decree signed by a federal judge in Ohio.
April 30, 2024
Judge Gives Initial Nod To $9.4M White Castle Finger Scan Class Action Settlement

CHICAGO — A $9.4 million settlement between White Castle System Inc. and an employee who sued the fast food company for its finger scan policy received preliminary approval from an Illinois federal judge, who deemed the estimated $968 per class member payment to be “substantial relief” for the purported violations of Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by their employer.
April 29, 2024
U.S. High Court Won’t Consider Military Chaplains’ Vaccine Mandate Challenge

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on April 29 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by military chaplains who sued over the denial of their religious accommodation requests when it came to the COVID-19 vaccine and argued that their lawsuit remains live despite the revocation of the mandate.
April 29, 2024
U.S. Supreme Court Denies Employee’s Petition In Suspension With Pay Appeal

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on April 29 denied a September 2022 petition by a former employee who contended that the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals erred when it concluded that a suspension with pay was not an adverse employment action; the denial came just over a week after the justices issued the opinion in Muldrow v. St. Louis, a case that the United States had argued should have been heard together with the present case.
April 29, 2024
9th Circuit Agrees Starbucks Must Recognize, Bargain With Reserve Roastery Union

SEATTLE — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel granted the National Labor Relations Board’s application for enforcement of its decision finding that Siren Retail Corp., doing business as Starbucks, violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) when it refused to recognize and bargain with a union elected via mail-in ballots after arguing that an in-person election should have been ordered.
April 26, 2024
AI Hiring Company Sufficiently Targeted Illinois For Jurisdiction, Class Says

CHICAGO — The intentional contacts an artificial intelligence hiring platform company created with Illinois provide for jurisdiction, and the court should reject the company’s attempts to downplay the reality of those connections, class action plaintiffs say in an April 25 opposition. Previously, the company asked the court to reconsider its ruling finding jurisdiction in the state.
April 26, 2024
Chamber Of Commerce, Other Groups Seek Stay Of FTC’s Noncompete Rule

TYLER, Texas — A motion for a stay of the effective date of the Federal Trade Commission’s new rule banning noncompete agreements and preliminary injunction was filed in a Texas federal court by the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America and two other groups on the same day they sued the FTC over the rule; the complaint is one of several filed in the days after the rule banning the issuance of new noncompete agreements nationwide and largely banning the enforcement of existing agreements was announced.
April 26, 2024
State Courts Lack Jurisdiction To Hear Tribal Police Wrongful Termination Case

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — State courts did not have subject matter jurisdiction to hear a wrongful termination case brought by two former police officers with the Pueblo of Santa Ana Police Department because tribal sovereign immunity bars the claims, a New Mexico panel found in affirming a trial court’s judgment.
April 25, 2024
EEOC’s Race Bias Case Filed Against DHL In 2010 Settles For $8.7 Million

CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois on April 24 signed a consent decree between the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and DHL Express (USA) Inc. requiring the shipping company to pay $8.7 million to end a lawsuit that originated in 2010 and alleges that it assigned Black drivers to less desirable and more dangerous work.