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

Mealey's Employment

December 09, 2024
Split Alaska High Court Reverses Finding For Worker In Pay Eligibility Dispute

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An Alaska superior court failed to correctly apply the just cause standard in Braun v. Alaska Commercial Fishing & Agriculture Bank in a case by a former state employee who alleged that she was wrongly fired after being accused of misrepresenting where she resided, a split Alaska Supreme Court ruled, reversing the trial court’s decision.
December 05, 2024
Solicitor General Will Participate In Disability Rights High Court Arguments

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court granted a motion by the U.S. solicitor general to participate in oral arguments that will be held in January in an appeal by a retired employee of a Florida city asking whether she has the right to sue under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for discrimination related to the distribution of fringe benefits that took effect after her employment ended.
December 05, 2024
Staffing Agency Settles No-Poach, Wage-Fixing Claims With Illinois For $1.8M

CHICAGO — An Illinois judge approved a $1.8 million settlement to be paid by a temporary staffing agency, one of four defendants in a case alleging that they engaged in a coordinated effort to execute and enforce wage-fixing and no-poach agreements.
December 04, 2024
Jackson Hewitt $10.8M Wage Suppression Class Settlement Granted Final OK

NEWARK, N.J. — A federal judge in New Jersey granted final approval of a $10.8 million settlement in a class complaint by individuals who worked for a tax preparation franchisor or franchisees and alleged that there was a conspiracy to suppress compensation via no-poach agreements and issued an order granting attorney fees, expenses and service awards.
December 03, 2024
Texas Attorney Sanctioned Over AI’s Use In Employment Termination Case

BEAUMONT, Texas — An attorney who relied on artificial intelligence as the sole means to confirm citations and quotations in a brief opposing summary judgment in a wrongful termination case must pay $2,000 and attend legal training, a federal judge in Texas said in imposing sanctions including allowing the defendant to file a reply to the amended response, which it did Dec. 2.
December 02, 2024
Class Certification Denied For Lack Of Adequacy In Twitter Arbitration Fee Fight

OAKLAND, Calif. — A federal judge in California denied a motion for class certification filed by former Twitter Inc. employees who have sought to compel arbitration against Twitter and X Corp. but have been unable to proceed in part due to Twitter and X’s refusal to pay the required fees, opining that the workers have not show they can adequately represent the proposed class.
November 22, 2024
Federal Judge: Illinois Act Placing Limits On BIPA Recovery Applies Retroactively

CHICAGO — An August amendment to Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) that placed limits on an individual’s recovery for certain data release violations applies retroactively, a federal judge in Illinois ruled, dismissing for lack of subject matter jurisdiction an employee’s complaint against his employer.
November 22, 2024
Issues Of Accommodation, Hardship In Vaccine Religious Refusal Case Left To Jury

DETROIT — A Michigan federal court denied the partial summary judgment motion of a former employee of a resort and denied in part and granted in part the resort’s motion for summary judgment in the employee’s lawsuit claiming religious discrimination by failing to accommodate his objection to being vaccinated for COVID-19 and subjecting him to disparate treatment.
November 22, 2024
Insurer Contests $12M Jury Verdict Won By Employee Fired For Refusing COVID Vaccine

DETROIT — After a Michigan federal jury awarded the former employee of a medical insurer nearly $3 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages after finding the insurer liable for discrimination for failing to accommodate her religious objection to receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, the insurer filed motions for judgment as a matter of law, new trial and remittitur.
November 20, 2024
Trump Corp. Sues Employment Practices Liability Insurer For Breach Of Contract

NEW YORK — The Trump Corp. sued it employment practices liability insurer in a New York federal court for breach of contract and seeks a declaration that the insurer has a duty to defend and indemnify it against a terminated employee’s lawsuit alleging unpaid overtime, age discrimination and breach of contract.
November 19, 2024
Texas Federal Judge Sets Aside DOL Rule Raising Minimum Salary For FLSA Exemption

SHERMAN, Texas — A federal judge in Texas set aside and vacated a U.S. Department of Labor rule raising the minimum salary at which executive, administrative and professional (EAP) employees are exempt from minimum wage and overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), opining that the DOL’s authority to “define and delimit” the exemption is limited.
November 19, 2024
Employee To High Court: Voluntary Dismissal Of Age Bias Suit Is Final Proceeding

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The voluntary dismissal of an age bias suit pending arbitration is a “final proceeding” under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(1)(A) and, alternatively, a “final judgment” under Rule 60(b), and a court may reopen such cases, a former employee tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a Nov. 18 petitioner brief.
November 18, 2024
Parties Dispute Former CEO’s Bid For Severance Benefits During Liquidation

MADISON, Wis. — The termination of former Wisconsin Reinsurance Corp. and 1st Auto & Casualty Insurance CEO Jason A. Fogg has become an issue in those entities’ liquidation, with Fogg filing an objection in Wisconsin state court to denial of his claim for more than $660,000 and the liquidator countering that the termination was “for cause” under his executive employment agreement.
November 18, 2024
9 Organizations Seek Amicus Input Into ERISA Fight Over Illinois Temp Worker Law

CHICAGO — Saying that the eventual ruling in a challenge to an Illinois temporary worker law “may set a precedent for how courts apply” the express preemption provision of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act “in the context of other state and local laws that seek to regulate job-based benefits, extending beyond the regulation of temporary work and reverberating well beyond Illinois,” nine organizations including the National Retail Federation (NRF) and the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America filed a Nov. 15 consent motion for leave to file an amicus curiae brief in Illinois federal court.
November 18, 2024
U.S. High Court Won’t Consider Army Reservist’s Disability-Related Appeal

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 18 denied a petition for writ of certiorari filed by a former Volvo Group North America LLC employee and Army reservist who alleged that a federal judge in Illinois erred when he “elevat[ed]” the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) over the protections provided by the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) and refused to alter or amend judgment following the second trial in a USERRA case that resulted in a verdict for Volvo.
November 18, 2024
Former Jailed Worker Waives Response To Maryland County’s Wage-And-Hour Petition

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A former detainee who brought collective and class wage-and-hour claims against a Maryland county waived his right to respond to Baltimore County’s petition for a writ of certiorari that asks the U.S. Supreme Court to decide “[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).
November 14, 2024
2nd Circuit Won’t Review Dismissal Of Whistleblower Suit Against Reinsurer, Others

NEW YORK — Saying in part that there is “substantial evidence” for the conclusion that the petitioner “did not subjectively believe that” the conduct he cited in a whistleblower retaliation complaint “constituted criminal fraud or violated any securities law provisions,” a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel issued a Nov. 13 summary order declining to review dismissal of the complaint.
November 14, 2024
NLRB Majority: Union Views During Captive-Audience Meetings Are Unlawful

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An employer violates the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) if it expresses views on unionization during meetings where employees are compelled to attend “on pain of discipline or discharge,” a divided National Labor Relations Board ruled Nov. 13 in a case presenting a number of issues arising out of Amazon.com Services LLC’s opposition to a union organizing campaign.
November 14, 2024
Employers Of Chauffeurs File Cross-Appeal After $2.5M Wage Settlement OK’d

PHOENIX — The employers of chauffeur drivers who brought a class and collective action wage-and-hour complaint in a federal court in Arizona filed a notice of cross-appeal as to judgment and nine orders issued over the course of four years; the filing followed final approval of a $2.5 million settlement between the drivers and the employers.
November 13, 2024
Panel: Jury’s Finding Of Defamation Established Willful Act, No Coverage Owed

PASADENA, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Nov. 12 affirmed a lower federal court’s grant of an insurer’s motion to dismiss an insured’s breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking coverage for a $4,941,071 judgment in a defamation action brought by its former employee, finding that the underlying jury's finding of defamation per se established a willful act under California Insurance Code Section 533.
November 13, 2024
Jury Awards Over $12M To Employee Fired For Refusing COVID Vaccine Due To Religion

DETROIT — A Michigan federal jury awarded the former employee of a medical insurer nearly $3 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages after finding the insurer liable for discrimination for failing to accommodate her religious objection to receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.
November 12, 2024
Transit Agency Says $7.8M Verdict Against It In COVID Vaccine Case Cannot Stand

SAN FRANCISCO — A transit agency moved for judgment as a matter of law or, in the alternative, for a new trial after a California federal jury awarded six former employees in excess of $1 million each for a total of more than $7.8 million for failing to accommodate their religious objections to being vaccinated for COVID-19, contending that the verdict was against the weight of the evidence and that opposing counsel was allowed to repeatedly make prejudicial comments.
November 11, 2024
Final OK Given To $5.5M Amazon COVID-19 Screenings Pay Class Settlement

FRESNO, Calif. — A federal magistrate judge in California granted final approval of a $5.5 million settlement between California workers and Amazon.com Services LLC, ending two cases in which the workers allege that they were denied pay for time spent undergoing COVID-19 symptom screenings before their shifts.
November 08, 2024
Judge Stands By Determination That ERISA Governs Deferred Compensation Plans

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge has declined to alter or withdraw an Employee Retirement Income Security Act determination that financial services firm Morgan Stanley and related defendants said caused issues in derivative arbitrations; the unchanged November 2023 holding in the putative class action is that ERISA governs the compensation incentive and equity incentive plans at issue.
November 07, 2024
5th Circuit: Officer’s Claims Over Suspension After Facebook Posts Were Untimely

NEW ORLEANS — A police officer who sued four police chiefs and the city that employed him alleging 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, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, affirming a trial court’s judgment.