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

Mealey's Employment

August 14, 2024
Employer To U.S. High Court: Preponderance Of Evidence May Prove FLSA Exemption

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The default standard of proof in Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) exemption cases is “mere preponderance of evidence,” a food distributor and its CEO argue in a petitioner brief filed Aug. 13 in the U.S. Supreme Court.
August 14, 2024
Former College Baseball Player Hits NCAA With Class Suit Over Scholarship Limits

DENVER — The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) bylaw limiting the number of baseball and other sports scholarships a school may offer constitutes “wage fixing” and violates the Sherman Act, a former college baseball player alleges in his putative class complaint filed in a federal court in Colorado.
August 13, 2024
Ex-Employee’s COVID-Related Discrimination Suit Tossed For Not Filing EEOC Claim

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota federal judge granted the dismissal motion of a hospital in a former employee’s lawsuit alleging religious discrimination and other violations in terminating her after she accepted a religious exemption from COVID-19 vaccination but then refused to wear an N95 mask as required by hospital policy, ruling that the employee failed to exhaust her administrative remedies and filed her lawsuit too late.
August 12, 2024
Reconsideration Of Attorney Fees Denied In Jack In The Box Workers’ Wage Suit

PORTLAND, Ore. — A federal judge in Oregon denied a motion by Jack in the Box Inc. workers to reconsider an April opinion, which partially granted and partially denied motions for attorney fees and costs by both sides in a wage-and-hour suit brought by a class of workers who saw some success with their claims, and apply a prime rate enhancement, opining that there was no showing of clear error or that the “decision was manifestly unjust.”
August 08, 2024
9th Circuit Denies Rehearing En Banc After Race Bias Ruling For Uber

SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel unanimously denied a petition for rehearing en banc and no judge of the full court requested a vote following a June opinion in a race bias class complaint against Uber Technologies Inc. in which the panel determined that a survey of Uber drivers conducted by attorneys representing a former driver who brought the complaint “fail[ed] to provide any plausible basis for finding a ‘disproportionately adverse effect on minorities.’”
August 08, 2024
California Laundry Facility Pays $1.1M To Settle EEOC Hiring Discrimination Claims

LOS ANGELES — A California laundry facility’s $1.1 million settlement of discriminatory hiring claims by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and approved by a federal judge in California brings the total settlement for a class of workers who the EEOC said were not hired based on their race and national origin or were subjected to segregated jobs based on their gender to $3.3 million as the temporary staffing agency used by the laundry facility settled the claims against it in April.
August 08, 2024
Staffing Agency’s $875,000 Ends EEOC Claims It Permitted Clients’ Biased Requests

SEATTLE — A Washington-based staffing agency will pay $875,000 to end a complaint by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging that it complied with clients’ requests for male temporary workers instead of rejecting them as unlawful.
August 07, 2024
$9.39M White Castle Finger Scan Class Settlement Granted Final Approval

CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois granted final approval to a $9,394,440 settlement to be paid by White Castle System Inc. to end a class complaint by an employee who alleged that the fast food company’s finger scan policy violated the Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).
August 07, 2024
Memo On Student-Workers’ Rights Under NLRA, Privacy Rights Issued By NLRB

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Labor Relations Board general counsel issued a memo on Aug. 6 clarifying the obligations of colleges and universities under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) regarding the disclosure of student-worker information to labor unions and students’ privacy rights.
August 07, 2024
Wash. Judge Issues Clarifying Order After 3 Post-Verdict Orders In Wage Class Suit

SEATTLE — A Washington judge on Aug. 6 clarified one of three post-verdict orders issued July 31 following an April $98 million jury verdict for health care workers in a wage and hour class suit and a May judgment of more than $229 million and denied supplemental judgment pending resolution of the total costs awarded.
August 07, 2024
D.C. Circuit Rules That Pro Se Pleading Leniency Doesn’t Apply To Attorney

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The pleading leniency for pro se litigants does not extend to attorneys, the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in a retaliation case filed by a former Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) attorney, affirming the trial court’s ruling dismissing the attorney’s suit.
August 07, 2024
Connecticut Judge: Board Exclusion Bars Coverage For Disability Discrimination Suit

HARTFORD, Conn. — A Connecticut judge granted summary judgment in favor of an insurer in a Connecticut town’s lawsuit seeking coverage for an underlying disability discrimination action brought by a former member of the town’s board of education, finding that the policy board exclusion bars Public Entity Management Liability and Public Entity Employment-Related Practices Liability coverage and the discrimination and employment-related practices exclusions bar the policy’s commercial general liability coverage.
August 07, 2024
Preliminary Injunction Made Permanent In Florida DEI Training Law Case

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A federal judge in Florida converted to a permanent statewide injunction a two-year-old preliminary injunction that barred the enforcement of a Florida law that bans certain mandatory workplace training promoting various concepts on race and gender discrimination.
August 06, 2024
Calif. High Court: Lyft Driver Can’t Intervene In PAGA Action Of Another To Object

SAN FRANCISCO — One rideshare driver who filed a lawsuit against Lyft Inc. under California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) for alleged wage violations can’t intervene in an ongoing PAGA action of another driver asserting similar claims to object to a proposed settlement as that “would be inconsistent with the scheme the Legislature enacted,” a divided California Supreme Court ruled.
August 06, 2024
9th Circuit: Corporate Jet Pilots Exempt From FLSA Overtime Requirements

LAS VEGAS — Corporate jet pilots are both exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) overtime pay requirements as they are highly compensated, nonmanual laborers and are not eligible for pay during the time they spend waiting for flight requests as they have the ability to engage in personal activities, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel majority ruled, affirming a trial court’s judgment.
August 06, 2024
3rd Circuit: EEOC Email, Portal Upload Didn’t Start 90-Day Filing Period

PHILADELPHIA — An email from an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigator to an employee’s attorney regarding a forthcoming right-to-sue letter as well as the posting of the letter on the EEOC’s online portal did not start the 90-day clock for filing a complaint, a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held, vacating a trial court’s summary judgment ruling for the employer on the subsequent harassment and retaliation complaint.
August 05, 2024
9th Circuit Issues Mandate; Finds Triable Issues In Computer Operation FLSA Suit

PASADENA, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued the formal mandate in a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) case by Las Vegas call center employees three weeks after reversing summary judgment for the employer, finding that triable issues of material fact remain as to whether the time workers spend turning on and off their computers is de minimis or if that time should be compensated.
August 05, 2024
Former Employees Say Philadelphia Inquirer Liable For Breach Of Records

PHILADELPHIA — In a consolidated putative class complaint filed in a Pennsylvania federal court, three employees or former employees of the Philadelphia Inquirer LLC bring claims against the newspaper, saying it is liable for damages caused by a data breach the newspaper did not disclose to subscribers and employees for nearly a year.
August 05, 2024
Nashville, Worker Found By Jury To Have Been Subjected To Bias Agree To Dismissal

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Metropolitan Government of Nashville & Davidson County in Tennessee and a deputy fire marshal found by a federal jury in that state in May to have been subjected to age and gender discrimination and retaliation and $225,000 for gender bias agreed to dismissal with prejudice and termination of all pending motions including the deputy fire marshal’s June motion for $309,950 in attorney fees.
July 31, 2024
9th Circuit Reverses Order That Found Inmate Class Covered By Calif. Labor Code

SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel reversed a trial court’s order which found that nonconvicted inmates who perform work for a private company without pay are covered by California’s Labor Code; the ruling came approximately three months after the California Supreme Court found in answering a question certified by the appellate panel that the inmates have no claim for minimum wages or overtime pay under current state law.
July 31, 2024
Jury Returns $22.1M Verdict For Former Wells Fargo Manager In Disability Bias Suit

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A federal jury in North Carolina returned a $22.1 million verdict for a former Wells Fargo Securities LLC manager who was selected for layoff after his request to continue working from home when coronavirus pandemic-related working restrictions were lifted was denied.
July 31, 2024
Inventor Of ‘Flamin’ Hot’ Cheetos Accuses PepsiCo Of Defamation, Discrimination

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. — A former PepsiCo Inc. executive who says he invented the ‘Flamin Hot’ variety of Cheetos snacks filed a complaint in California state court accusing his former employers at PepsiCo and FritoLay Inc. of violating California employment law and the unfair competition law (UCL) and defamation for allegedly casting doubt on his claimed inventorship after promoting his story for decades.
July 31, 2024
Worker Seeks Damages For Injury At Fracking Site, Also Claims Discrimination

OKLAHOMA CITY — A worker who alleges that he was injured while performing his duties on a hydraulic fracturing rig has sued a well services company and the fracking operator that owned the well where the incident took place, seeking an unspecified amount of compensatory and punitive damages.
July 29, 2024
Navy SEALs Settle COVID-19 Vaccine Case For Record Corrections, Policy Changes

FORT WORTH, Texas — A federal judge in Texas granted final approval of a class settlement in a case by Navy SEALs and members of the Navy challenging a COVID-19 vaccine mandate; the agreement will provide corrections to their personnel records, policy changes, public postings and attorney fees.
July 29, 2024
Pilots Seek Rehearing After 6th Circuit Finds Vaccine Claims Must Go To Arbitration

CINCINNATI — Kalitta Air LLC pilots filed a petition for rehearing en banc or panel rehearing after a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a trial court ruling that their putative class claims over the airline’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate must go through arbitration first as minor disputes pursuant to the Railway Labor Act (RLA) because the dispute requires interpretation of the terms of a collective bargaining agreement (CBA).