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Mealey's Employment

March 13, 2024
EEOC, Cable Company Settle Temporary Schedule Suit After Claims Reinstated

MILWAUKEE — A cable company accused by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission of discriminating against an employee with a disability by denying him an extension of his modified work schedule will pay $60,000 to settle the lawsuit, according to a consent decree signed by a federal judge in Wisconsin on March 12.
March 13, 2024
Dried Fruit Company Agrees To $2M Settlement In EEOC Sex Harassment Case

FRESNO, Calif. — A dried fruit supplier will pay $2 million to end a lawsuit by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission accusing the employer of subjecting female workers in California to a sexually hostile work environment, according to a consent decree signed by a federal judge in California on March 12.
March 11, 2024
NLRB’s New Joint Employer Rule Vacated By Federal Judge In Texas

TYLER, Texas — A federal judge in Texas on March 8 vacated the National Labor Relations Board’s new final rule on the standard for determining joint employer status, opining that enforcing it against a variety of employer groups and “their members would be contrary to law as to the Rule’s addition of a new 29 C.F.R. § 103.40 and arbitrary and capricious as to the Rule’s removal of the existing 29 C.F.R. § 103.40 (2020).”
March 07, 2024
Christian Employment Group, Members Have Standing In ACA Challenge, Judge Says

BISMARCK, N.D. — Both the individual members of a Christian employers’ group and the association itself have standing in the face of imminent and concrete injury from a Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) rule including gender identity under the definitions of discrimination, a federal judge in North Dakota said in granting the plaintiffs summary judgment on Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) claims.
March 07, 2024
Former Twitter Officers File ERISA Suit For Severance Against Musk, Others

OAKLAND, Calif. — Alleging that Elon Musk “fired them without reason, then made up fake cause and appointed employees of his various companies to uphold his decision,” four former Twitter Inc. officers or executives sued Musk and other defendants in California federal court, asserting Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims for severance benefits, equitable relief and statutory penalties.
March 07, 2024
3rd Circuit: Union’s Multiple-Year Absence, Not Employer, Caused Loss Of Support

PHILADELPHIA — A union’s loss of support among employees at a New Jersey nonprofit was caused by its “own absence over the span of multiple years,” a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, granting an employer’s petition for review and denying the National Labor Relations Board’s cross-application for enforcement, both filed after the NLRB found that communications by the employer regarding the union were coercive and that a poll regarding union support was not done in good faith.
March 07, 2024
2 Amicus Briefs Filed In High Court Arbitration Stay Dispute Support Neither Side

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A national, voluntary bar association and the world’s largest business federation separately filed amicus curiae briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court supporting neither side in an appeal over Section 3 of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) and whether it requires a district court to stay litigation involving an arbitrable claim until arbitration is over; the briefs were filed one week after the petitioners, delivery drivers, submitted their brief arguing that a stay is required.
February 20, 2024
COMMENTARY: NLRB’s Recognition Of Dartmouth College Men’s Basketball Team As Employees Could Change Collegiate Sports Forever

By James A. Holt and Cori Smith
March 06, 2024
11th Circuit Upholds Halt Of Florida Law Barring Diversity, Inclusion Training

ATLANTA — A Florida law that bans certain mandatory workplace trainings promoting various concepts on race and gender discrimination “targets speech based on its content” and “penalizes certain viewpoints—the greatest First Amendment sin,” an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, affirming a trial court’s order preliminarily enjoining the operation of the law’s mandatory-meeting provision.
March 06, 2024
Split 5th Circuit Denies Mandamus Petition In SpaceX, NLRB Case

NEW ORLEANS — A divided Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 5 denied a petition for a writ of mandamus filed by Space Exploration Technologies Corp. after its complaint accusing the National Labor Relations Board of unlawfully subjecting it to an administrative proceeding was transferred from a federal court in Texas to one in California; an order withholding issuance of a mandate was issued the same day.
March 06, 2024
21 States, Others Support Starbucks’ NLRB Injunctive Relief Standard Arguments

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Tennessee and 20 other states filed one of seven amicus curiae briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court supporting Starbucks Corp. in its argument that district courts must use the traditional four-factor test rather than the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ two-part test when evaluating requests by the National Labor Relations Board for an injunction under Section 10(j) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) while an NLRB adjudication is pending.
March 06, 2024
U.S. High Court Won’t Hear Appeal In Dispute Over Port’s Use Of Non-Union Workers

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by South Carolina and the South Carolina State Ports Authority after a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that a union’s lawsuit against the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX) and two carrier members after union and non-union workers were used at a new port in a way similar to those used in three other nearby ports did not violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
March 05, 2024
Class, Hospitals Ask 6th Circuit To Uphold Vaccine Mandate Settlement

CINCINNATI — A class of hospital employees and their employer who reached a $130,000 nationwide settlement in a case over the employer’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy filed separate appellee briefs in the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals seeking to uphold the settlement approval being challenged on appeal by objectors.
March 05, 2024
Former Associate Appeals Judgment After Verdict For Firm In Retaliation Case

NEW YORK — A former Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP associate filed a notice of appeal after a federal court in New York entered judgment and dismissed his retaliation case after a jury verdict was returned for the firm and the firm’s management.
March 05, 2024
Franchisees Seek Final Approval Of $30M Classification Settlement With Jan-Pro

SAN FRANCISCO — California cleaning franchisees who sued Jan-Pro Franchising International Inc. alleging misclassification as independent contractors filed a motion in a federal court in California seeking final approval of a class settlement under which the franchisor will pay $30 million and make changes to its business practices.
March 05, 2024
7th Circuit Upholds USERRA Ruling For Volvo After 2nd Trial

CHICAGO — A trial court did not abuse its discretion when it found in a former Volvo Group North America LLC employee’s Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) case that the initial jury verdict on the ADA claim was “grossly excessive and irrational” and ordered a new trial on the USERRA claim alone after determining that the worker failed to show that she was a qualified individual under the ADA as the whole verdict was “tainted,” the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled, affirming the trial court’s refusal to alter or amend its judgment after the second trial ended in a verdict for Volvo.
March 04, 2024
Ferry Workers Ask 1st Circuit To Reverse Injunction Denial In Vaccine Case

BOSTON — A trial court erred its standard of review selection and abused its discretion when it denied for a second time a request for preliminary injunction by employees of a Massachusetts ferry operations authority who sued after their requests for religious exemptions from a COVID-19 vaccine mandate were denied, the workers argue in their appellant brief filed in the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
March 04, 2024
U.S. High Court Won’t Hear Age Bias, Ministerial Exception Appeals In Same Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 4 denied petitions for writ of certiorari filed by the estate of a former Liberty University Inc. professor and the university after the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a summary judgment ruling for the school in the professor’s age bias lawsuit.
March 01, 2024
Termination Over COVID-19 Policy Was Not Tied To Man’s Native American Heritage

TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey county and local union are entitled to summary judgment on claims brought against them by a man who says he was terminated from his employment with the county because of his Native American “cultural” opposition to a COVID-19 vaccination policy because the man failed to show that the termination was related to his race or national identity, a New Jersey federal judge found Feb. 29 in granting the county’s and union’s summary judgment motions.
February 29, 2024
11th Circuit Denies Rehearing After Ruling On Title VII Discrimination Framework

ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a per curiam order denied a petition for rehearing en banc filed by the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (FDJJ) after a panel ruled that the McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green framework is not “a stand-in for the ultimate question of liability in Title VII [of the Civil Rights Act of 1964] discrimination cases.”
February 27, 2024
U.S.: Supremacy Clause Stops Wage Statute From Applying To Immigration Detainees

SAN FRANCISCO — Application of the Washington Minimum Wage Act (WMWA) to voluntary work programs for federal immigration detainees housed in facilities run by a for-profit company is precluded pursuant to the U.S. Constitution’s supremacy clause and the intergovernmental immunity doctrine, the United States argues in an amicus curiae brief filed in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in two appeals by a Washington state detention center owner and operator challenging a minimum wage verdict for a class of immigration detainees and an unjust enrichment award for Washington.
February 27, 2024
AI Interview Company Can’t Escape Illinois Biometric Law Class Action

CHICAGO — The use of a company’s artificial intelligence-based virtual interview program within Illinois gives jurisdiction over the case and the allegations fall within the purview of Illinois law governing biometric data, a federal judge in Illinois said Feb. 26, dismissing only claims that the company profited from the sale of such data.
February 27, 2024
Drivers To U.S. High Court: Case Must Be Stayed Until Arbitration Concluded

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Section 3 of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) requires a district court to stay litigation involving an arbitrable claim until arbitration is over, delivery drivers for Intelliserve LLC argue in their petitioner brief filed Feb. 26 in the U.S. Supreme Court, challenging a ruling by the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that courts have the discretion to dismiss rather than stay such a case.
February 27, 2024
Man’s Claim Over CVS AI Screening Tool Disclosure Proceeds, Judge Says

BOSTON — A man who claims that his ultimately unsuccessful employment interview included an undisclosed artificial intelligence (AI) screening that constituted a lie detector test under Massachusetts law may proceed with his claim because his alleged injury is exactly the type protected by the law, a federal judge in the state said in denying a motion to dismiss.
February 26, 2024
Federal Judge In Texas Stays Effective Date Of NLRB Joint Employer Rule

TYLER, Texas — A federal judge in Texas issued a one-page order in a case seeking permanent injunctive relief from the National Labor Relations Board’s final rule on the standard for determining joint employer status and stayed the effective date, scheduled to be Feb. 26, by 14 days.