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Mealey's Employment

  • May 09, 2024

    Split 4th Circuit Panel: Gay Catholic School Teacher Is ‘Ministerial’

    RICHMOND, Va. — A Catholic high school teacher who was not invited back to work due to his engagement to his same-sex partner served in a role that qualified as “ministerial” as he “‘serve[d] as a messenger or teacher of the faith’ covered by the ministerial exception,” a divided Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled May 8, reversing a trial court’s summary judgment ruling for the teacher despite the school and other defendants waiving as a defense the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution’s “ministerial exception.”

  • May 09, 2024

    Union Supports NLRB’s Argument For Bargaining Without Election Framework

    SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals should enforce a decision by the National Labor Relations Board upholding bargaining orders without an election pursuant to its new standard as that standard is a variation of the rule established in Joy Silk Mills, Inc. that was in place for at least two decades and it “calls for the imposition of a bargaining order only if an employer commits ULPs [unfair labor practices] that would otherwise require setting aside the election,” the International Brotherhood of Teamsters argues as an intervenor and supporting the position of the NLRB.

  • May 08, 2024

    Jury Finds Tennis Association, Affiliate Liable For Coach’s Sexual Misconduct

    ORLANDO, Fla. — The United States Tennis Association Inc. (USTA) and its affiliate, USTA Player Development Inc. (USTA PD) must pay a tennis player $9 million for damages associated with sexual misconduct by a coach pursuant to two verdicts returned by a federal jury in Florida, a federal judge in that state said in an order issued May 7.

  • May 08, 2024

    U.S. To High Court: 4th Circuit Adopted Wrong Standard Of Proof For FLSA Exemptions

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court should summarily reverse the judgment by the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upholding overtime pay and liquidated damages for sales representatives who alleged that they were misclassified as exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) as “outside salesm[e]n” as the appellate panel’s “adoption of the clear-and-convincing-evidence standard of proof for FLSA exemptions is unreasoned and inconsistent with” Supreme Court precedent, the United States argues in a May 7 amicus curiae brief responding to a Dec. 11 invitation to file a brief extended by the high court.

  • May 08, 2024

    Poultry Processors Pay $5.1M In Wages, Damages For Illegally Employing Minors

    LOS ANGELES — California poultry processors and distributors will pay $5.1 million in wages, damages and penalties for illegally employing minors in jobs using sharp knives to debone chickens in violation of federal child labor regulations, according to a consent judgment and permanent injunction signed by a federal judge in California.

  • May 08, 2024

    District Granted Summary Judgment In Teacher’s Case Over Transgender Student’s Name

    INDIANAPOLIS — A federal judge in Indiana denied summary judgment to a teacher and granted a cross-motion for summary judgment filed by the school district that employs the teacher in a dispute over the teacher’s request for religious accommodation from using transgender students’ first names, finding that the requested accommodation of using students’ last names only placed the school district at risk for litigation and withdrawn funding and caused “harm and disruption to the school’s business.”

  • 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.