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Mealey's Employment

December 12, 2023
Final Judgment Entered In Maine Health Workers’ COVID-19 Vaccine Challenge

BANGOR, Maine — A federal judge in Maine on Dec. 11 granted a motion for entry of final judgment by health care employers after dismissal of the claims against them by workers who refused the COVID-19 vaccine citing religious beliefs.
December 12, 2023
Jury Awards Philadelphia Doctor $15M In Title IX Gender Bias Suit

PHILADELPHIA — A federal jury in Pennsylvania on Dec. 11 returned a $15 million verdict for a Philadelphia doctor who alleged that he was forced out of his job after a female colleague initiated sexual intercourse and then later used the encounter to try and extort him.
December 11, 2023
Solicitor General Invited To Respond To Distributor’s FLSA Exemption Petition

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 11 invited the solicitor general to file a brief expressing the views of the United States on a petition by a food distributor seeking a ruling on whether the evidence standard necessary for an exemption to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) “is a mere preponderance of the evidence” or if it is “clear and convincing evidence.”
December 11, 2023
U.S. High Court Grants Cert In Federal Vaccine Cases, Finds Case, Injunctions Moot

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 11 granted petitions in three cases concerning various federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates and, citing United States v. Munsingwear, Inc., remanded with instructions to dismiss one of the cases as moot and to vacate as moot preliminary injunctions in the other two cases.
December 08, 2023
U.S. Supreme Court Will Hear Appeal On 60-Day Merits Board Review Deadline

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court justices today granted a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a former federal employee asking the high court to decide whether the 60-day deadline for petitions seeking review of a final decision by the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) is jurisdictional.
December 07, 2023
Majority: Insurance Code Does Not Bar Indemnification For Retaliation Settlement

LOS ANGELES — Addressing an “important” question of first impression “whose answer will influence enforcement of our employment laws,” a majority of a California appeals court held Dec. 6 that not all California Labor Code Section 1102.5 claims involve necessarily willful conduct and, therefore, a lower court erred in finding that California Insurance Code Section 533 barred indemnification for a $3 million underlying settlement of police officers’ retaliation lawsuit against a California city.
December 07, 2023
11th Circuit Vacates Dismissal Of Exotic Dancer Applicant’s Race Bias Claims

ATLANTA — A trial court erred in dismissing with prejudice race bias claims brought by a woman who applied for a position as an exotic dancer and alleges that she was denied the job based on her race because “such a sanction of last resort is unwarranted,” an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled in an unpublished per curiam opinion.
December 07, 2023
EEOC Granted Summary Judgment In Wage Age Bias Case Against School District

CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois granted summary judgment to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in an age discrimination case accusing a school district of limiting annual pay increases of teachers older than 45 to avoid a pension-contribution surcharge pursuant to a provision in a collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
December 07, 2023
NLRB Director Tells U.S. High Court Injunctive Relief Standard Needs No Review

WASHINGTON, D.C. — No U.S. Supreme Court review is necessary of the standard courts should use to evaluate 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 as the use of “different verbal formulations to describe the standard” by different courts “are essentially terminological rather than substantive,” an NLRB regional director argues in a Dec. 6 respondent brief.
December 07, 2023
FCA Engineers’ LMRA, RICO Claims Filed Years After Transfer Were Untimely

CINCINNATI — Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA) claims by FCA US LLC engineers stemming from a years-earlier transfer that they allege was in violation of their collective bargaining agreement (CBA) and that they say they unsuccessfully challenged due to collusion between their employer and union were untimely, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, affirming a trial court’s dismissal.
December 07, 2023
Health Workers’ Vaccine Case Discontinued After New York Mandate Repealed

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A federal judge in New York signed off on the discontinuance of a case previously appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court by health care workers challenging the New York Department of Health’s (DOH) COVID-19 vaccination requirements after the mandate was repealed.
December 07, 2023
U.S. High Court Passes On Appeal Challenging Standard For Review Of OSHA Citations

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a manufacturer cited three times by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that argued that it was unfairly prejudiced while challenging the citations due to improper exclusion of evidence.
December 07, 2023
5th Circuit: NLRB Lacks Authority To Make All Uniforms Presumptively Unlawful

NEW ORLEANS — The National Labor Relations Board erred when it decided that when an employer’s uniform policy “advances a legitimate interest of the employee” and doesn’t discriminate “against union communication,” it is unlawful, a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel wrote, granting a petition for review by Tesla Inc., denying the NLRB’s application for enforcement and vacating the NLRB’s decision.
December 06, 2023
U.S. High Court Hears Arguments On Bias In A Lateral Job Transfer

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A lateral job transfer may constitute discrimination and be actionable under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, an attorney representing a St. Louis Police Department sergeant who is challenging the transfer from her position as patrol detective to the Intelligence Division argued before the U.S. Supreme Court this morning.
December 06, 2023
Preliminary Approval Granted To Jan-Pro $30M Worker Classification Settlement

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California on Dec. 5 granted preliminary approval of a class settlement in a worker classification suit under which Jan-Pro Franchising International Inc. will pay $30 million and make changes to its business practices that will benefit California franchisees.
December 06, 2023
EEOC Announces Settlement With Frontier Airlines In Pregnancy, Lactation Dispute

DENVER — Frontier Airlines Inc. has agreed to make several policy changes to address the needs of pregnant and lactating pilots, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced Dec. 5, stating that the agreement will resolve EEOC charges filed in 2018 and a lawsuit filed by four pilots in 2019.
December 05, 2023
DOJ, Minnesota City Settle Claim Of Bias Against Worker With Alcohol Use Disorder

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota city will pay out-of-pocket losses and compensatory damages to a worker and implement policies and procedures regarding nondiscrimination in employment to end a complaint by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) alleging discrimination against an employee with alcohol use disorder (AUD), according to a consent decree filed in a federal court in that state.
December 05, 2023
Citizens Bank Will Pay $100,000 To End EEOC Anxiety-Based Bias Suit

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A federal judge in Rhode Island approved a consent decree between a bank and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission under which the employer will make companywide policy changes and pay $100,000 to a former employee to end a lawsuit alleging failure to accommodate an employee who developed an anxiety disorder.
December 04, 2023
Employer: High Court Must Decide If NLRB General Counsel Can Withdraw Complaint

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court needs to decide whether an agency officer’s definite term of office bars without-cause removal and whether the National Labor Relations Board’s general counsel may withdraw an administrative complaint after a motion for summary judgment has been filed, an employer argues in its petition for a writ of certiorari filed with the high court.
December 04, 2023
Flight Attendant Seeks Affirmance Of Jury Verdict In Protected Speech Case

NEW ORLEANS — A flight attendant in her principal and response brief filed in the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals argues that a jury verdict and the trial court’s judgment finding that she was fired by Southwest Airlines Co. due to discrimination caused by the union representing flight attendants because of her religious beliefs, observances and practices must be upheld as her social media messages about abortion were protected.
November 28, 2023
Amended Motion For Settlement Notice Filed In Papa John’s No-Poach Case

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The lead plaintiff in a case accusing a pizza chain franchisor of violating the Sherman Act by coordinating no-poach agreements between its franchisees filed an amended motion to direct notice of settlement to the proposed class after a federal judge in Kentucky denied preliminary approval due to insufficient information regarding adequacy, typicality and predominance.
November 20, 2023
U.S. High Court Won’t Hear Flight Attendant’s Alleged Chemical Exposure Appeal

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 20 denied a pro se petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a United Airlines Inc. flight attendant who claims that she was exposed to chemicals while at work in October 2019 and that her claims were wrongly found to be barred by res judicata based on an earlier claim concerning an exposure on some of the same days.
November 17, 2023
Tesla Cross-Appeals Nearly $3.2M Verdict After Race Bias Retrial

SAN FRANCISCO — Tesla Inc. filed a notice of cross-appeal on Nov. 16 in a racial discrimination case by a former worker following a nearly $3.2 million verdict after a retrial in a federal court in California on compensatory and punitive damages.
November 17, 2023
DOJ, NYCHH Settle Claims Of Violating Immigration And Nationality Act

WASHINGTON, D.C. — New York City Health and Hospitals Corp. (NYCHH) will pay back pay and a civil penalty and provide training and new policies under a settlement agreement reached with the U.S. Department of Justice to end claims that it unlawfully rejected a worker’s valid employment authorization document (EAD) and delayed the onboarding of the worker based on its incorrect assumption that the worker’s country of birth listed on her EAD had to be the same as the country designated for temporary protected status (TPS), the DOJ announced Nov. 16.
November 14, 2023
Baked Goods Truck Drivers Tell High Court They Are Exempt From FAA

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Commercial truck drivers who haul Wonder Bread and other baked goods are transportation workers like seamen and railroad employees and are exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), two truck drivers who filed a wage-and-hour putative collective and class complaint argue in their petitioner brief filed Nov. 13 in the U.S. Supreme Court challenging a ruling by the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals finding that the drivers are not transportation workers.