Practice Areas
Employment
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January 27, 2012
Judge Hits Brakes On AutoZone Managers' OT Suit
AutoZone Inc. store managers are properly deemed overtime exempt, despite being bound by detailed corporate policies and spending significant time on customer service and other nonexempt tasks, a federal judge ruled Friday, dismissing an employee class action seeking back pay for overtime wages.
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January 27, 2012
Ex-Groupon Sales Reps Fire Back At Trade Secrets Claims
Three former Groupon Inc. sales reps the company sued for defecting to Google Inc. and allegedly stealing trade secrets filed a countercomplaint in Illinois state court Friday, alleging the online coupon company intentionally filed sham litigation and asking the court to void noncompete covenants in their Groupon contracts.
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January 27, 2012
In-House Accounts May Stop Insider Trading, 9th Circ. Hears
A financial industry group urged the Ninth Circuit on Thursday to uphold a ruling for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC letting brokerage firms require employees to keep personal trading accounts in-house, saying the policy is needed to help detect violations like insider trading.
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January 27, 2012
Health Law Can Stand Even Without Mandate: White House
The Obama administration told the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act could survive almost intact even if the central mandate requiring all individuals to have health insurance were deemed unconstitutional.
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January 27, 2012
Ex-MacAndrews & Forbes Exec Wins $16M In Battle With Firm
A New York federal jury sided with the former vice chairman for MacAndrews & Forbes LLC on Friday, handing him a $16 million award representing funds the company allegedly owed him as part of a separation agreement.
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January 27, 2012
Duane Reade Managers Granted Cert. In OT Suit
A New York federal judge on Friday handed an early victory to Duane Reade Inc. assistant store managers who claim they are wrongly exempted from overtime pay, conditionally certifying their collective action against the pharmacy chain.
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January 27, 2012
EEOC Commissioner Offers Tips For Avoiding ADA Action
As the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission continues to crack down on employers and take in record recoveries for disabled workers, Commissioner Chai Feldblum told lawyers Friday there were simple measures their clients can take to prevent action by the agency.
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January 27, 2012
Trident Creditors Object To $55M Sale, $10M Employee Payout
The unsecured creditors in the Delaware bankruptcy case of digital TV semiconductor company Trident Microsystems Inc. objected Thursday to a proposed $55 million stalking horse bid for the company's set-top box assets and the planned payout of more than $10 million to Trident employees.
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January 27, 2012
Edwards Wildman Aims To Kill Suit Over In-House Affair
Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP asked a Delaware court on Thursday to toss a lawsuit from a former partner claiming he was forced to resign and denied compensation due to a romantic affair between his wife and the firm’s chief.
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January 27, 2012
Judge Won't Toss Same-Sex Couples' CalPERS Insurance Case
A California federal judge on Thursday refused to toss a class action by state employees over federal tax provisions that exclude same-sex spouses and domestic partners from long-term care insurance coverage by the California Public Employees' Retirement System.
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January 27, 2012
Iowa Court To Weigh Workers' Privacy In Open Records Suit
The Iowa Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to consider whether a local school district erred under the state's open records act in rejecting the American Civil Liberties Union's request for specific information about disciplinary action taken against two school employees allegedly involved in an improper “locker room strip search” of five teenage girls.
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January 27, 2012
7th Circ. Affirms Bankers’ OT Class Despite Dukes
The Seventh Circuit upheld the certification of two classes of bank employees under Illinois state law in an overtime case Friday, the first time a circuit court has addressed the application of the Walmart v. Dukes commonality analysis to wage-and-hour class actions.
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January 27, 2012
Construction Co. Swiped $136M Of Small-Biz Work: Suit
An ex-employee of a construction supply company whose owners have been indicted filed an amended False Claims Act complaint Thursday, claiming the firm took part in a $136 million fraud scheme involving hundreds of transportation-related contracts set aside for small, disadvantaged businesses.
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January 27, 2012
Employers Brace For NLRB's 'Ambush Election' Rule
The National Labor Relation's Board's controversial regulation aiming to streamline the union election process is not slated to go into effect for three months, but attorneys say employers should take steps now to ready themselves for the so-called “ambush election” rule.
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January 27, 2012
Seagate Closes Out Age Discrimination Action
A Minnesota federal judge signed off Thursday on a settlement agreement that brings to a close collective action allegations that Seagate Technology LLC discriminated against its elderly employees by firing them while keeping younger workers on payroll.
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January 27, 2012
Hospital Group Hid Whistleblower Suit: Investors
Health Management Associates Inc. shareholders filed a class action in Florida federal court Friday claiming stock prices plummeted after it was revealed the hospital group had used Medicare fraud to inflate prices and hidden a wrongful-termination whistleblower suit by an employee who uncovered the alleged fraud.
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January 27, 2012
Deutsche Wins Longer Notice Period In 9/11 Coverage Row
A Delaware state judge on Wednesday extended the acceptable period for several Deutsche Bank AG units to provide notice to their insurers in suits seeking coverage for the claims of workers injured during cleanup of Deutsche Bank buildings damaged in the 9/11 attacks.
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January 26, 2012
Google, Apple Anti-Poaching Pact Suit Proceeds
A California federal judge on Thursday allowed a proposed class action to proceed against media and technology giants including Apple Inc. and Google Inc. over their alleged anti-competitive agreements not to poach each other’s employees.
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January 26, 2012
Fed. Circ. Frees DirectTV From $80M Pension Transfer Claim
The Federal Circuit affirmed a ruling Thursday that freed DirectTV from a U.S. claim that it owed $80 million from pension surpluses it kept when it sold off its government contract units and associated employee pensions to The Boeing Co. and defense contractor Raytheon Co.
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January 26, 2012
BP Amoco Hit With Sex Bias Class Action
An Alabama woman lodged a putative sex-discrimination class action against BP PLC unit BP Amoco Chemical Corp. in federal court Tuesday, claiming its hiring practices are biased against women and discourage them from applying for jobs with the company.
Expert Analysis
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Defining The Scope Of The Administrative Exemption
The California Supreme Court’s decision in Harris v. Superior Court is good news for California employers, as it essentially validates a number of previous lower federal and state court decisions that had found insurance adjusters exempt, says Lloyd Aubry of Morrison & Foerster LLP.
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A Radical New View Of Restrictive Covenants In Ill.
While the Illinois Supreme Court's decision in Reliable Fire Equipment Co. v. Arredondo has radically altered the way courts in Illinois will construe restrictive covenants, it has simultaneously provided employers with more autonomy to utilize restrictive covenants and to have them enforced, says Kwabena Appenteng of Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC.
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The Business Of Protecting Customer Relationships
Is the protection by an employer of its customer relationships that an employee acquired during employment still recognized as a legitimate business interest? The answer is yes, but the various rationales advanced in support of such a “customer relationship interest” have sown confusion and inconsistency in its application, say Peter Altieri and David Clark of Epstein Becker Green PC.
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From Smoke-Free To Smoker-Free Workplaces
Following the lead of several large hospital systems, some employers are now contemplating the bold decision to ban the hiring of smokers. But the transition to a smoker-free workplace is fraught with a variety of legal and practical obstacles, say Daniel Schuch and Kendall Kelly Hayden of Cozen O'Connor PC.
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Year In Review: Significant Developments Under EEA
Last year was the most active and productive one since the enactment of the Economic Espionage Act more than 15 years ago. The convictions obtained and significant sentences imposed in 2011 send a strong message of general and specific deterrence, say Mark Krotoski and Richard Scott of the U.S. Department of Justice.
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Case Study: Kellar V. Summit Seating
Despite finding in favor of the plaintiff on two issues related to a claim for back pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Seventh Circuit in Kellar v. Summit Seating ultimately concluded that Summit was not liable because the FLSA does not require an employer to pay for work about which it did not know and had no reason to know, say Steven Pockrass and Christopher Murray of Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC.
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Encouraging Whistleblowers To Report Internally
One of the more controversial aspects of the final whistleblower regulations adopted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is that an employee is not required to report an alleged securities law violation internally. But employers can take several actions to encourage employees to make an internal report before approaching the SEC, say attorneys with Blank Rome LLP.
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Another Look At W-2 Reporting Requirements
The IRS has clarified the requirement under the Affordable Care Act to report the cost of employer-sponsored health coverage on annual W-2 forms. This applies to most employers, including federal, state and local government entities, churches and other religious organizations, and employers not subject to continuation coverage requirements under COBRA, say attorneys with Proskauer Rose LLP.
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Following The Paw Prints Of Staub V. Proctor Hospital
On the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court’s March 2011 decision in Staub v. Proctor Hospital, a number of lower courts have taken up the issue of cat's paw liability, the risk of employer liability for being tricked into taking an adverse employment action against an employee by a supervisor with discriminatory motives, says Robert Rives of Dinsmore & Shoal LLP.
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Gutting The Companion-Care Exemption
A recent notice of proposed rulemaking from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division seeks to narrow the companionship and live-in worker regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Critics say the rule changes would lead to higher costs for seniors and taxpayers — concerns that the notice in many ways corroborates, says Jeremy Wooden of Foley & Lardner LLP.