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Employment
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May 16, 2012
DOJ Wants $33M Northrop Grumman Contract Fight Kept Alive
The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday defended the government's $33 million penalty against Northrop Grumman Corp. over allegedly improper employee stock incentive program costs included as part of indirect rate contract proposals, urging a federal judge not to throw out the dispute.
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May 16, 2012
Judge OKs Waivers In Jenny Craig OT Row After Concepcion
The U.S. Supreme Court's landmark AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion ruling struck a major blow Tuesday to a proposed overtime class action against Jenny Craig Inc. when a California federal judge said the decision forced most employees’ claims into arbitration.
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May 16, 2012
Senate Advances Bill On Same-Sex Benefits For Govt. Workers
On the heels of President Barack Obama’s endorsement of same-sex marriage, a Senate committee Wednesday advanced bipartisan legislation that would grant additional health benefits to domestic partners of federal employees.
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May 16, 2012
Bishops Threaten Suit Over Contraception Coverage Rule
Catholic leaders on Tuesday renewed their call for the Obama administration to scrap a rule requiring employers to include free contraceptive care in their health plans they claim is unconstitutional, and threatened to sue the government to block its implementation.
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May 15, 2012
Attys Against Prop 8 File Suit Over Calif. Teacher Laws
Two attorneys who are challenging California’s gay marriage ban on Monday filed a sweeping suit against the state seeking to strike down five laws that they claim violate the state constitution by making it nearly impossible for schools to dismiss bad teachers from the classroom.
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May 15, 2012
Texas Led The Nation In Bias Charges Last Year, EEOC Says
More federal workplace discrimination charges were filed in Texas than in any other state in 2011, with 10 percent of all charges nationwide lodged there, according to state-by-state data released by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Monday.
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May 15, 2012
Ex-Brocade Worker Seeks Sanctions In Trade Secrets Case
A former Brocade Communications Systems Inc. employee asked a California federal judge on Monday to impose sanctions on the data storage company for allegedly forcing him to defend a groundless lawsuit for nearly two years.
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May 15, 2012
Activision Asks Judge To Delay 'Call Of Duty' IP Trial
Activision Publishing Inc. urged a California state judge on Tuesday to postpone the start of a trial over $1 billion breach-of-contract claims brought by the creators of "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" who allege Activision cheated them out of royalties from the video game.
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May 15, 2012
4th Circ. Affirms Black Lung Benefits For Coal Miner's Widow
The Fourth Circuit on Tuesday upheld the award of black lung benefits to the widow of a former Harman Mining Co. coal miner, finding that an administrative law judge was entitled to refer to the preamble of certain regulations when evaluating a medical expert's credibility.
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May 15, 2012
NY Assembly OKs Minimum Wage Hike As GOP Foes Dig In
The New York State Assembly passed legislation Tuesday to raise the state's minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.50 per hour, but Republican foes of proposal the kept up their opposition despite a top Democrat's suggestion the GOP could be swayed.
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May 15, 2012
NLRB Vows To Press On After Judge Voids Election Rule
The National Labor Relations Board on Tuesday said it was “determined to move forward” after a controversial rule aimed at streamlining union elections was declared invalid by a federal judge because it was enacted without the required three-member quorum of the board.
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May 15, 2012
Ex-Deutsche Exec Pushes 2nd Circ. To Revive Bonus Suit
A former top executive with Deutsche Bank AG's Latin American group on Tuesday asked the Second Circuit to reopen his employment contract-related suit against the bank, saying it breached a deal to pay him a large bonus after he defected from a rival.
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May 15, 2012
Senate Bill Would Boost Whistleblowers' Chances In Court
The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act, which unanimously passed the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, greatly expands whistleblowers' chances in retaliation lawsuits by removing several barriers to claiming protected status and by eliminating exclusive appellate jurisdiction by the Federal Circuit, which has been extremely unfavorable to such cases.
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May 15, 2012
Ogletree Draws Brownstein Benefits Pro To Denver Office
Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC has recruited a former Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP benefits and pay veteran to boost the labor practice in its Denver office, the firm announced Monday.
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May 15, 2012
Steelworkers Say 6th Circ. Held Unfair Limits In ERISA Suit
A group of U.S. Steel Corp. workers asked the Sixth Circuit on Friday to revive allegations the company misrepresented its benefits plan, saying the appeals court wrongly required the employees to anticipate a statute of limitations defense barring their suit.
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May 15, 2012
PBGC Sues Dewey For Control Of 'Underfunded' Pension Plans
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. sued Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP in New York federal court Monday in an attempt to gain control of the ailing law firm's three pension funds, claiming the plans are underfunded by more than $80 million.
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May 15, 2012
Amtrak Faces Wage Class Action After Failed Negotiations
Amtrak was hit Friday with a proposed class action in California state court accusing the rail carrier of violating labor laws by failing to reimburse employees for business expenses or compensate them for missed rest periods and meal breaks.
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May 15, 2012
DOL Says Old H-2B Visa Rules In Effect, For Now
In light of a Florida court injunction barring the implementation of updated rules governing the H-2B visa program, the U.S. Department of Labor said in a notice slated for publication Wednesday that employers should follow prior regulations, but the agency has been trying to get the injunction overturned.
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May 15, 2012
Teamsters Victorious In Hostess Contract Fight
In a victory for the Teamsters union in its battle with Hostess Brands Inc., the New York judge in charge of the company's bankruptcy proceedings ruled Monday that Hostess cannot shed its collective bargaining agreements with the union.
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May 15, 2012
Merrill Brokers Slam Bid To Limit Class Size In Bias Suit
Attorneys for a proposed class of black Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. financial advisers on Monday blasted the bank's bid to limit their discrimination case to only current employees and policies, describing the Bank of America Corp. subsidiary's tactic as an end run around a clear directive from the Seventh Circuit.
Expert Analysis
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Rethinking Common Wisdom Of 'Wage And Hour' Insurance
Although the best strategy to avoid a devastating wage and hour class action is to carefully review your employment practices with a qualified attorney, an often overlooked component of a company’s protection from the financial consequences of such a claim is its insurance policies, say Barry Buchman, Kami Quinn and Jason Rubinstein of Gilbert LLP.
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US Employers: Avoid Sex Stereotyping In The Workplace
As recent cases have made clear, transgender employees who are subjected to sex stereotyping may pursue a claim against their employer. Maintaining a culture that supports a diverse workforce not only limits the employer’s potential exposure to liability, but helps to retain and attract the most qualified and talented employees, says Jeremy Morris of Squire Sanders LLP.
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Trending Topic: Twitter's 'Innovator's Patent Agreement'
Twitter's new “Innovator’s Patent Agreement” — a policy covering assignment of inventions by Twitter employees to Twitter — appears to be an attempt to square the open-source ethos of Silicon Valley developers with the reality that software patents are becoming increasingly valuable assets to their employers, says Andrew Liddell of Fulbright & Jaworski LLP.
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'Managing' LLC Liability Under Ore. Workers' Comp Law
The Oregon Court of Appeals has held that the exclusive remedy provision of Oregon’s workers’ compensation law does not shield an employer limited liability company's managing member from a negligence claim by the LLC’s injured worker. But the court began its analysis by incorrectly framing the issue and ignoring the distinction between members of a member-managed LLC and members of a manager-managed LLC, says Doug Batey of Stoel Rives LLP.
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Subjecting Foreign Corps. To Personal Jurisdiction
In Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. v. Asahi Tec Corp., the district court’s denial of Asahi’s motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction signals that foreign corporations may have to answer in U.S. federal courts for assumed and potentially substantial benefits liabilities, even where they played no role in the decisions that created those liabilities, say attorneys with McDermott Will & Emery LLP.
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Limiting The Application Of The CFAA And EEA
After U.S. v. Nosal and U.S. v. Aleynikov, we can expect that prosecutors at least in the Ninth Circuit may be more conservative in their application of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, limiting CFAA prosecutions to hackers, and that courts in the Second Circuit and elsewhere may apply limits to the Economic Espionage Act as well, say Robyn Crowther and Benjamin Au of Caldwell Leslie & Proctor PC.
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Brinker: How Break Policies Affect Class Certification
While most commentaries have highlighted the California Supreme Court's decision in the Brinker Restaurant Corp. case for its implications upon class action suits, there is an overlooked implication — the effect of Brinker’s written rest break policy upon the court’s decision to uphold the rest break subclass certification, says Kerri Ruzicka of Murphy Pearson Bradley & Feeney PC.
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Document Review Considerations
An e-discovery review usually requires significant manpower and a certain level of expertise to be done properly, and many in-house legal departments turn to litigation support and discovery management providers as an alternative for first-pass document review. Regardless of who performs it, proper preparation and planning in advance of a review is the key to its success, says Stacy Jackson of IE Discovery.
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Conduct A Pay Equity Audit — Before The EEOC Does
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has launched a pilot program through which it is auditing employer pay practices for the first time. Performing a preventative pay equity audit will be helpful in anticipating potential vulnerabilities and addressing them in advance of any regulatory or private employee challenge, say attorneys with Proskauer Rose LLP.
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Where Rubber Hits Road: Examples Of Alternative Fees
Creating new approaches to fee agreements is something to embrace rather than fear — and when structured and managed correctly, it can be financially advantageous. Take, for example, fixed-fee arrangements, result-based billing and portfolio billing, say Bill Rudnick and Keith Maziarek of DLA Piper.