Overall
Key cases
Industries
Intellectual Property
Labor & Employment
Corporate
Practice Areas
Employment
-
May 20, 2013
Howrey Looks To Pursue Claims Against Dewey, Cooley, MoFo
The trustee for defunct law firm Howrey LLP on Monday filed a motion in California bankruptcy court seeking permission to pursue claims against Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, Cooley LLP, Morrison & Foerster LLP, Bunsow De Mory Smith & Allison LLP, Dickinson Wright PLLC and Paul Hastings LLP, for “unfinished business.”
-
May 20, 2013
High Court May Use SOX Case To Put DOL In Its Place
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear its first-ever Sarbanes-Oxley Act whistleblower case, in which it might not only decide whether SOX's anti-retaliation provision covers employees at private contractors of public companies, but also clarify how much deference courts should afford agencies like the U.S. Department of Labor when it comes to interpreting the law, attorneys say.
-
May 20, 2013
Fighting Agencies May Be Tougher After High Court Ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court's Monday ruling in favor of the Federal Communications Commission, which held that courts should apply a deferential standard of review when federal agencies interpret the limits of their own authority, may make it tougher for regulated businesses to fight agency actions, attorneys say.
-
May 20, 2013
Dallas Brokerage Fends Off RICO Claim For Trade Fees
A Texas judge on Monday said two independent brokers at S&P Investors Inc. haven’t yet proven their allegations the principal of a Dallas brokerage firm intentionally stole from them by overcharging for a decade the fees charged against their trade commissions.
-
May 20, 2013
A10, Brocade Strike 11th-Hour Deal On Eve Of Damages Trial
Brocade Communications Systems Inc. reached a settlement Monday with A10 Networks Inc. on the eve of a trial in which A10 contested the methodology behind a $112 million damages award Brocade won in its patent infringement and trade secrets trial against A10 last year.
-
May 20, 2013
Exxon Can't Nix Ex-VP's $5M In Stock, Texas Justices Told
A former Exxon Mobil Corp. vice president on Friday told Texas’ highest court that compensation agreements he inked with the oil and gas giant allowing it to cancel $5 million in stock incentives he held after he went to work for a rival are unenforceable.
-
May 20, 2013
Contrite Speaker Retools NY Assembly Sex Harassment Rules
Torched by criticism for brokering a secret deal that kept a lecherous colleague in office — but still holding on to power — top New York Democrat Sheldon Silver on Monday unveiled a new sexual harassment policy for the State Assembly and said he would introduce a bill to ban confidential settlements.
-
May 20, 2013
EEOC Sues Book Distributor Over Severance Restrictions
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Monday hit Baker & Taylor Inc. with a suit in Illinois federal court, accusing the book distributor of forcing employees to sign unlawfully broad and unenforceable releases in order to be eligible for severance pay.
-
May 20, 2013
Buffalo Firefighters Push 2nd Circ. To Reopen Race Bias Suit
A group of black firefighters from Buffalo, N.Y., asked the Second Circuit Monday to reopen a lawsuit claiming racial bias, arguing that black firefighters bore the brunt of drug-use-related firings.
-
May 20, 2013
NJ Assembly Passes Revised Social Media Privacy Bill
The New Jersey Assembly on Monday overwhelmingly approved revised legislation barring employers from forcing current workers or job hopefuls to disclose their user names and passwords for social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, after accepting Gov. Chris Christie's recommendation to remove a private cause of action under the bill and other changes.
-
May 20, 2013
Ex-Bose McKinney Partner Suspended For Harassing Intern
A former Bose McKinney & Evans LLP partner who spread a horror-film clip showcasing a female intern who appeared to be topless in the movie has been suspended from practice for three years, after the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Friday that he hadn't shown sufficient remorse.
-
May 20, 2013
NJ Assembly Clears Bill To Stop Trucker Misclassification
The New Jersey Assembly on Monday passed controversial legislation that supporters say would crack down on companies that duck taxes and employee benefit obligations by mislabeling port and parcel delivery truck drivers as contractors.
-
May 20, 2013
DC Circ. Revives Race Discrimination Claim Against HHS
The D.C. Circuit on Friday partially revived a suit accusing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services of racially discriminating against an African-American employee, ruling her claim that she was denied a promotion because of her race must be decided by a jury.
-
May 20, 2013
Agencies Deserve Deference On Jurisdiction, Justices Say
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that courts should apply a deferential standard of review toward a federal agency's definition of its own jurisdiction, siding with the Federal Communications Commission in a fight with local government agencies over zoning rules for wireless facilities.
-
May 20, 2013
NYC Sued Over Seniority Changes In School Bus Contracts
Two New York City school bus companies on Thursday hit the city with a lawsuit alleging its Department of Education illegally changed contract bid requirements, allowing newer companies to avoid a mandate that certain senior drivers be hired.
-
May 20, 2013
Oil Field Workers Say Superior Energy Stiffed Them On OT
Superior Energy Services Inc. deprived over 1,000 Pennsylvania oil field workers of overtime pay by misclassifying them as exempt from federal and state wage laws, according to a proposed class action filed in federal court Friday.
-
May 20, 2013
Baker Botts Lands Employee Benefits, Tax Pro In Dallas
Baker Botts LLP has landed an employee benefits and executive compensation veteran from Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP to join its Dallas office as a partner in its tax department, the firm announced Monday.
-
May 20, 2013
High Court Snubs Nucor's Class Cert. Appeal In Bias Suit
The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to hear an appeal from Nucor Corp. of a ruling awarding class certification to black workers for the company’s South Carolina factory, who sued alleging they worked in a hostile environment and faced racial discrimination.
-
May 20, 2013
Smithfield Unit Ordered To Pay Workers For Prep Time
A federal judge determined Friday that a class of workers at a pork processing plant owned by a Smithfield Foods Inc. subsidiary should be compensated for time spent changing into and out of their uniforms, citing the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Alvarez v. IBP Inc.
-
May 20, 2013
Macy's Security Checks Violate Wage Laws, Suit Says
An ex-Macy's Corporate Services Inc. employee urged a California federal judge Monday to certify a class of 84,000 current and former workers who claim the department store chain required them to submit to off-the-clock loss-control inspections of their belongings, but didn't pay them for that time.
Expert Analysis
-
A Buzz Kill For Colo. Marijuana User-Employees
The recent precedent-setting decision in Coats v. Dish Network LLC appears to foreclose marijuana users’ most compelling argument against termination for off-duty, off-premises marijuana use. It further suggests that Colorado courts may continue protecting employers’ rights to enforce drug policies, notwithstanding the state’s legalization effort, say attorneys with Holland & Hart LLP.
-
Rise Of The Machines — Predictive Coding Goes Mainstream
The pros of using predictive coding far outweigh the cons. Given the heavy pressure on law firms and in-house counsel to reduce discovery costs, as well as the Justice Department's recent stance on the subject, it appears predictive coding will continue to emerge from the obscure world of legal technology to the mainstream of legal practice, say Michael Moscato and Myles Bartley of Curtis Mallet-Prevost Colt & Mosle LLP.
-
The Evolution Of Ohio's Statute On Employer Tort Claims
With the recent change in Ohio law on employer intentional tort claims comes changes to the good faith obligations an insurance carrier owes to its insureds: In cases involving employer intentional tort claims, insurers may no longer select counsel. Rather, insureds have the right to select counsel with whom they have a preferred relationship and whom they trust, says Thomas Wyatt Palmer of Thompson Hine LLP.
-
A New Procedural Trend In Qui Tam FCA Cases
As the federal government faces increased pressure from courts and Congress to speed up intervention decisions in qui tam False Claims Act cases, it is starting to respond by postponing those decisions until after the cases have been unsealed, which could drastically impact how these cases are litigated while the government is waiting in the wings, say attorneys with Nixon Peabody LLP.
-
High Court's Nassar Case — What's At Stake For Employers
The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard argument for University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center v. Nassar, and while the case seems promising for employers, it should also remind them that their best protection against retaliation claims will continue to be contemporaneous written evidence of a real reason for taking unfavorable actions against an employee, say attorneys with Seyfarth Shaw LLP.
-
NY Jumps On Domestic Violence Protection Bandwagon
In the last few years, there have been significant legal developments to increase protections for victims of domestic or sexual violence, including New York state's recently approved bill that provides 90 days of job protection to victim-employees. If the bill passes, New York legislation, along with that of Illinois and California, would provide arguably the most expansive state protection in the country, say attorneys with Proskauer Rose LLP.
-
Calif. Moves Forward To Prevent Human Trafficking
In an effort to combat the $32 billion human trafficking industry, California law now requires certain businesses to post public notices regarding slavery and human trafficking. By doing so, the recently passed bill has effectively made these establishments aware that they may already be unwitting participants in the human trafficking industry, say attorneys with Gordon & Rees LLP.
-
SEC Must Stop The Latest Effort To Impede Whistleblowers
Increasingly, employees have been presented with language in severance and settlement agreements that impose on whistleblowers a number of restrictions. These provisions pose a serious threat to the success of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's whistleblower program, say David Marshall and Debra Katz of Katz Marshall & Banks LLP.
-
What Sponsors Must Know About Litigation On Church Plans
Recently, two firms have filed class actions against three Catholic Church-affiliated health care facilities, claiming that their pension plans should be subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. These cases could have a profound effect on all church plan sponsors, regardless of whether they have previously obtained favorable church plan rulings, say attorneys with Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP.
-
Independent Contractors Strike Out — Lessons For Employers
A lesser-known risk among companies that use independent contractor models is the threat of Title VII litigation, which two recent appellate court decisions, Allen v. Radio One and Alam v. Miller Brewing Company, addressed. These cases remind employers of the ways to minimize such litigation risks, such as adopting a policy to not rehire former employees terminated for misconduct, says Douglas Darch of Baker & McKenzie.