Employment

  • May 07, 2024

    FDIC Review Flags 'Patriarchal' Workplace, Chief's 'Temper'

    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s workplace culture has suffered "far too long" from sexual harassment, discrimination and other abuses that higher-ups failed to adequately address, according to a report released Tuesday that is drawing renewed calls for FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg's exit.

  • May 07, 2024

    Apple, Amazon Accused Of Shorting Background Actors

    Apple TV and Amazon Studios LLC failed to pay background actors their full overtime wages, denied them meal breaks and forced them to cover work-related expenses, a former actor for the studios said in two proposed class actions filed in California state court.

  • May 07, 2024

    DC Circ. Boots Retired EPA Director's Age Bias Suit

    The D.C. Circuit declined Tuesday to revive a suit from a retired U.S. Environmental Protection Agency director who said she was pushed into a junior role to make way for younger workers, finding she couldn't pursue the case because she didn't lose benefits or pay.

  • May 07, 2024

    Google Says Exec's Firing Based On Behavior, Not Bias

    Google urged a New York federal court to toss a lawsuit from a former executive who said he was fired for being a white man, arguing his termination came because he threw a raucous, alcohol-fueled party at his lake house despite receiving prior warnings about bad behavior.

  • May 07, 2024

    Tennis Org. Ordered To Pay $9M For Sexual Abuse Negligence

    The U.S. Tennis Association has been ordered to pay $9 million to tennis pro Kylie McKenzie, who has waged a legal battle against the organization over its failure to shield her from sexual abuse at the hands of her coach at a Florida training center.

  • May 07, 2024

    Sidley Brings On Wilson Sonsini Employment Pro In Palo Alto

    Sidley Austin LLP has boosted its labor and employment practice with a partner joining from Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC who boasts more than a decade of experience handling employment-related matters in Silicon Valley.

  • May 06, 2024

    Ikea Sanctioned For Deleting Emails In Age Bias Suit

    A Pennsylvania federal judge on Monday sanctioned Ikea for deleting four email accounts it had a duty to preserve in a proposed collective action alleging the furniture retailer discriminated based on age, saying Ikea was grossly negligent, the plaintiffs were prejudiced and the retailers' subsequent "strategy of delay and obfuscation" was "offensive."

  • May 06, 2024

    Judge Weighs Discovery Need On McD's No-Poach Standard

    No-poach antitrust litigation against McDonald's is getting back underway in Illinois federal court following the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal of the fast food giant's appeal, spurring the district court judge to consider whether more discovery might be needed to determine the appropriate standard that will govern the case.

  • May 06, 2024

    Ex-JetBlue Attendant Can't Have Neurological Exam Recorded

    A New York federal judge said Monday that a former flight attendant for JetBlue Airways Corp. who said she suffered brain injuries from being exposed to toxic fumes can't have a neurological examination recorded, saying she hadn't established special conditions that would warrant it.

  • May 06, 2024

    Pet Food Co. Hill's Sues Exec In Del. To Block Freshpet Job

    Hill's Pet Nutrition Inc. asked Delaware's Court of Chancery on Monday to bar its former U.S president from taking a position with smaller industry competitor Freshpet Inc., saying the hiring was imminent and urging fast-track proceedings to block the move.

  • May 06, 2024

    Bridgewater Fights To Keep Bias Claims Under Wraps

    Connecticut asset management firm Bridgewater Associates LP fought Friday to keep dispute with two terminated employees over alleged discrimination in arbitration, saying the Federal Arbitration Act bans its ex-workers from using state court procedures contrary to private dispute resolution agreements, and from airing grievances in public.

  • May 06, 2024

    Employer's Good Faith Axes Paystub Fine, Calif. Justices Rule

    The California Supreme Court on Monday held that if an employer had a good faith belief it was providing complete and accurate wage statements to its employees, it has not knowingly and intentionally violated state labor law, meaning workers cannot recover civil penalties offered for intentional violations of wage statement requirements.

  • May 06, 2024

    5th Circ. Revives Airline Workers' Hearing-Loss Suit

    A pair of flight attendants seeking to hold Boeing liable over hearing loss they suffered due to an aircraft's allegedly faulty smoke alarm have successfully convinced a Fifth Circuit panel to allow them to refile their case, bringing their claims back from the brink almost three years after the appeals court tossed them.

  • May 06, 2024

    7th Circ. Backs Ford In Black Ex-Plumber's Bias Suit

    The Seventh Circuit on Monday upheld Ford Motor Co.'s defeat of a former plumber's lawsuit alleging she was punished for reporting she'd been treated harshly by her supervisor because she's a Black Muslim woman, finding nothing wrong with a lower court tossing the case.

  • May 06, 2024

    9th Circ. Hints Walmart Can't Avoid Jury In Disability Bias Suit

    A Ninth Circuit panel indicated Monday that it doubted Walmart Inc. was being honest when it told a vision-impaired employee seeking to come back from a leave of absence that no jobs were available, with one judge suggesting a jury should decide if the retail giant lied to the worker.

  • May 06, 2024

    Home Builder Beats NC Trade Secrets Suit

    The North Carolina's business court scrapped an interior designer's claims that a competitor stole cabinetry designs and customer information when it hired a former employee, sparing only an accusation that the ex-worker embezzled money.

  • May 06, 2024

    Workday Defeats In-House Atty's Bias Suit, For Now

    A California magistrate judge on Monday dismissed, for now, a lawsuit by a Workday Inc. in-house attorney who accused the company of discriminatory and retaliatory behavior, which included pay inequities and calling the police to conduct an unnecessary wellness check at his house when he was hospitalized. 

  • May 06, 2024

    Chicago To Pay $6M To End Water Workers' Race Bias Suits

    The city of Chicago will pay nearly $6 million to end several lawsuits accusing its water management department of allowing racism to go unchecked and subjecting Black employees to harsher discipline than white workers, counsel for the workers said Monday.

  • May 06, 2024

    Judge Questions Reason For Removing Chem Co. Wage Class

    A Pennsylvania federal judge joined chemical company workers Monday in questioning whether the company had plausibly alleged that there were enough people in a proposed class to remove their wage suit from state court.

  • May 06, 2024

    NJ Justices Erase Gov't Workplace Probe Confidentiality Rule

    The New Jersey Supreme Court on Monday struck down part of a state statute that directs investigators to request, but not require, confidentiality in discrimination or harassment investigations involving state workers, ruling the provision still reached too far and chilled protected speech.

  • May 06, 2024

    Mass. Justices Wary Of Spiking Uber, Lyft Ballot Questions

    Justices on Massachusetts' highest court appeared unlikely Monday to strike down ballot proposals to reinvent app-based drivers' relationships with Uber, Lyft and the like, commenting that the scattershot ideas for voters in March all carry the underlying theme of creating a carveout from the state's worker-friendly employee classification law.

  • May 06, 2024

    Ex-Worker Sues Fla. Krispy Kreme Over Transgender Status

    A former employee at a corporate-owned Krispy Kreme restaurant in Miami has sued the company in Florida state court on allegations of sex and gender discrimination, saying that a manager fired her after learning about her transgender status.

  • May 06, 2024

    Chamber's Noncompete Challenge On Hold For Earlier Case

    A Texas federal court has paused the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's case challenging the Federal Trade Commission's pending ban on noncompetes and encouraged the group to join a case filed a day earlier by tax services and software company Ryan LLC.

  • May 06, 2024

    Colo. High Court Sanctions Ex-Judge Who Harassed Staff

    The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday formally censured a former state judge who sought out relationships with court staff and tried to get another judge to expedite his father's probate case, finding the judge "repeatedly abused his power for self-gain," and ordered him to pay $51,000 in sanctions.

  • May 06, 2024

    Blaze Media Must Show Docs In Harassment Suit, Judge Says

    A Texas federal judge ordered Blaze Media to cough up documents relating to a former commentator accused of sexual harassment, finding that the conservative media company didn't do enough to show that the discovery requests were overly broad and concerned confidential information.

Expert Analysis

  • Securing A Common Understanding Of Language Used At Trial

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    Witness examinations in the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump illustrate the importance of building a common understanding of words and phrases and examples as a fact-finding tool at trial, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • Where 9th Circ. Lowe's Ruling Leaves PAGA Jurisprudence

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    Leah Kennedy and Carolyn Wheeler at Katz Banks discuss the legal landscape and controlling precedent around the Private Attorneys General Act that led to the Ninth Circuit's Johnson v. Lowe's decision last month on individual PAGA wage claims, and explore the open questions that it leaves.

  • What Texas Employers Should Know After PWFA Ruling

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    After a Texas federal judge recently enjoined federal agencies from enforcing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act against the state of Texas, all employers must still remain sensitive to local, state and federal protections for pregnant workers, and proactive in their approach to pregnancy-related accommodations, says Maritza Sanchez at Phelps Dunbar.

  • 5 Issues To Consider When Liquidating Through An ABC

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    Assignments for the benefit of creditors continue to grow in popularity as a tool for an orderly wind-down, and companies should be considering a number of issues before effectuating the assignment, including in which state it should occur, obtaining tail coverage and preparing a board creditor mailing list, says Evelyn Meltzer at Troutman Pepper.

  • Opinion

    Judicial Independence Is Imperative This Election Year

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    As the next election nears, the judges involved in the upcoming trials against former President Donald Trump increasingly face political pressures and threats of violence — revealing the urgent need to safeguard judicial independence and uphold the rule of law, says Benes Aldana at the National Judicial College.

  • AI In Performance Management: Mitigating Employer Risk

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    Companies are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence tools in performance management, exposing organizations to significant risks, which they can manage through employee training, bias assessments, and comprehensive policies and procedures related to the new technology, say Gregory Brown and Cindy Huang at Jackson Lewis.

  • Series

    Riding My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Using the Peloton platform for cycling, running, rowing and more taught me that fostering a mind-body connection will not only benefit you physically and emotionally, but also inspire stamina, focus, discipline and empathy in your legal career, says Christopher Ward at Polsinelli.

  • What To Watch As Justices Consider Appeal Deadline Case

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    Next week, in Harrow v. U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider for the first time whether a statutory deadline for appealing from a federal agency to an Article III court is jurisdictional, setting the stage for a decision that could dramatically reshape the landscape for challenging agency decisions, say attorneys at MoloLamken.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: March Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses four notable circuit court decisions on topics from consumer fraud to employment — and provides key takeaways for counsel on issues including coercive communications with putative class members and Article III standing at the class certification stage.

  • Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents

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    Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.

  • What The NIL Negotiation Rules Injunction Means For NCAA

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    A Tennessee federal court's recent preliminary injunction reverses several prominent and well-established NCAA rules on negotiations with student-athletes over name, image and likeness compensation and shows that collegiate athletics is a profoundly unsettled legal environment, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • What 2 Years Of Ukraine-Russia Conflict Can Teach Cos.

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    A few key legal lessons for the global business community since Russia's invasion of Ukraine could help protect global commerce in times of future conflict, including how to respond to disparate trade restrictions and sanctions, navigate war-related contract disputes, and protect against heightened cybersecurity risks, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • EEOC Case Reminds That Men Can Also Claim Pay Bias

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    The Maryland State Highway Administration recently settled U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claims that a male employee was paid less than his female colleagues, highlighting why employers should not focus on a particular protected class when it comes to assessing pay bias risk, say Barbara Grandjean and Audrey Merkel at Husch Blackwell.

  • 3 Litigation Strategies To Combat 'Safetyism'

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    Amid the rise of safetyism — the idea that every person should be free from the risk of harm or discomfort — among jurors and even judges, defense counsel can mount several tactics from the very start of litigation to counteract these views and blunt the potential for jackpot damages, says Ann Marie Duffy at Hollingsworth.

  • Takeaways From NLRB Advice On 'Outside' Employment

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    Rebecca Leaf at Miles & Stockbridge examines a recent memo from the National Labor Relations Board’s Division of Advice that said it’s unlawful for employers to restrict secondary or outside employment, and explains what companies should know about the use of certain restrictive covenants going forward.

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