Employment

May 09, 2025
Calif. Judge Blocks Trump's Gov't Reorganization, Job Cuts

A California federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked federal agencies and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency from carrying out President Donald Trump's directive to reduce the government workforce, saying the president doesn't have the constitutional or statutory authority "to reorganize the executive branch."
May 09, 2025
Split 4th Circ. Revives Naval Engineers' No-Poach Case

A split Fourth Circuit panel Friday revived a putative class action accusing major shipbuilders and naval engineering consultants of an illegal "no-poach" conspiracy, with the majority holding that just because the alleged conspirators never formalized their purported agreements in writing, it doesn't mean the conspiracy can't be unlawful.
May 09, 2025
Ga. Auto Dealer Accused Of Race Bias By Ex-Workers

A Georgia automobile dealership operator has been sued in Georgia federal court by six Black former employees who allege they were discriminated against because of their race, then were fired for reporting the alleged mistreatment.
May 09, 2025
Employment Authority: Biden-Era Wage Rules Tumble

Law360 Employment Authority covers the biggest employment cases and trends. Catch up this week with coverage on what Biden-era wage and hour rules the U.S. Department of Labor has stopped enforcing, what a quorum at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission would look like under Trump and how a union is using unconventional methods to organize video game workers.
May 09, 2025
Wells Fargo Execs Sued In Del. Over 'Sham' Diversity Efforts

A Wells Fargo stockholder launched a derivative suit on Friday in Delaware's Court of Chancery seeking damages from 17 of the banking giant's directors and officers for potentially billions in costs tied to alleged "sham" diversity-focused recruitment and hiring initiatives.
May 09, 2025
Gov't Fights Latest Challenge To Worker Resignation Offer

A Massachusetts federal judge should toss a renewed challenge to the Trump administration's resignation incentive program for the same reasons he tossed it before, the government argued, saying the union-brought challenge is doomed because of standing issues and because it belongs before an agency, not a federal judge.
May 09, 2025
NY Gov. Amends Frequency Law's Liquidated Damages Clock

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday approved changes to the state's highly litigated law requiring manual workers to be paid weekly, including changes to liquidated damages workers could receive from violations, as part of the fiscal year 2026 budget.
May 09, 2025
Immigrants Find Workers' Rights Behind Bars

Immigration detainees are bringing about a sea change in workers’ rights behind bars, chipping away at the assumption that people in civil detention or in prison fall outside the reach of minimum wage laws and protections against forced labor.
May 09, 2025
Working While Caged: The Fight To End Forced Prison Labor

Inmates battling wildfires are just the tip of the iceberg in a largely invisible workforce of more than 800,000 people who work for meager pay while incarcerated. Civil rights lawyers, advocates and some elected officials are pushing to change the legal framework that enables prison labor practices, which many trace back to American slavery and the 13th Amendment.
May 09, 2025
Disney Nears Prelim Approval On $43M Gender Pay Bias Deal

A California judge said Friday he intends to grant preliminary approval of a $43.25 million class action settlement in a suit alleging Disney paid thousands of women in middle management less than their male colleagues.
May 09, 2025
X Paying Millions In Severance Arbitration Losses, Atty Says

X Corp. has lost nine out of every 10 arbitrations over former Twitter employees' claims they were shorted on severance payouts after Elon Musk's takeover of the social media company, resulting in awards ranging from $100,000 to millions of dollars, one of the workers' attorneys told a California federal judge.
May 09, 2025
Souter's Clerks Remember Him As Humble, Kind And Caring

Former clerks of retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter are heartbroken over the death of a man many of them remember more for his conscientiousness, humility, kindness and disdain for the spotlight than for his undeniable brilliance as a jurist.
May 09, 2025
Insulet Seeks $30M In Atty Fees, Costs After Trade Secret Win

After winning a nearly $60 million judgment in a trade secrets lawsuit against South Korean company EOFlow Co. Ltd., medical device company Insulet Corp. has told a Massachusetts federal judge that it should be granted a little over $30 million in attorney fees and litigation costs in light of the rival's "remarkable" misappropriation of its technology for a wearable insulin patch pump.
May 09, 2025
AG Fights Ex-Immigration Judge's Disability Bias Claim In Fla.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi pushed back Friday on a former immigration judge's bid for a disability discrimination ruling in her favor, telling a Florida federal court that her requested transfer wasn't approved since there were no vacancies in her desired Orlando court during her tenure.
May 09, 2025
Off The Bench: Latest NIL Deal Fix, More WWE Court Troubles

In this week's Off The Bench, the NCAA tries again to get its multibillion-dollar compensation settlement approved, two sets of accusers draw Vince McMahon's history of misconduct at the WWE into their complaints, and the men's tennis tour was ordered to stop threatening players over joining an antitrust suit.
May 09, 2025
Hiker And 'Raconteur': Atty Recalls 50-Year Bond With Souter

Behind a towering legal legacy was a man who loved to hike mountains, could recall details of things he read decades ago and was always there for those he cared about, a New Hampshire attorney said as he reflected on a lifelong friendship with U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter.
May 09, 2025
Fisher Phillips Opens Tokyo Office Amid Regulatory Shifts

Employer-side labor law firm Fisher Phillips has launched a Tokyo office in response to increasing client demand from American and multinational companies doing business in Japan and from Japanese companies doing business in the Americas.
May 09, 2025
A Look At David Souter's Most Significant Opinions

The retired Justice David Souter defied simple definition, viewed as a staunch conservative until he co-wrote an opinion upholding abortion rights in 1992. He did not hew to partisan lines, but reshaped the civil litigation landscape and took an unexpected stand in an extraordinarily close presidential election.
May 09, 2025
Justice Souter Was An Unexpected Force Of Moderation

Justice David Souter, who saw the high court as a moderating force apart from the messiness of politics, subverted the expectations of liberals and conservatives alike during his 19 years on the bench.
May 09, 2025
Google Strikes $50M Deal To End Black Workers' Bias Suit

Google has agreed to pay $50 million to resolve a proposed class action claiming the technology giant paid thousands of Black workers less than their white colleagues and provided them scant opportunities for advancement, according to a filing in California federal court.
May 09, 2025
NC Finance Co. Says Ex-Director Kept Client Contact Info

A financial advising company took its former client services director to North Carolina's Business Court after he allegedly told the firm's president that he was not going to delete client information from his personal phone following his termination and intended to use it to solicit his ex-employer's customers.
May 09, 2025
Retired Supreme Court Justice David Souter Dies At 85

Retired Justice David H. Souter, who served on the U.S. Supreme Court from 1990 to 2009, has died at 85, the court announced Friday.
May 08, 2025
Ex-Brookfield Leader Says He Was Fired For Whistleblowing

A former managing partner at Brookfield Asset Management lobbed wrongful termination and defamation claims at his former employer Thursday, claiming that he was fired for refusing to accept a bribe and for filing a whistleblower complaint with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
May 08, 2025
5th Circ. Wipes Out Southwest Attys' Religious Training Order

The Fifth Circuit on Thursday held that a lower court overstepped by ordering several in-house Southwest Airlines attorneys to undergo "religious liberty training" following a flight attendant's win in a wrongful termination suit, finding that the training wouldn't benefit the flight attendant or persuade Southwest to comply with an earlier order.
May 08, 2025
Ex-Credit Union Employee Gets 1 Year For Embezzlement

A Montana woman who formerly served as the operations manager for the Altana Federal Credit Union has been sentenced to a year and one day in prison and must pay just over $65,000 in restitution for duplicating and using customers' bank cards.

Expert Analysis

7 Employment Contracts Issues Facing DOL Scrutiny

A growing trend of U.S. Department of Labor enforcement against employment practices that limit workers' rights and avoid legal responsibility shines a light on seven unique contractual provisions that violate federal labor laws, and face agressive litigation from the labor solicitor, says Thomas Starks at Freeman Mathis.
5 Litigation Funding Trends To Note In 2025

Lawyers and their clients must be prepared to navigate an evolving litigation funding market in 2025, made more complicated by a new administration and the increasing overall cost of litigation, says Jeffery Lula at GLS Capital.
How Deregulation Could Undermine Trump's Anti-DEI Agenda

While rolling back federal agency power benefited conservative policies during the Biden administration, it will likely undermine President Donald Trump's ability to wield agencies like the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives beyond the federal workforce and into the private sector, says Ally Coll at the Purple Method.
Rethinking Litigation Risk And What It Really Means To Win

Attorneys have a tendency to overestimate litigation risk before summary judgment and underestimate risk after it, but an eight-stage litigation framework can clarify risk at different points and help litigators reassess what true success looks like in any particular case, says Joshua Libling at Arcadia Finance.
How DOGE's Bite Can Live Up To Its Bark

All signs suggest that the Department of Government Efficiency will be an important part of the new Trump administration, with ample tools at its disposal to effectuate change, particularly with an attentive Republican-controlled Congress, say attorneys at K&L Gates.
5 Notable Information Security Events In 2024

B. Stephanie Siegmann at Hinckley Allen discusses 2024's largest and most destructive data breaches seen yet, ranging from ransomware disrupting U.S. healthcare systems on a massive scale, to tensions increasing between the U.S. and China over cyberespionage and the control of U.S. data.
Opinion

Trump Should Pass On Project 2025's Disparate Impact Plan

The Trump administration should reject Project 2025's call to eliminate the disparate impact doctrine because, as its pro-business Republican creators intended, a focus on dismantling unnecessary barriers to qualified job candidates serves companies' best interests more successfully than the alternatives, says Susan Carle at American University.
Series

Playing Rugby Makes Me A Better Lawyer

My experience playing rugby, including a near-fatal accident, has influenced my legal practice on a professional, organizational and personal level by showing me the importance of maintaining empathy, fostering team empowerment and embracing the art of preparation, says James Gillenwater at Greenberg Traurig.
Opinion

No, Litigation Funders Are Not 'Fleeing' The District Of Del.

A recent study claimed that litigation funders have “fled” Delaware federal court due to a standing order requiring disclosure of third-party financing, but responsible funders have no problem litigating in this jurisdiction, and many other factors could explain the decline in filings, say Will Freeman and Sarah Tsou at Omni Bridgeway.
The Compliance Trends And Imperatives On Tap In 2025

The corporate ethics and compliance landscape is rapidly evolving, posing challenges from conflicting stakeholder expectations to technological disruptions, and businesses will need to explore human-centered, data-driven and evidence-based practices, says Hui Chen at CDE Advisors.
How Trump Presidency May Influence NLRB's Next Phase

Attorneys at Paul Hastings discuss how last year’s key National Labor Relations Board developments may progress once President-elect Donald Trump takes office, including the wave of lawsuits challenging the board’s constitutionality and two landmark board decisions that upset decades of precedent.
Top 10 Noncompete Developments Of 2024

Following an eventful year in noncompete law at both state and federal levels, employers can no longer rely on a court's willingness to blue-pencil overbroad agreements and are proceeding at their own peril if they do not thoughtfully review and carefully enforce such agreements, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.
5 E-Discovery Predictions For 2025 And Beyond

In the year to come, e-discovery will be shaped by new and emerging trends, from the adoption of artificial intelligence provisions in protective orders, to the proliferation of emojis as a source of evidence in contemporary litigation, say attorneys at Littler.
Celebs' Suits Show Limits Of Calif. Anti-SLAPP Laws

Two recent cases including Amanda Ghost v. Rebel Wilson and Leviss v. Sandoval highlight the delicate balancing act courts must perform in weighing free speech against privacy and reputational harm under California's robust anti-strategic lawsuit against public participation laws, say attorneys at Nixon Peabody.
2 Cases May Signal Where FTC Is Headed On Labor Issues

Two recent Federal Trade Commission challenges to no-hire clauses in agreements between building service firms and their customers include comments by future FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson that may offer insight into the direction the FTC is headed on labor issues, says Michael Wise at Squire Patton.