Employment

  • May 22, 2024

    Calif. Court Rejects Arbitration Pact Stacked Against Workers

    The arbitration pact an eyeglass retailer provided to a former employee was procedurally and substantively unconscionable and therefore unenforceable, a California state appeals court ruled, affirming a trial court's decision in a worker's wage and hour suit.

  • May 22, 2024

    Chanel Stiffs Calif. Workers On Meal Breaks, OT, Court Told

    Hourly employees at Chanel in California have not been paid for all their hours worked, including missed meal breaks and overtime, a former worker told a state court.

  • May 21, 2024

    2nd Circ. Partially Backs Win For Nurses' Union Pension Plan

    In a 90-page opinion, the Second Circuit on Tuesday mostly upheld a Manhattan federal judge's decision affirming an arbiter's award favoring a nurses' pension plan, agreeing that White Oak Global Advisors LLC must return "Day 1" fees totaling nearly $2 million and pay prejudgment interest said to top $22 million.

  • May 21, 2024

    Paramount Pictures Violated Wage Laws, Crew Member Says

    Paramount Pictures Corp. failed to pay crew members working on movie productions their total wages, denied them proper rest breaks and refused to reimburse them for out-of-pocket expenses, according to a proposed Private Attorneys General Act class action filed Monday in California state court.

  • May 21, 2024

    Calif. Justices Doubt App-Based Drivers' Prop 22 Challenge

    Several California Supreme Court justices pushed back Tuesday against arguments by ride-hailing drivers that the Proposition 22 ballot measure carving out certain app-based workers from a worker classification law unconstitutionally runs afoul of the Legislature's authority, with one justice saying their position could "freeze out" voter-approved initiatives.

  • May 21, 2024

    Fla. Scientist Fights Contempt Ruling In Data Theft Suit

    A Florida Everglades scientist urged a state appeals court Tuesday to reverse a contempt ruling against him over violating an injunction to preserve computer data from his prior job, saying that the order was ambiguous and that the lower court wrongly appointed opposing counsel to prosecute the violation.

  • May 21, 2024

    Foxwoods Restaurant Servers Win Class Cert. in Wage Feud

    A Connecticut state court judge has granted certification to a class of tipped workers in their wage-and-hour suit against a steakhouse at the Foxwoods Resort Casino, ruling they have plausibly shown that the restaurant failed to pay them a fair wage under state law.

  • May 21, 2024

    Ship Engineers Take Case Against Shipbuilders To 4th Circ.

    A pair of naval engineers are challenging a Virginia federal judge's decision to toss their proposed class action accusing a collection of shipbuilding military contractors of entering into secret "no-poach" agreements, asking the Fourth Circuit to take up their appeal in a new filing.

  • May 21, 2024

    NC Agency Atty Gets More Time To Prep For Bias Trial

    A North Carolina federal judge shut down the state justice department's bid to stop an attorney from calling witnesses and offering exhibits in her discrimination trial, according to a docket order that appears to give the plaintiff more time to prepare.

  • May 21, 2024

    EEOC Guidance Over Gender Identity Can't Stand, Texas Says

    The Texas attorney general requested Tuesday that a federal judge do away with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's enforcement guidance over gender identity and Title VII, arguing that the agency must be stopped from requiring employers' compliance with pronoun and bathroom accommodations.

  • May 21, 2024

    MLB Scouts' Colo. Age Bias Suit Moved To New York

    A Colorado federal judge refused to dismiss an age bias suit brought against Major League Baseball by a group of 40-and-older scouts and instead transferred the case to New York, saying he was using his discretionary authority because most defendants have no ties to his district.

  • May 21, 2024

    NY High Court Upholds State Abortion Coverage Mandate

    New York's highest court on Tuesday upheld a state law requiring employee health plans to cover medically necessary abortions, finding a 2021 U.S. Supreme Court decision didn't change the state court's determination that an exemption process in the law was constitutional.

  • May 21, 2024

    OSHA Hit With Constitutional Challenge To Walkaround Rule

    A dozen business groups led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sued the Occupational Safety and Health Administration over the so-called walkaround rule in Texas federal court Tuesday, challenging the constitutionality of a two-month-old regulation that expanded workers' right to bring in outside representatives during job safety inspections.

  • May 21, 2024

    Ex-Crypto Co. President Was Deceived And Ousted, Suit Says

    A cryptocurrency entrepreneur has filed a suit in Delaware's Court of Chancery accusing a CEO of making fraudulent misrepresentations to recruit him to serve as president of his blockchain company, then unjustifiably firing him.

  • May 21, 2024

    6th Circ. Won't Restart GM Engineer's Age Bias Suit

    The Sixth Circuit on Tuesday backed General Motors' defeat of an engineer's lawsuit claiming he was harassed and transferred to less lucrative jobs because he's over 50, ruling he failed to show that a supervisor's sporadic comments created a hostile work environment.

  • May 21, 2024

    UMich Punished Officer For Talking To Press, Jury Finds

    A jury in Detroit federal court on Tuesday awarded a University of Michigan police officer $300,000 in emotional distress damages, finding the school unlawfully retaliated against him after he spoke with a journalist about its alleged mishandling of a sexual assault report.

  • May 21, 2024

    Colo. Hotel Denies Directly Hiring H-2B Workers In Wage Suit

    A Colorado luxury hotel told a federal judge that it doesn't belong in a proposed class action accusing it and its cleaning contractor of unlawfully deducting Mexican housekeeping workers' wages, saying the contractor is the workers' sole employer.

  • May 21, 2024

    Some DOL Informers To Be Disclosed In Fishery Wage Case

    A Mississippi federal judge ordered the U.S. Department of Labor to disclose the identities of migrant workers with knowledge of a fishery's alleged interference with a DOL investigation or of allegations the fishery retaliated against workers cooperating in the probe.

  • May 21, 2024

    College QB Sues Gators' Coach For False $13.9M NIL Deal

    Former prospective University of Florida Gators quarterback Jaden Rashada alleged in a federal lawsuit Tuesday that the football coach and boosters lured him to the university with false promises of a $13.85 million name, image and likeness deal that cost him a legitimate deal he had lined up at a different school.

  • May 21, 2024

    Split Fed. Circ. Revives IP Suit Against Nokia Over Standing

    A split Federal Circuit on Tuesday threw out a lower court decision that found an inventor's company didn't have standing to sue Nokia, Cisco and ADVA over a fiber optic patent, saying it was unclear if the company had the rights to the patent.

  • May 21, 2024

    Caterpillar To Pay $800K To End DOL Race Bias Probe

    Heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar Inc. has agreed to pay $800,000 to resolve U.S. Department of Labor allegations that it refused to hire qualified Black applicants for welding positions at an Illinois facility, the agency said Tuesday.

  • May 21, 2024

    Littler Hires Employment Advice Leader From Lewis Brisbois

    The co-chair of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP's employment advice and counseling practice has joined Littler Mendelson PC's Providence, Rhode Island, office, the firm announced.

  • May 21, 2024

    NC Panel Cans Atty's 'Grossly Excessive' Fees In Wage Suit

    A North Carolina appeals court rejected a real estate agent's bid to be awarded nearly $500,000 in attorney fees after winning an unpaid wages lawsuit, reasoning Tuesday that state wage law doesn't require that fees be granted to a prevailing party.

  • May 21, 2024

    Ex-EnCore GC Joins Fisher Phillips' Gov't Relations Team

    Fisher Phillips announced Tuesday that it has hired for its government relations practice group an attorney who was EnCore Energy Corp.'s former general counsel and has extensive experience in the public sector, including a stint as principal deputy solicitor for the U.S. Department of the Interior.

  • May 21, 2024

    Bottini & Bottini Gets Atty Fee Suit Sent To Arbitration

    A Texas attorney must arbitrate his $730,000 fee suit against Bottini & Bottini Inc., a federal judge in the Lone Star State has ordered, finding the settlement agreement underlying the lawyer's claims included a binding arbitration clause despite the attorney not personally signing the document.

Expert Analysis

  • When Trade Secret Protection And Nat'l Security Converge

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    The Trump administration's anti-espionage program focused on China is over, but federal enforcement efforts to protect trade secrets and U.S. national security continue, and companies doing business in high-risk jurisdictions need to maintain their compliance programs to avoid the risk of being caught in the crosshairs of an investigation, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • The Merger Cases That Will Matter At ABA Antitrust Meeting

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    While the American Bar Association's Antitrust Spring Meeting this week will cover all types of competition law issues in the U.S. and abroad, expect the federal agencies' recent track record in merger enforcement to be a key area of focus on the official panels and in cocktail party chatter, say attorneys at Freshfields.

  • Series

    Playing Hockey Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Nearly a lifetime of playing hockey taught me the importance of avoiding burnout in all aspects of life, and the game ultimately ended up providing me with the balance I needed to maintain success in my legal career, says John Riccione at Taft.

  • A Snapshot Of The Evolving Restrictive Covenant Landscape

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    Rachael Martinez and Brooke Bahlinger at Foley highlight recent trends in the hotly contested regulation and enforcement of noncompetition and related nonsolicitation covenants, and provide guidance on drafting such provisions within the context of stand-alone employment agreements and merger or acquisition transactions.

  • For Lawyers, Pessimism Should Be A Job Skill, Not A Life Skill

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    A pessimistic mindset allows attorneys to be effective advocates for their clients, but it can come with serious costs for their personal well-being, so it’s crucial to exercise strategies that produce flexible optimism and connect lawyers with their core values, says Krista Larson at Stinson.

  • Broadway Ruling Puts Discrimination Claims In The Limelight

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    A New York federal court's recent decision in Moore v. Hadestown Broadway that the employers' choice to replace a Black actor with a white actor was shielded by the First Amendment is the latest in a handful of rulings zealously protecting hiring decisions in casting, say Anthony Oncidi and Dixie Morrison at Proskauer.

  • Opinion

    Requiring Leave To File Amicus Briefs Is A Bad Idea

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    A proposal to amend the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure that would require parties to get court permission before filing federal amicus briefs would eliminate the long-standing practice of consent filing and thereby make the process less open and democratic, says Lawrence Ebner at the Atlantic Legal Foundation and DRI Center.

  • Beware OSHA's Aggressive Stance Toward Safety Violations

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    The solicitor of labor's recent enforcement report shows the Occupational Safety and Health Administration will increasingly consider creative enforcement measures and even criminal referrals to hold employers accountable for workplace safety infractions, say Ronald Taylor and Page Kim at Venable.

  • 4 Ways To Motivate Junior Attorneys To Bring Their Best

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    As Gen Z and younger millennial attorneys increasingly express dissatisfaction with their work and head for the exits, the lawyers who manage them must understand and attend to their needs and priorities to boost engagement and increase retention, says Stacey Schwartz at Katten.

  • The Tricky Implications Of New Calif. Noncompete Laws

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    Two new California noncompete laws that ban certain out-of-state agreements and require employers to notify certain workers raise novel issues related to mergers and acquisitions, and pose particular challenges for technology companies, says John Viola at Thompson Coburn.

  • Patent Ownership Issues In Light Of USPTO AI Guidance

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    Recently published guidance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office establishes that inventions created using artificial intelligence may be patentable if a human also significantly contributes, but ownership and legal rights in these types of patents are different issues that require further assessment, says Karl Gross at Leydig Voit.

  • Calif. Ruling Shows Limits Of Exculpatory Lease Clauses

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    A California court's recent decision in Epochal Enterprises v. LF Encinitas Properties, finding a landlord liable for failing to disclose the presence of asbestos on the subject property, underscores the limits of exculpatory clauses' ability to safeguard landlords from liability where known hazards are present, say Fawaz Bham and Javier De Luna at Hunton.

  • Breaking Down California's New Workplace Violence Law

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    Ilana Morady and Patrick Joyce at Seyfarth discuss several aspects of a new California law that requires employers to create and implement workplace violence prevention plans, including who is covered and the recordkeeping and training requirements that must be in place before the law goes into effect on July 1.

  • Series

    Serving As A Sheriff's Deputy Made Me A Better Lawyer

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    Skills developed during my work as a reserve deputy — where there was a need to always be prepared, decisive and articulate — transferred to my practice as an intellectual property litigator, and my experience taught me that clients often appreciate and relate to the desire to participate in extracurricular activities, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.

  • Fears About The End Of Chevron Deference Are Overblown

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    While some are concerned about repercussions if the U.S. Supreme Court brings an end to Chevron deference in the Loper and Relentless cases this term, agencies and attorneys would survive just fine under the doctrines that have already begun to replace it, say Daniel Wolff and Henry Leung at Crowell & Moring.

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