Employment

  • March 18, 2024

    High Court Won't Touch BASF Worker's Vax Bias Suit

    The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to hear a BASF Corp. engineer's suit claiming the chemical company unlawfully isolated him from colleagues and forced COVID-19 precautions on him, leaving in place a Fifth Circuit ruling that his unvaccinated status doesn't count as a disability.

  • March 18, 2024

    Justices Won't Review McDonald's No-Poach Case

    A proposed class action targeting McDonald's past use of no-poach provisions in its franchise agreements will move ahead after the Supreme Court on Monday turned down McDonald's petition to review a Seventh Circuit ruling reviving the case.

  • March 15, 2024

    Calif. Truckers Lose Renewed Bid To Block AB 5

    A California federal judge Friday rejected a renewed bid by trucking groups to block enforcement of Assembly Bill 5, which presumes most workers are employees with few exceptions, saying any tinkering of "perceived deficiencies" is "better left to the soap box and the ballot box."

  • March 15, 2024

    Tesla Owes $42.5M To Injured Motorcyclist, Jury Says

    An Indiana state jury has awarded $42.5 million to a motorcyclist who was hit by a Tesla employee taking a left turn across traffic in a Ford work truck.

  • March 15, 2024

    Employment Authority: Diversity Programs Nab 2nd Circ. Win

    Law360 Employment Authority covers the biggest employment cases and trends. Catch up this week with coverage on why a recent Second Circuit decision axing an attack of a Pfizer diversity fellowship will make it harder to bring similar challenges, what trends in equal pay laws attorneys should be tuned in to and what's ahead in Starbucks' union strategy following an apparent negotiation breakthrough.

  • March 15, 2024

    'Perplexed' Mich. Panel Restores Eye Doc's $227K Fee Award

    An ophthalmologist who emerged victorious from a decade-long battle over a noncompete agreement with his previous employer should not lose his attorney fee award because of late-breaking evidence that undermined his win, a Michigan state appeals court has ruled.

  • March 15, 2024

    Perdue Beats Back Chicken Farmers' OT Collective Cert. Bid

    A Georgia federal judge refused to certify a proposed collective action of broiler chicken farmers claiming Perdue Foods LLC misclassified them as independent contractors to avoid paying overtime, saying one single opt-in after six months of discovery is insufficient to show that other farmers are interested in joining the suit.

  • March 15, 2024

    Harvard Enabled Anti-Asian Bias Against Professor, Suit Says

    Administrators at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design failed to take action after an associate professor from China complained about years of what she believed was discriminatory treatment by a colleague, a lawsuit filed Friday in Massachusetts state court alleges.

  • March 15, 2024

    Pittsburgh NLRB Office Approves Security Co.'s ULP Deal

    A security company will pay more than $286,000 to workers to settle an unfair labor practice charge, the National Labor Relations Board announced Friday, with the NLRB general counsel winning a lost bargaining opportunity remedy.

  • March 15, 2024

    Ohio Ambulance Co. Says HR Firm Botched Tax Returns

    An Ohio ambulance company accused its human resources management firm of failing to accurately prepare and submit amended tax returns that would have allowed the company to claim pandemic-era tax credits, according to a complaint filed in an Ohio federal court.

  • March 15, 2024

    Pa. University Knocks Out Surgeon's $15M Sex Bias Win

    A Pennsylvania federal judge has erased a $15 million verdict won by a surgeon who said Thomas Jefferson University ignored his claims that a female resident sexually assaulted him, ruling that text messages he sent warranted a new trial.

  • March 15, 2024

    GE Reaches Settlement Deal In Ex-Workers' Severance Fight

    General Electric Co. told a Kansas federal court it has reached a deal to resolve a federal benefits lawsuit from two former wind farm workers who alleged they were shortchanged on severance, a settlement coming after the energy giant lost a motion to dismiss the case in December.

  • March 15, 2024

    Ex-Philly AFSCME Council Prez Wants Election Bar Reversed

    A former American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees leader who faced charges that he skirted hiring rules wants a Pennsylvania federal court to find that a hearing officer overstepped his authority when he removed him from office and banned him from running for reelection last month.

  • March 15, 2024

    Appeals Court Rejects Medical Cannabis User's Bias Suit

    A Connecticut appeals court refused to reinstate a former teaching assistant's lawsuit accusing a nonprofit of firing her because she has epilepsy, which she treats with medicinal cannabis, saying she failed to overcome the organization's argument that she was fired for being high around children.

  • March 15, 2024

    Feds Want 6 Years For 'Poster Boy' Of Mass. Police Corruption

    Boston federal prosecutors have recommended nearly 6 years in prison for a former Massachusetts trooper who they say is the living embodiment of police misconduct in light of his trial convictions for stealing overtime pay, lying on his taxes and cheating to get student financial aid for his son.

  • March 15, 2024

    Senate Poised To Vote On Union Atty Berner For 4th Circ.

    The U.S. Senate is scheduled to vote on Tuesday night on the confirmation of Nicole Berner, general counsel of the Service Employees International Union, for the Fourth Circuit.

  • March 15, 2024

    DOL Fights Fishery's Bid To Unveil Migrant Worker Identities

    The U.S. Department of Labor is fighting an attempt by a Mississippi fishery to uncover the identities of temporary foreign workers who claim they were retaliated against during a wage investigation, urging a federal judge to prohibit their disclosure.

  • March 15, 2024

    DOL Says PBGC Overpayment Returns Don't Violate ERISA

    The U.S. Department of Labor's employee benefits arm says it won't take enforcement action against pension plans that return overpayments made by the nation's pension backstop agency during the COVID-19 pandemic, as Congress continues to probe an accidental $127 million overpayment to a Teamsters plan.

  • March 15, 2024

    Detroit Tigers Can't Shut Out Ex-Worker's Age Bias Suit

    A Michigan federal judge said Friday a jury should hear a 58-year-old former Detroit Tigers clubhouse manager's claims that he was fired because of his age, pointing to a record that could show his boss had a pattern of replacing older workers with younger ones.

  • March 15, 2024

    Jury Hands Colo. Sportscaster Air Ball In Kroenke Bias Suit

    A Colorado federal jury has rejected a Hispanic sportscaster's claims of discrimination against pro sports empire Kroenke Sports & Entertainment in a suit alleging his former employers farmed out his duties to white coworkers and demoted him due to his race, age and substance-use disability.

  • March 15, 2024

    Off The Bench: QB 'Extortion,' Bears Bias Suit, Trans Athletes

    In this week's Off The Bench, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott claims a woman wants him to buy her silence about an alleged sexual assault, a man says the Chicago Bears denied him a job because he is white, and an inclusive roller derby team fights a county order denying facilities access to transgender girls and women.

  • March 15, 2024

    Trade Secret Cases Are Up As Clients Eye Patent Alternatives

    Trade secret litigation has seen a gradual increase over the past decade, driven by the promise of substantial damages awards, a new federal law, and frustration over the challenges of patent litigation, according to intellectual property attorneys.

  • March 15, 2024

    Alston & Bird, Ex-Employee File Deal After Contempt Threat

    Alston & Bird LLP and its former diversity and inclusion administrator have presented their proposed $55,000 settlement in Georgia federal court concerning unpaid overtime claims, after a judge ordered them to appear in court to explain why they hadn't already filed one.

  • March 15, 2024

    Amazon Tells 2nd Circ. Security Screenings Aren't Work

    Amazon told the Second Circuit that the security screenings employees underwent after their shifts were over aren't work and should be compensated as such, urging the panel to keep a Connecticut federal court's ruling in its favor.

  • March 15, 2024

    Snack Co. Workers Get Cert. In Ohio Wage Suit

    An Ohio federal judge preliminarily certified a collective of food distribution workers on claims that they had to perform work before clocking in and during breaks without pay, saying they proved that the company's policies were applied universally.

Expert Analysis

  • Business Litigators Have A Source Of Untapped Fulfillment

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    As increasing numbers of attorneys struggle with stress and mental health issues, business litigators can find protection against burnout by remembering their important role in society — because fulfillment in one’s work isn’t just reserved for public interest lawyers, say Bennett Rawicki and Peter Bigelow at Hilgers Graben.

  • Generative AI Adds Risk To Employee 'Self-Help' Discovery

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    Plaintiffs have long engaged in their own evidence gathering for claims against current or former employers, but as more companies implement generative AI tools, both the potential scope and the potential risks of such "self-help" discovery are rising quickly, says Nick Peterson at Wiley.

  • 5 Ways To Hone Deposition Skills And Improve Results

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Depositions must never be taken for granted in the preparations needed to win a dispositive motion or a trial, and five best practices, including knowing when to hire a videographer, can significantly improve outcomes, says James Argionis at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Series

    Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    A lifetime of skiing has helped me develop important professional skills, and taught me that embracing challenges with a spirit of adventure can allow lawyers to push boundaries, expand their capabilities and ultimately excel in their careers, says Andrea Przybysz at Tucker Ellis.

  • Navigating Trade Secret Litigation In A High-Stakes Landscape

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    Recent eye-popping verdicts are becoming increasingly common in trade secret litigation — but employers can take several proactive steps to protect proprietary information and defend against misappropriation accusations in order to avoid becoming the next headline, say Jessica Mason and Jack FitzGerald at Foley & Lardner.

  • Opinion

    UK Whistleblowers Flock To The US For Good Reason

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    The U.K. Serious Fraud Office director recently brought renewed attention to the differences between the U.K. and U.S. whistleblower regimes — differences that may make reporting to U.S. agencies a better and safer option for U.K. whistleblowers, and show why U.K. whistleblower laws need to be improved, say Benjamin Calitri and Kate Reeves at Kohn Kohn.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Forget Everything You Know About IRAC

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    The mode of legal reasoning most students learn in law school, often called “Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion,” or IRAC, erroneously frames analysis as a separate, discrete step, resulting in disorganized briefs and untold obfuscation — but the fix is pretty simple, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Opinion

    There Is No NCAA Supremacy Clause, Especially For NIL

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    A recent Tennessee federal court ruling illustrates the NCAA's problematic position that its member schools should violate state law rather than its rules — and the organization's legal history with the dormant commerce clause raises a fundamental constitutional issue that will have to be resolved before attorneys can navigate NIL with confidence, says Patrick O’Donnell at HWG.

  • Employer Pointers As Wage And Hour AI Risks Emerge

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    Following the Biden administration's executive order on artificial intelligence, employers using or considering artificial intelligence tools should carefully assess whether such use could increase their exposure to liability under federal and state wage and hour laws, and be wary of algorithmic discrimination, bias and inaccurate or incomplete reporting, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • The Pros And Cons Of Protecting AI As Trade Secrets

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    Despite regulatory trends toward greater transparency of artificial intelligence models, federal policy acknowledges, and perhaps endorses, trade secret protection for AI information, but there are still hurdles in keeping AI information a secret, say Jennifer Maisel and Andrew Stewart at Rothwell Figg.

  • Complying With Enforcers' Ephemeral Messaging Guidance

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    Given federal antitrust enforcers’ recently issued guidance on ephemeral messaging applications, organizations must take a proactive approach to preserving short-lived communications — or risk criminal obstruction charges and civil discovery sanctions, say attorneys at Manatt.

  • Race Bias Defense Considerations After 11th Circ. Ruling

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    In Tynes v. Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed that the McDonnell Douglas test for employment discrimination cases is merely an evidentiary framework, so employers relying on it as a substantive standard of liability may need to rethink their litigation strategy, says Helen Jay at Phelps Dunbar.

  • How Firms Can Ensure Associate Gender Parity Lasts

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    Among associates, women now outnumber men for the first time, but progress toward gender equality at the top of the legal profession remains glacially slow, and firms must implement time-tested solutions to ensure associates’ gender parity lasts throughout their careers, say Kelly Culhane and Nicole Joseph at Culhane Meadows.

  • How Echoing Techniques Can Derail Witnesses At Deposition

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    Before depositions, defense attorneys must prepare witnesses to recognize covert echoing techniques that may be used by opposing counsel to lower their defenses and elicit sensitive information — potentially leading to nuclear settlements and verdicts, say Bill Kanasky and Steve Wood at Courtroom Sciences.

  • 6 Ways To Minimize Risk, Remain Respectful During Layoffs

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    With a recent Resume Builder survey finding that 38% of companies expect to lay off employees this year, now is a good time for employers to review several strategies that can help mitigate legal risks and maintain compassion in the reduction-in-force process, says Sahara Pynes at Fox Rothschild.

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