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Mealey's Employment

  • May 27, 2025

    Government Withdraws High Court Stay Application In Federal Worker RIF Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald J. Trump and other federal government officials notified the U.S. Supreme Court via a May 23 letter that they were withdrawing in light of a May 22 preliminary injunction order their application for a stay of a trial court’s temporary restraining order (TRO) that halted further approval of reduction-in-force (RIF) notice periods by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and orders by U.S. DOGE Service for federal agencies to reduce programs and staff.

  • May 27, 2025

    Register Of Copyrights Sues, Seeks TRO After ‘Purported’ Removal By Trump

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The register of copyrights and director of the U.S. Copyright Office filed a complaint and a motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) in a federal court in the District of Columbia challenging her “purported” removal by President Donald J. Trump “without any authorization from Congress or advice and consent from the Senate.”

  • May 27, 2025

    Federal Government Seeks Stay Of Order Voiding Trump’s Removal Of USIP Staff

    WASHINGTON, D.C.— The federal government filed an emergency motion in the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 23 for an administrative stay and for a stay pending appeal following a trial court’s summary judgment ruling for the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) and its board and staff in a case in which they challenged their removal at the direction of President Donald J. Trump and the transfer of USIP property to the General Services Administration (GSA).

  • May 27, 2025

    2nd Circuit Finds It Has No Jurisdiction To Review State Labor Class Judgment

    NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that it lacked jurisdiction to entertain an appeal of a judgment on state law wage and hour class claims because the trial court’s dismissal of the plaintiffs’ unadjudicated Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) claims to allow for intermediate appeal under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(b) was conditional.

  • May 27, 2025

    Federal Government Argues For Stay After Department Of Education RIF Enjoined

    BOSTON — A trial court’s preliminary injunction in two consolidated cases challenging the alleged dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) that halts a reduction-in-force (RIF) must be stayed pending appeal as it “mandates the continued employment of over a thousand employees” when the court lacks “Article III jurisdiction to superintend the Department’s operations based on its disagreement with politically accountable officials about appropriate staffing levels,” the secretary of Education and other government officials argue in a reply in support of an emergency motion filed May 26 in the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • May 27, 2025

    Chief Justice Roberts Stays Discovery Orders In Challenge Of DOGE’s Authority

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Chief Justice of the United States John G. Roberts Jr. issued an order on May 23 staying two trial court discovery orders in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case regarding U.S. DOGE Service’s (DOGE or USDS) authority pending further order by the Supreme Court.

  • May 27, 2025

    Federal Judge: U.S. Treasury Department Lacks Standing To Seek CBA Termination

    COVINGTON, Ky. — The U.S. Department of Treasury lacks standing to bring a lawsuit against a union that represents more than 2,000 Internal Revenue Service employees seeking to rescind or repudiate a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) pursuant to a March presidential executive order (EO), a federal judge in Kentucky ruled, dismissing the complaint.

  • May 23, 2025

    This Time, Judge Denies Preliminary Injunction In ERISA Illinois Temp Worker Row

    CHICAGO — Rejecting a motion supported by nine organizations that filed a combined amicus curiae brief, an Illinois federal judge who previously issued a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of an earlier version of an Illinois temporary worker law on May 22 declined to grant a preliminary injunction for the latest version, saying that the plaintiff trade associations and staffing agencies didn’t show that their Employee Retirement Income Security Act preemption argument is likely to succeed on the merits.

  • May 23, 2025

    OSHA, N.J. Bakery Reach $180K Settlement After Employee Finger Amputations

    PATERSON, N.J. — A New Jersey commercial bakery will pay a $180,000 penalty and implement a series of health and safety measures through a settlement agreement reached with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) over the bakery’s failure to address hazards identified in a citation after an employee suffered partial finger amputations.

  • May 23, 2025

    Judge: Administration Can’t Remove 2 From Privacy/Civil Rights Oversight Board

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge has granted summary judgment to two members of a federal board tasked with oversight of privacy and civil liberties in federal counterterrorism activities after finding that the members’ removal by the Trump administration contravened Congress’ intent to create an independent board.

  • May 23, 2025

    U.S. Supreme Court Briefs Debate Injunction Stay Request In SSA Records Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Discretionary review by the U.S. Supreme Court of an injunction in a case over Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) access to Social Security Administration (SSA) data is not necessary as the application by the SSA and other federal government agencies and officials fails to “present a question meriting” high court review, a union and two groups argue in their opposition; however, the federal government parties write in their reply that the groups lack standing and their claims will fail on the merits.

  • May 23, 2025

    7th Circuit Denies Rehearing Over Back Pay, Seniority In Sheriff’s Office ADA Case

    CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc filed by an Illinois county and its sheriff over a decision to affirm seniority benefits and reinstate the possibility of back pay for a former correctional officer who sued for alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and the U.S. Constitution for requiring release of his medical records to complete a fitness-for-duty exam to return to work after he was put on leave.

  • May 23, 2025

    Split U.S. High Court Stays Orders Enjoining Removals Of NLRB, MSPB Members

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A U.S. Supreme Court majority on May 22 granted the federal government’s request for a stay of orders by a trial court enjoining President Donald J. Trump’s removal of members of the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), pending “disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari, if such a writ is timely sought.”

  • May 22, 2025

    SAG-AFTRA Files Charge Against Epic Games-‘Owned’ LLC Over Darth Vader AI Use

    LOS ANGELES — Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) filed a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) charge against Llama Productions LLC, a company it says is owned by Epic Games Inc., accusing Llama of not bargaining in good faith by choosing “to replace the work of human performers with [artificial intelligence] A.I. technology without providing notice to the union” regarding the A.I. use of the voice of actor James Earl Jones for Star Wars character, Darth Vader, in Epic’s video game, Fortnite.

  • May 22, 2025

    Pregnant Worker Fairness Act’s ‘Abortion Accommodation Mandate’ Vacated By Judge

    LAKE CHARLES, La. — The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission exceeded its statutory authority by issuing the final rule implementing the Pregnant Worker Fairness Act (PWFA) that included an “abortion accommodation mandate,” a federal judge in Louisiana ruled May 21, vacating that portion of the rule.

  • May 22, 2025

    Former Officials Oppose Government’s Stay Application In Federal Worker RIF Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Former government officials as amici curiae filed a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court opposing an application by President Donald J. Trump and other current federal government officials seeking to stay a trial court’s temporary restraining order halting further approval of reduction-in-force (RIF) notice periods by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and orders by U.S. DOGE Service for federal agencies to reduce programs and staff.

  • May 22, 2025

    Government Seeks Stay Of Discovery Orders In Suit Challenging DOGE’s Authority

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. DOGE Service (DOGE or USDS) and various federal government officials filed an application on May 21 in the U.S. Supreme Court seeking a stay and an immediate administrative stay of discovery orders issued by a trial court in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case regarding DOGE’s authority.

  • May 22, 2025

    Home Health Agency Seeks Supreme Court Review Of FLSA Violation

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A home health agency filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court asking for consideration of two questions concerning the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Portal-to-Portal Act (PPA) and a finding of a willful violation in a case brought by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).

  • May 21, 2025

    5th Circuit Revives Army Vet’s Failure-To-Accommodate Claim For Service Dog Delay

    HOUSTON — A disabled U.S. Army veteran who alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (RA) and Texas disability laws for getting the runaround from her school district employer while trying to obtain approval for a service dog at work pleaded “sufficient facts that could allow a factfinder to conclude that the district unjustifiably delayed, and thus, failed to accommodate, her accommodation,” a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in reversing and remanding a failure-to-accommodate claim.

  • May 20, 2025

    $6 Million Settlement Of Class Suit Over Union’s Data Breach Gets Final Approval

    NEW YORK — Two union members were granted final approval of class negligence and breach of contract claims against a labor union over a 2023 data breach, with a New York federal judge deeming the $6 million settlement to be preferable to the expenses and “uncertainties of continued litigation.”

  • May 20, 2025

    Rehearing Denied To ER Doctor Suspended For Refusing COVID-19 Vaccine

    PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied the petition of an emergency room doctor for panel rehearing or rehearing en banc of a panel opinion affirming the judgment of a Pennsylvania federal court, which granted summary judgment in favor of a hospital in the doctor’s lawsuit alleging religious discrimination and retaliation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (PHRA) after the doctor was refused a religious exemption from a company-mandated COVID-19 vaccination and suspended.

  • May 19, 2025

    U.S. High Court Grants 2 Military Differential Pay Petitions, Vacates Judgments

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on May 19 granted two petitions for writ of certiorari filed by federal employees challenging denials of their requests for differential pay when they were called to military service, vacated the judgments in the two cases and remanded to the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for further consideration in light of the April decision in Feliciano v. Department of Transportation.

  • May 19, 2025

    Split D.C. Circuit Stays Collective Bargaining EO Preliminary Injunction

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel majority on May 16 stayed pending appeal a trial court’s preliminary injunction ruling in a lawsuit by the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) seeking to halt the impact of a March executive order (EO) that the union says eliminates collective bargaining for approximately two-thirds of the federal workforce.

  • May 19, 2025

    Judge Certifies Collective Action In Workday AI Hiring Suit

    SAN FRANCISCO — Any differences between members of an employment discrimination case related to Workday Inc.’s use of artificial intelligence to sort and rank job applicants are meaningless at this stage because the members are “alike in the central way that matters,” a federal judge in California said May 16 in granting conditional certification after finding that the sorting and ranking of job applicants creates a unified policy and that its rankings could constitute a hiring recommendation.

  • May 16, 2025

    1st Circuit Affirms Jury’s $10K Award To Injured Laborer For ADA, Mass. Law Claims

    BOSTON — A First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found no grounds to award a higher payout to a former employee of a demolition and redevelopment company seeking more than a jury’s $10,035 damages award for claims of retaliation and discrimination pursuant to the Americans with the Disabilities Act (ADA) and Massachusetts law after his employment ended following his supervisor’s alleged failure to accommodate his work restrictions due to an injury.