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Mealey's Employment

September 24, 2025
5th Circuit Affirms Rejection Of Damages Verdict In IT Workers’ Race Bias Case

NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals determined that a Texas federal judge’s rejection of a jury verdict that awarded millions of dollars in damages to several IT employees who alleged race discrimination and retaliation claims against their employer was mostly correct, finding that their claims lacked sufficient evidence.
September 24, 2025
Government Seeks Rehearing On Discovery Ruling In Federal Worker RIF Appeal

SAN FRANCISCO — The federal government on Sept. 23 filed a petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc concerning the discovery portion of a split Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals order in which the appellate panel majority, in a ruling addressing two appeals in a case challenging the large scale reduction-in-force (RIF) of federal workers, denied the government’s petition for a writ of mandamus seeking to require the trial court to vacate a discovery order and vacated a preliminary injunction and remanded for further consideration.
September 23, 2025
U.S. High Court Denies MSPB, NLRB Members’ Petitions Challenging Removals

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Sept. 22 denied conditional petitions for writs of certiorari before judgment filed by a member of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and a member of the National Labor Relations Board who were each purportedly fired by President Donald J. Trump within the first few weeks of his second term; on the same day, a divided high court granted a request by the federal government to consider statutory removal protections in an appeal over the president’s purported removal of a Federal Trade Commission commissioner.
September 23, 2025
High Court Stays Judgment For FCC Commissioner, Will Revisit Humphrey’s Executor

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A divided U.S. Supreme Court on Sept. 22 stayed a trial court’s summary judgment for Rebecca Slaughter, one of two Federal Trade Commission commissioners purportedly removed in March without cause, and the justices, treating the government’s application as a petition for a writ of certiorari before judgment, agreed to consider overruling Humphrey’s Executor v. United States and “[w]hether a federal court may prevent a person’s removal from public office.”
September 22, 2025
Split 3rd Circuit Reverses Ruling Against Employer In Overtime Contribution Case

PHILADELPHIA — Saying in part that “the phrase ‘hours paid’ does not require increased contributions to multiemployer plans for overtime hours,” a split Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel issued a nonprecedential opinion on Sept. 19 reversing judgment against an employer; the majority did not reach “questions relating to determining pre- and post-judgment interest under” the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, but the dissenter opined that, among other things, imposing 18% postjudgment interest on delinquent contributions was an abuse of discretion.
September 22, 2025
Expert Can Opine On Accuracy Of Drug Testing Results In Discrimination Dispute

RALEIGH, N.C. — A man who alleges that a pre-employment drug screening test is discriminatory because it yields inaccurate results from porous or curly hair types common in African Americans lost his bid on Sept. 19 to bar testimony from an expert retained by the employer, which opined that the positive result for cocaine in the man’s test was accurate, when a federal magistrate judge found that the man’s arguments went to the weight of the evidence.
September 22, 2025
Iowa Teacher Fired For Posting ‘1 Nazi Down’ After Kirk Killing Files Federal Suit

DES MOINES, Iowa — An Iowa public high school teacher and coach who was fired after posting the phrase “1 Nazi down” on his personal Facebook page in reference to the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk filed a complaint requesting a jury trial in federal court, alleging that the termination violated his free speech rights pursuant to the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
September 19, 2025
Trump Seeks High Court Stay, Federal Reserve Governor Opposes It In Firing Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald J. Trump filed an application on Sept. 18 in the U.S. Supreme Court seeking an administrative stay and to stay a trial court’s temporary restraining order (TRO) as to the purported removal of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa D. Cook; Cook filed an opposition to the administrative stay request the same day, arguing that such a request “clashes with the Federal Reserve’s traditional independence” and that “disruption of the status quo could destabilize the U.S. financial system.”
September 19, 2025
New Hampshire High Court: No Crime-Fraud Exception In Doctors’ Discovery Row

CONCORD, N.H. — A New Hampshire Supreme Court panel issued a mixed ruling in a discovery dispute between three anesthesiologists and their former employer, finding that the crime-fraud exception to the attorney-client privilege did not apply and thus did not serve to compel discovery of certain communications between the physicians and their counsel.
September 18, 2025
NLRB Sues New York, State Board Over New Private Labor Dispute Jurisdiction Law

SYRACUSE, N.Y. —The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) sued New York and its Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) in a federal court over a newly enacted amendment that gives the state board jurisdiction over private sector labor disputes that would typically fall within the NLRB’s purview, contending that it did not cede jurisdiction and that the amendment “usurps” the board’s authority and is preempted by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
September 18, 2025
Briefing Seeks Certiorari Before Judgment In FTC Commissioner Removal Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — With briefing complete, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider an application by the federal government for a stay pending appeal as well as a request for certiorari before judgment after a trial court issued summary judgment for Rebecca Slaughter, one of two Federal Trade Commission commissioners purportedly removed in March without cause; two other members of independent federal agencies who are challenging their removals by President Donald J. Trump filed letters with the high court stating that they were filing petitions and if certiorari is granted in Slaughter’s case, it should be granted in theirs as well.
September 18, 2025
MSPB, NLRB Members Removed By Trump File Conditional Petitions In High Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A member of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and a member of the National Labor Relations Board who were each purportedly fired by President Donald J. Trump within the first few weeks of his second term filed conditional petitions for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court after a purportedly fired Federal Trade Commission commissioner concurred with the federal government’s argument that the high court should grant certiorari in that case before judgment to decide the scope of the president’s power.
September 18, 2025
Government Appeals Partial Summary Judgment In En Masse Worker Firing Case

SAN FRANCISCO — The federal government filed a notice of appeal after a federal judge in California ruled that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) “exceeded its own powers” when it directed various federal agencies to terminate more than 25,000 probationary employees allegedly for performance when there was no “consideration of actual performance or conduct.”
September 17, 2025
6th Circuit Cites Transgender Professor’s ‘Twitter Tirade’ In Affirming Judgment

CINCINNATI — A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed an Ohio federal judge’s order granting summary judgment motions filed by a university and two faculty members regarding a transgender professor’s Title VII, First Amendment and perceived disability claims after a promotion was rescinded following the professor’s “weeks-long, profanity-laden Twitter tirade insulting colleagues and the university.”
September 17, 2025
6th Circuit Says Hospital Waited Too Long To Arbitrate In Religious Bias Case

CINCINNATI — A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found that a Michigan hospital’s request for arbitration “came too late” and that it lost its right to arbitrate under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) after it placed proceedings in a “default” by first moving to dismiss the case of a former employee who filed federal religious discrimination and related claims after she was fired for refusing to offer “gender transition” drugs or use “biology-obscuring pronouns” when speaking to patients.
September 16, 2025
Split D.C. Circuit Denies Stay Of TRO In Federal Reserve Governor’s Firing Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A divided District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Sept. 15 declined to stay a district court’s temporary restraining order (TRO) as to the purported removal of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa D. Cook.
September 16, 2025
Assistant U.S. Attorney Says She Was Fired Due To Criticism Of Father, James Comey

NEW YORK — Maurene Comey sued the federal government on Sept. 15 in a federal court in New York, alleging that she was unlawfully fired because her father is James Comey, the former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and/or because of her perceived political beliefs.
September 16, 2025
2 Of 3 Plaintiffs In 28-Year Teacher Class Suit Granted Incentive Awards

NEW YORK — Two of three named plaintiffs in a more than 28-year-long race bias class suit over teacher licensing requirements in New York City were each awarded incentive awards of $272,996 by a federal judge in New York, who reserved judgment on the $2.9 million incentive award requested by the final named plaintiff as briefing is not yet complete.
September 15, 2025
6th Circuit: ‘Limited’ Sex History Evidence Allowed In Fired Hospital Worker Case

CINCINNATI — A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming a lower court judgment that a federal judge in Tennessee did not err when ruling that a fired hospital employee was required to prove that she believed an alleged sexual encounter with a security guard was not consensual to make a sexual assault claim pursuant to a Title VII retaliation claim and that allowing admission of “limited evidence” of the employee’s sexual history at trial was not an abuse of discretion.
September 15, 2025
Magistrate Approves $1.5 Million Settlement Of Garda Data Breach Suit

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — More than five months after he preliminarily approved a $1.5 million settlement between a security company and a group of employees that sued it over the theft of their personally identifiable information (PII) in a 2023 data breach, a Florida federal magistrate judge granted final approval, deeming the deal in compliance with federal rules and, as such, “fair, adequate and reasonable.”
September 15, 2025
California Attorney Must Pay $10K For AI Hallucinations In Employment Appeal

LOS ANGELES — A California appellate panel on Sept. 12 said it is the first court in the state to address an attorney using AI and filing briefs containing “fake legal authority” and ordered the lawyer to pay $10,000 in sanctions for filing two briefs written with “AI tools” in an unsuccessful appeal of summary judgment granted in favor of a company and its owner on her claims for retaliation, termination and violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL).
September 12, 2025
1st Circuit: No Preliminary Injunction Stay In Fed Agencies Staff Reductions Case

BOSTON — A First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Sept. 11 denied a motion by federal government agencies and President Donald J. Trump to stay a trial court’s preliminary injunction in a case brought by nearly two dozen states that restrains the federal government from implementing an executive order (EO) “attempt[ing] to dismantle congressionally sanctioned agencies” as applied to the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS).
September 12, 2025
Union Seeks 45-Day Stay Of Collective Bargaining EO Injunction Appeal

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) moved in the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for a 45-day stay of briefing in the government’s appeal of a preliminary injunction granted by a trial court in the union’s challenge of a March executive order (EO) that the union says eliminates collective bargaining for approximately two-thirds of the federal workforce; NTEU argues that the ruling being appealed “will imminently become moot” when summary judgment cross-motions are decided.
September 12, 2025
Dismissal Of DOGE With Leave To Amend Granted In Federal Worker RIF Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California partially granted a motion to dismiss a complaint challenging an executive order (EO) and memorandum implementing the EO that resulted in widespread layoffs of federal workers only as to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) but granted the unions, groups and municipalities leave to amend and properly name U.S. DOGE Service as a defendant.
September 12, 2025
DOL Tackles Deferred Incentive Compensation Issue In Advisory Opinion

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Weighing in on an issue that has recently featured prominently in dozens of arbitrations and several lawsuits, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued an advisory opinion taking the view that a certain deferred incentive compensation program is “a bonus program” not governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.