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Mealey's Employment

March 05, 2025
Accommodation Of Religious Objection To Vaccine That Violates Law An Undue Burden

NEW YORK — Ruling that an accommodation to an employee’s religious objection to COVID vaccination and testing that would violate a state law is an undue burden on an employer, a panel of the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a judgment of a New York federal court granting summary judgment in favor of a school district in an employee’s lawsuit alleging that the district violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act by refusing her such an accommodation and violated the Genetic Information Discrimination Act (GINA) in asking questions about her family medical history.
March 04, 2025
Federal Government Denied Stay After Ruling For Special Counsel In Removal Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The federal government filed in the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 3 an emergency motion to stay pending appeal a District Court order finding that President Donald J. Trump does not have the authority to remove Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger without cause; the emergency motion was filed the same day a federal judge in the District of Columbia denied the government’s motion in that court for a stay pending appeal.
March 04, 2025
8th Circuit Affirms Rulings For Former Exec In ERISA ‘Top Hat’ Plan Case

ST. LOUIS — Saying that “[c]ontracts may refer to something that is non-existent without posing an interpretive problem,” an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a judgment ordering payment of nearly $5 million in deferred compensation benefits and $19,177.50 in attorney fees plus interest in a dispute over a “top hat” plan.
March 04, 2025
U.S. High Court Denies Petition In Police Officer’s Social Media, Suspension Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 3 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a police officer who raised tolling and grievance questions after a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that the officer, in alleging that his suspension over Facebook posts constituted First Amendment violations under 42 U.S. Code Section 1983, failed to show that the clock on his claims was stalled while he challenged his suspension or that the applicable one-year prescriptive period was interrupted by two state court petitions.
March 04, 2025
Former Detainee Opposes Md. County’s High Court Petition In Wage Class, Collective

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A petition for a writ of certiorari by a Maryland county seeking a ruling on “[w]hether inmates working in furtherance of public works projects for the government charged with their custody and care” are employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) should be denied as there is no split of authority and the case is a poor vehicle, a former detainee argues in his March 3 response that was requested by the U.S. Supreme Court.
March 04, 2025
Panel: Coverage Barred For $3M Judgment Over Unpaid Wages, Commissions Claims

NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that a breach of contract exclusion barred employment practices liability and directors and officers liability coverage for a more than $3 million underlying state court judgment in favor of former employees who sued the insured for breach of contract for unpaid wages and commissions, affirming a lower court’s ruling in favor of the insurer in its declaratory judgment lawsuit.
March 04, 2025
Women In Trades Nonprofit Alleges Harm From President’s DEI Executive Order

CHICAGO — President Donald J. Trump’s Jan. 20 and 21 executive orders (EOs) declaring programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) “‘illegal and immoral discrimination’” “trample” free speech and due process rights and impose overly broad restrictions, alleges Chicago Women in Trades (CWIT), a nonprofit that prepares women to enter and remain in high-wage skilled trades, in a complaint filed in an Illinois federal court.
March 04, 2025
Union, Groups Sue To Stop DOGE, Others From Accessing Social Security Systems

BALTIMORE — The Social Security Administration (SSA) “has access to some of the nation’s most sensitive data” of Americans, and U.S. DOGE Service and Elon Musk should not have unfettered access, a union, an advocacy group and a labor organization allege in a complaint filed in federal court in Maryland.
March 03, 2025
Federal Government Seeks Stay After Ruling For Special Counsel In Removal Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The federal government filed an opposed motion to stay an order and a notice of appeal on March 1, both in response to an opinion issued that same day by a federal judge in the District of Columbia who ruled that President Donald J. Trump does not have the authority to remove Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger without cause.
February 28, 2025
Preliminary Injunction Denied In National Security Workers’ DEIA Positions Suit

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A federal judge in Virginia on Feb. 27 vacated an administrative stay and denied a motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO), which the judge treated as a motion for a preliminary injunction, filed in a case by national security workers who allege that they were wrongly forced to choose resignation or termination because they were in temporary assignments related to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA).
February 28, 2025
Illinois Judge Dismisses Bulk Of Pilot’s Claims Against Union Over Vaccine Mandate

CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois dismissed most of the claims a United Airlines pilot filed against his union alleging religious discrimination, retaliation and breach of the duty of fair representation in relation to the union’s representation regarding the airline’s COVID-19 vaccination requirement but allowed the pilot to continue pursuing a claim alleging disparate treatment between those who received religious and medical exemptions from the mandate.
February 28, 2025
Home Health Agency Seeks Rehearing After 3rd Circuit Affirms It Violated FLSA

PHILADELPHIA — Calling the case against it “the epitome of federal agency overreach,” a home health care agency and its president seek rehearing en banc of a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruling affirming a grant of summary judgment to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on its claims that the agency willfully violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by, among other things, failing to compensate its employees for the time they spent traveling between clients’ homes.
February 28, 2025
3rd Circuit Panel Upholds Dismissal Of Vaccine Refusal Case For Discovery Defiance

PHILADELPHIA — A panel of the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has affirmed the dismissal with prejudice — as a sanction for refusing to cooperate with discovery requests and comply with discovery orders — by a Pennsylvania federal court of a former employee’s lawsuit alleging that her employer failed to accommodate her religious objection to being vaccinated for COVID-19 in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
February 27, 2025
Federal Judge Extends TRO In Special Counsel’s Suit Challenging Removal

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in the District of Columbia on Feb. 26 issued an order extending through March 1 a temporary restraining order (TRO) preventing the removal of Hampton Dellinger from his position as special counsel “so that the status quo will be preserved for the brief period of time it takes to complete the written opinion on the consolidated motion for preliminary injunction and cross motions for summary judgment.”
February 27, 2025
DOJ Announces Dismissal Of DEI-Related Police Officer, Firefighter Hiring Cases

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Justice announced Feb. 26 that Attorney General Pam Bondi directed the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division to dismiss lawsuits in various stages throughout the country against fire and police departments for using aptitude tests to screen candidates, saying that the cases were launched “in an effort to advance a DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] agenda.”
February 26, 2025
Arguments In Straight Worker’s Sexual Orientation Bias Case Heard By Justices

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A judge-made background circumstances rule requiring majority-group plaintiffs to make an additional showing of bias is not consistent with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, an attorney representing a straight worker who alleges sexual orientation bias argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 26.
February 26, 2025
Unanimous U.S. Supreme Court Holds Voluntary Dismissal Is ‘Final Proceeding’

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Voluntary dismissal of a case without prejudice under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a) is a “final proceeding” that qualifies for Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b) relief, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Feb. 26, reversing the judgment of the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an age bias case.
February 26, 2025
Class Certification Denied In Moderator Suit Against TikTok For Lack Of Standing

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge denied a motion for class certification in a putative class action regarding the alleged negligence by TikTok Inc. and its parent company in failing to protect content moderators from harm, finding in part that the plaintiff, a former TikTok moderator, lacks standing for failure to provide evidence showing that “no monitor would remain in the job long enough to pursue a class action.”
February 26, 2025
Government Given Extension To Respond To Rehearing Petition In EO Authority Suit

NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted the federal government an extension until March 13 to file a response to a petition for rehearing en banc by three states after an appellate panel ruled that a 2021 executive order (EO) by then-President Joseph R. Biden requiring various federal agencies to ensure that contractors and covered subcontractors pay specified workers a minimum of $15 per hour was “a valid exercise of the President’s authority under the FPASA [Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949].”
February 25, 2025
2 Members Of Federal Oversight Board Allege Removals Were Unlawful

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two members of the U.S. Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) filed a complaint on Feb. 24 in District of Columbia federal court accusing President Donald J. Trump of removing them without cause, which threatens to silence the “independent advice” members of the board provide to Congress and the reporting members provide to Congress and the public “on how the government balances national security activities with privacy and civil liberties protections.”
February 25, 2025
Putative Class Members Seek Intervention, Stay In Deferred Compensation Row

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Arguing ongoing impairment of their right to arbitration, seven former Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. financial advisers moved in North Carolina federal court to intervene and to stay all proceedings in a putative class action in a dispute that the plaintiff argues concerns deferred compensation.
February 25, 2025
Nike Workers Who Filed Biased Pay, Promotions Suit File Notice Of Settlement

PORTLAND, Ore. — Four named Nike Inc. workers who brought a class and collective complaint accusing the athletic footwear and apparel company of “devalu[ing]” and “demean[ing]” female employees by paying them less than their male counterparts and passing them over for promotions filed a notice in a federal court in Oregon that they have finalized a settlement agreement as to their individual claims.
February 24, 2025
Federal Government Appeals As Stay Of TRO Denied In Ousted MSPB Chair’s Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The secretary of the Treasury and other government officials being sued by the former chair of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) following her termination filed a notice of appeal after a temporary restraining order (TRO) was granted by a federal judge in the District of Columbia; a second decision was issued the same day by the trial court judge denying a stay of the TRO, which required the chair’s reinstatement.
February 24, 2025
TRO Dissolved, Preliminary Injunction Denied In Suit Over USAID Layoffs

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two unions and a nonprofit failed to demonstrate in a case challenging the placement of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) employees on administrative leave “that further preliminary injunctive relief is warranted,” a federal judge in the District of Columbia ruled Feb. 21, dissolving a previously issued temporary restraining order (TRO) and denying a motion for a preliminary injunction.
February 24, 2025
Medical Transport Worker Seeking Wages For COVID Screening Survives Dismissal

CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge denied in part and granted in part a motion to dismiss by a university medical center in a lawsuit brought by a former patient transport employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and state wage laws seeking compensation for time spent being screened and tested for COVID-19 before her shift and for a week she went unpaid because of an interruption in a payroll system.