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Mealey's Employment

  • September 10, 2025

    5th Circuit Panel Denies Rehearing For Reinstatement Of Fired Miss. School Worker

    NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel was unpersuaded by a Mississippi school district’s argument that a Federal Rule of Civil Procedure limiting principle merited rehearing of a decision to reinstate a fired employee and reverse and remand the denial of the employee’s request for reinstatement or front pay in denying both panel rehearing and rehearing en banc.

  • September 10, 2025

    Employee Awarded $425,000 For Vaccine Refusal Firing Seeks Front, Back Pay

    CHICAGO — After an Illinois federal jury awarded him $425,000 for violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act stemming from his termination for refusing to become vaccinated against COVID-19 after being denied a religious exemption, a former transit authority employee filed a post-trial brief in support of his request that he be awarded front and back pay.

  • September 10, 2025

    4th Circuit Stays Mandate In Unions’ DOGE Data Access Case Until Petition Decided

    RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals temporarily stayed the mandate in an appeal over U.S. Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) access to individuals’ personally identifiable information (PII) until after a petition for rehearing en banc filed by the unions and veterans who brought the complaint is considered.

  • September 10, 2025

    Federal Reserve Governor Granted TRO In Suit Over Purported Firing

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A temporary restraining order (TRO) as to the purported removal of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa D. Cook was granted Sept. 9 by a federal judge in the District of Columbia, who ruled that Cook’s case and actions by President Donald J. Trump “raise many serious questions of first impression that the Court believes will benefit from further briefing on a non-emergency timeline” and that Cook “made a strong showing that her purported removal was done in violation of the Federal Reserve Act’s ‘for cause’ provision.”

  • September 10, 2025

    Employer Seeks Extension For Response To McDonnell Douglas Evidence Petition

    WASHINGTON, D.C — A Hardee’s franchisee accused by a former manager of disability bias and Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) violations moved on Sept. 9 for a one-month extension to respond to the employee’s petition for a writ of certiorari that asks the U.S. Supreme Court to consider two questions concerning McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, pretext and motives at the summary judgment stage.

  • September 10, 2025

    9th Circuit: Judge Tossed Trader Joe’s Trademark Suit Against Union Too Soon

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel revived Trader Joe’s Co.’s trademark infringement suit against a labor union representing employees at the company’s grocery stores, finding that a California federal judge wrongly applied the likelihood-of-confusion test when evaluating if tote bags and other products sold by the union infringed the company’s marks and prematurely held that the Norris-LaGuardia Act (NLGA) barred injunctive relief.

  • September 10, 2025

    Judge: Expert Retained By Ex-Employees Can Opine On Value Of Stock Options

    NEW ORLEANS — An expert retained by former employees of a smoothie franchise company can testify on the value of stock options they allege were wrongfully revoked after they left the company, a Louisiana federal judge ruled Sept. 9 in denying a motion to exclude.

  • September 10, 2025

    FTC Dismisses Noncompete Rule Challenge Appeal As It Seeks Info On Agreements

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted a motion by the Federal Trade Commission to dismiss the commission’s 2024 appeal of a federal judge in Texas’ decision to strike down the FTC’s 2024 noncompete final rule largely banning noncompete agreements.

  • September 09, 2025

    Split 4th Circuit: States Lack Standing To Sue Over Federal Worker Firings

    RICHMOND, Va. — Nineteen states and the District of Columbia lack standing under Article III of the U.S. Constitution to sue over the firing of probationary federal workers en masse, a divided Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled Sept. 8, vacating a trial court’s preliminary injunction and remanding with instruction that the case be dismissed.

  • September 09, 2025

    2nd Circuit: Courts Can’t Decide Arbitral Fee Disputes In Laid-Off Workers’ Case

    NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that Twitter Inc.’s refusal to pay ongoing fees during individual arbitration proceedings with several laid-off employees after a dispute “is a procedural issue entrusted to the arbitrator or arbitral body — not the court — for resolution within that proceeding” and not construed as a failure to arbitrate pursuant to the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) in reversing and remanding a New York federal judge’s order.

  • September 08, 2025

    U.S. High Court Grants Administrative Stay In FTC Commissioner Removal Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A trial court’s summary judgment ruling for Rebecca Slaughter, one of two Federal Trade Commission commissioners purportedly removed in March from the Federal Trade Commission without cause, was administratively stayed by U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. on Sept. 8 pending further order by the high court.

  • September 05, 2025

    FTC Seeks Info On Noncompete Agreements As Rule Challenge Remains Stayed

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a request Sept. 4 for information on employee noncompete agreements “to better understand the scope, prevalence, and effects of employer noncompete agreements, as well as to gather information to inform possible future enforcement actions.”

  • September 05, 2025

    Union Sues Over Elimination Of Patents Office Workers’ Collective Bargaining Rights

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — An August executive order (EO) that expanded on a March EO and nullified the collective bargaining rights of additional agencies, including the Office of the Commissioner for Patents, was “retaliatory and not based on the statutory criteria” contained in the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (FSLMRS), the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) argues in a complaint filed in a federal court in the District of Columbia.

  • September 05, 2025

    U.S. High Court Asked To Stay Removal Ruling In Favor Of FTC Commissioner

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The federal government filed an application with the U.S. Supreme Court on Sept. 4 seeking an immediate administrative stay and a stay pending appeal after a split District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel declined to stay a trial court’s summary judgment ruling for Rebecca Slaughter, one of two Federal Trade Commission commissioners purportedly removed from the FTC without cause in March.

  • September 05, 2025

    3rd Circuit: Policy Violations Not Federal Crimes, Passwords Not Trade Secrets

    PHILADELPHIA — Under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), workplace policy infractions are not federal crimes and federal and Pennsylvania laws do not hold that passwords protecting proprietary business information are trade secrets, a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found “for the first time” in affirming a district court ruling that two former employees of a national debt-collection firm did not commit computer fraud, steal trade secrets or violate other state and federal laws through the creation and sharing of a spreadsheet containing passwords and login information protecting “confidential and proprietary information.”

  • September 04, 2025

    Injunction Pending Appeal Granted In ‘Abortion Accommodation Mandate’ Case

    LAKE CHARLES, La. — A federal judge in Louisiana in a Sept. 3 order enjoined the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the EEOC chairman (together, EEOC) from interpreting and enforcing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act’s (PWFA) “abortion accommodation mandate” against the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and others pending their appeal of a ruling that granted them partial summary judgment.

  • September 04, 2025

    Split Panel Denies Stay Pending Appeal Of Removal Ruling For FTC Commissioner

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Despite previously granting an administrative stay, a District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel majority denied a stay pending appeal sought by the federal government after a trial court’s summary judgment ruling for Rebecca Slaughter, one of two Federal Trade Commission commissioners purportedly removed from the FTC without cause in March.

  • September 03, 2025

    8th Circuit Upholds Firing Of Worker Who Says CBD Oil Caused Failed Drug Test

    ST. LOUIS — An Arkansas employer has the right to fire an employee at any time “for good cause, no cause, or even a morally wrong cause” under Arkansas’ employment-at-will doctrine, an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled in a per curiam unpublished opinion issued in a case brought by an employee who sued over his firing after failing a drug test, the results of which he attributed to the use of cannabidiol (CBD) oil for back pain from an on-the-job injury.

  • August 29, 2025

    8th Circuit Reverses Dismissal, Summary Judgment Rulings For BNSF In EEOC Suit

    OMAHA, Neb. — A trial court judge erred in granting partial dismissal and summary judgment to a railway accused by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission of creating a hostile work environment for a female employee as well as a class of similarly situated female workers, an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled Aug. 28, opining that a heightened pleading standard was applied in error when dismissing the claims of the class of women and that genuine issues of material fact should have prevented the summary judgment ruling.

  • August 29, 2025

    Federal Reserve Governor Sues, Seeks TRO After Purported Firing

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Federal Reserve Governor Lisa D. Cook on Aug. 28 filed a complaint and a motion for a temporary retraining order (TRO) in a federal court in Washington, D.C., seeking to halt her purported firing three days earlier announced by President Donald J. Trump on his social media account.

  • August 29, 2025

    $8.5M Settlement OK’d In Worker’s Suit Alleging Calif. Wage-And-Hour Violations

    LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California granted final approval of an $8.5 million class and representative settlement, ending wage-and-hour claims brought by one employee under California law against an engineering conglomerate accused of failing to provide meal and rest breaks, overtime and minimum wages and expenses.

  • August 28, 2025

    Jury’s Award Partially Upheld In Pandemic Speech Case; New Trial For 1 Claim

    NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A federal judge in Connecticut partially denied a renewed motion for judgment notwithstanding a jury verdict or for a new trial filed by a Connecticut school board and principal after a jury awarded a Connecticut teacher $1.1 million on her claims that she was subjected to retaliation and defamation after making public comments and social media comments regarding the COVID-19 pandemic; the judge left in place $475,000 awarded for a retaliation claim brought under state law and a defamation claim and ordered a new trial on the teacher’s retaliation claim brought under federal law.

  • August 28, 2025

    2nd Circuit Says Strip Clubs Must Supply Subpoenaed Worker Info In Title VII Case

    NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held that the operators of two New York gentlemen’s clubs must submit pedigree information about their employees to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that was requested through subpoenas as part of an investigation into a former employee’s Title VII sexual discrimination and harassment claims, finding the trial court “sensibly concluded” that the requests were relevant to the case and not “overly burdensome.”

  • August 27, 2025

    11th Circuit: Lump-Sum Payments Shortchanged Top Hat Plan Participants

    ATLANTA — Affirming summary judgment and remedies rulings for a class of nearly 200 executives who participated in so-called “top hat” plans, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 26 agreed with the lower court that the 2013 lump-sum payments at issue violated the plan terms because they “‘adversely affected’ the ‘accrued benefit’ of at least some participants.”

  • August 26, 2025

    Divided 6th Circuit Remands Parts Of Fired Mail Clerk’s FMLA Case To Trial Court

    CINCINNATI — A divided Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that a Michigan federal judge incorrectly opined that a Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) “medical certification can create a hard cap on unforeseeable intermittent FMLA leave” in reversing and remanding parts of a discrimination and retaliation suit a fired mail clerk filed against the United States Postal Service (USPS) over unexcused absences he took to treat his sickle cell anemia.