9th Circ. Appears Icy Toward Calif. Captive Meeting Law

By Vin Gurrieri

The Ninth Circuit seemed hesitant Tuesday to unblock a 2-year-old California law that prohibits employers from punishing workers for skipping what are commonly known as captive audience meetings in which companies convey views about political or religious topics, with two judges suggesting that the statute infringes on employers' free speech rights.  

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Trucking Co. 'Predictive Model' Doesn't Moot OT, 9th Circ. Told

By Craig Clough

Truck drivers denied overtime under a Fair Labor Standards Act carveout for interstate commerce urged the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday to find they're entitled to the pay, saying that they drove only within California and that their employers' "predictive model" order fulfillment system doesn't qualify their deliveries as interstate commerce.

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EEOC Says Exxon's Delayed Disclosures Warrant Sanctions

By Patrick Hoff

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said ExxonMobil held onto critical information until the last minute in a lawsuit alleging the company didn't properly handle the discovery of nooses in an oil refinery complex, urging a Louisiana federal court to bar the company from using the eleventh-hour materials.

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11th Circ. Upholds Block of Fla. 'Stop WOKE' Law

By David Minsky

The Eleventh Circuit upheld a lower court's preliminary injunction on a Florida law that restricts classroom discussion of race and gender, finding on Tuesday that the law violates the First Amendment's free speech protections. 

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Entrepreneur Can't Sue Over Ex-Worker's Hill Testimony

By Caroline Simson

The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday nixed a multimillionaire executive's defamation suit against a former employee whose testimony to Congress helped secure passage of a law barring the arbitration of sexual assault and harassment claims, litigation that also sought to undo an arbitral award favoring the former employee.

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8th Circ. Backs Ex-Wilbur-Ellis Workers In Trade Secret Suit

By Adam Lidgett

The Eighth Circuit on Tuesday upheld a lower court's finding that agribusiness Wilbur-Ellis couldn't make its case that several former employees took off with its trade secrets when they went to a competitor.

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6th Circ. Revives Pilot's Disability Claims In Vaccination Row

By Susan Smiley

In an unpublished opinion issued Monday, a Sixth Circuit panel revived some disability claims brought against Kalitta Air LLC by a cargo pilot after he was fired for refusing to get a second COVID-19 vaccine because he suffered a severe reaction from the first dose.

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Vape Co. Accused Of Racial Bias Toward Black Manager

By Jonathan Capriel

A retail marketing manager for a high-end maker of cannabis vape products, Puffco, claims she was subjected to daily race- and gender-based harassment, functionally demoted after taking medical leave and then retaliated against after complaining to HR, according to a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County court.

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Health Corp. Worker Says Leave, ADA Requests Got Her Fired

By Grace Elletson

A Michigan healthcare system denied a worker's requests for breaks and later shifts in order to manage her mental health disability and then fired her shortly after she took leave to get treatment, the former employee alleged in a new suit filed in federal court.

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NYC Hits Walgreens, 3 Others With $2.3M In Wage Fines

By MJ Koo

New York City has secured more than $2.3 million in settlements from four companies including Walgreens for violating worker scheduling and paid time off protections, the city's consumer and worker protection agency announced Monday.

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Car Dealership Staff Win Class Cert. In Mass. Wage Case

By Carolyn Muyskens

A Massachusetts state court has certified a class of employees at dozens of car dealerships under the Herb Chambers brand who alleged they were not paid overtime or Sunday premium pay in accordance with the state's wage law.

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Mass. Cop Says He's Owed OT For Meal Breaks During Leave

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts police lieutenant who spent nearly three years on paid administrative leave while his department investigated a suspected internal affairs leak says he's owed hundreds of hours of overtime pay because he was not allowed to leave his home for a 30-minute meal break during the workday.

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'Terrifier' Filmmaker Can't Slash Actor's Royalties Claims

By Elliot Weld

The makers of the 2016 independent horror film "Terrifier" were able to shake an actress' claim that nude images of her were illegally circulated but couldn't persuade a judge to throw out her claims for breach of contract and acting in bad faith.

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Furniture Store, Delivery Co. Reach $2.5M Deal To End OT Suit

By Benjamin Morse

A furniture retailer and a last-mile delivery company have agreed to a $2.5 million settlement resolving a roughly 9-year-old class action brought by workers alleging delivery truck drivers and helpers were misclassified and denied overtime pay, according to a motion for preliminary approval filed in New Jersey federal court.

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FedEx Hit With Wage Suit Over Security Checks

By Benjamin Morse

FedEx shorted warehouse workers by requiring them to undergo unpaid security screenings before and after their shifts, according to a proposed class action filed in Colorado federal court Tuesday.

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Starbucks Workers United Seeks OK For Name, Logo Use

By Katherine Smith

Starbucks Workers United has asked a Pennsylvania federal court to declare that its name and logo do not infringe the coffee chain's trademarks because they differentiate the union as an independent entity.

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Cannabis Co. Says Worker's Suit Belongs Before NLRB

By Emily Brill

A former employee of a New Jersey cannabis company should have brought his wrongful firing claims to the National Labor Relations Board and the fact that he didn't dooms his lawsuit in New Jersey federal court, the company said in a motion to dismiss the litigation.

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NJ Panel Backs Atty's Trimmed Government Pension Credits

By Grace Elletson

A New Jersey state appeals court said the state's public employee pension system was right to shave eight years of service off a government prosecutor's retirement credits, finding he couldn't skirt a change in law that blocked contractors of professional services from collecting benefits.

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DOJ Backs Private Claims Against NewYork-Presbyterian

By Matthew Perlman

The U.S. Department of Justice has thrown its support behind claims from union benefit funds in New York federal court that mirror the government's own case accusing NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital of blocking cheaper insurance plans.

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NJ Union Loses Appeal In Insurance Opt-Out Arbitration Row

By Carla Baranauckas

A New Jersey appellate panel Tuesday affirmed a state labor agency's decision blocking arbitration over Essex County's refusal to pay health insurance opt-out reimbursements to correction officers who receive state health benefits through their spouses, finding state law preempted the union's grievance.

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DC Circ. Nixes Part Of IAM Fund's $13M Liability Win

By Kellie Mejdrich

The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday partially unraveled an early win for a multiemployer pension fund in a dispute over $13 million in withdrawal liability against several Illinois truck dealership companies, holding the lower court needed to recalculate some of the interest and damages assessed.

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Food Deal Rivals Battle In Chancery Over Competition Claims

By Jarek Rutz

Lawyers for Global Market Foods LLC urged the Delaware Chancery Court on Tuesday to block the former owner of a food distribution business from competing after selling the company for $58 million, while the sellers argued the buyer is improperly trying to rewrite the parties' contracts and expand negotiated noncompete restrictions.

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Ex-Sadot Group Exec Says Company Withholding Severance

By George Woolston

The former chief marketing officer for agricultural commodities trader Sadot Group Inc. has alleged in New Jersey federal court that the company is refusing to pay her almost $150,000 allegedly owed in severance and other compensation.

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Mayo Sacked Research Director For Flagging Flaws, Suit Says

By Holly DeMuth

Mayo Clinic retaliated against and eventually terminated its director of research operations after she brought up concerns about security, safety and privacy regarding the medical center's use of artificial intelligence and other protocols, according to a lawsuit filed in Minnesota federal court on Monday.

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Uber App Terms Bind Driver's Estate To Arbitration, Court Told

By Abigail Harrison

An estate trying to hold Uber accountable for the death of a driver should be forced to resolve its grievances in arbitration because Emmanuel Kwame Gbedee Sr. accepted a company agreement with an arbitration clause, Uber told a North Carolina federal court.

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Ogletree Co-Founder Deakins, 'Beacon Of Wisdom,' Dies At 90

By Emily Johnson

A co-founder of the global labor and employment juggernaut Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC died Monday after decades of helping shape the firm's values of honesty and transparency.

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Mitigating Employer Risk In Immigration Compliance Visits

As Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate site visits become an increasingly important tool to verify that the details in employment-based immigration petitions match the reality of the workplace, employers can reduce their risk by treating preparedness as part of their immigration compliance program, says Morgan Bailey at Mayer Brown.

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Sealing The Deal

How Gibson Dunn Helped SpaceX Pull Off Its $75B Global IPO

By Al Barbarino

When SpaceX completed its record-breaking $75 billion initial public offering last month, the transaction was notable not only for its size — the largest IPO ever — but also for breaking new ground in how public offerings can be structured to reach retail investors around the world.

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CEO Cops To Conspiracy In BigLaw Insider Trading Case

By Sydney Price

A Dubai-based CEO and trader has pled guilty in Massachusetts federal court to charges that he worked with a former BigLaw associate and others to carry out a far-reaching insider trading scheme.

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Justices To Defend Court's Budget In Rare Hill Testimony

By Courtney Bublé

U.S. Supreme Court Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kagan will testify before House and Senate committees on July 14, marking the first time in seven years that a sitting justice has gone before lawmakers.

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Ex-DOJ Employees Tell Senate To Reject Blanche Nomination

By Emily Sawicki

Hundreds of former Justice Department employees and appointees urged the Senate in a Tuesday letter to reject the nomination of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche for the permanent role, particularly noting what they called Blanche's work toward politicizing the department.

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ChatGPT Edits Weren't 'Knowing' Errors, Conn. Justices Told

By Aaron Keller

A GLG Law LLC lawyer who blamed ChatGPT for misquotes and citation errors in three filings told the Connecticut Supreme Court on Tuesday he did not violate an ethics rule requiring candor to the tribunal because his briefs, though inaccurate, contained correct assertions about the law.

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McCarter Atty's Work 'Fell Short' In $20M Deals, Judge Told

By Brian Steele

McCarter & English LLP and one of its Connecticut attorneys failed to uphold the applicable standard of care when advising insurers on $20 million worth of loan transactions that ultimately fell apart because the borrower stopped paying, an expert witness told a Connecticut state court on Tuesday.

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House Dems Push To Ban Judges From Prediction Markets

By Emily Sawicki

Ranking members of the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday called on the federal judiciary to ban judges from taking part in prediction markets amid growing concerns that court-related wagers could undermine judicial integrity.

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