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Mealey's Employment

  • March 28, 2025

    Wal-Mart To Pay More Than $415K To 2 W.Va. Workers To End EEOC Sex Bias Suit

    BECKLEY, W.Va. — Wal-Mart Stores East L.P.will pay two female employees who were allegedly subjected to sex discrimination and retaliation at the hands of a former male manager a total of more than $415,000 and implement a series of workplace practices to curtail sexual harassment through a consent decree signed by a West Virginia federal judge.

  • March 27, 2025

    Stay Of Federal Worker Reinstatements Denied As High Court Application Is Pending

    SAN FRANCISCO — A split Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on March 26 denied an emergency motion filed by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and OPM’s acting director seeking a stay of a preliminary injunction directing the reinstatement of more than 16,000 probationary workers from six federal agencies who were fired en masse; the order was filed two days after OPM, the acting director and other federal government parties filed a stay application with the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • March 27, 2025

    Federal Worker Appeals Firing, Seeks Processing Before MSPB As Class Appeal

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The federal government’s use of a reduction-in-force (RIF) to remove diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) employees throughout the government violated RIF procedures and was unlawful discrimination based on sex and/or race as well as political affiliation, the former deputy director of the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) argues in an appeal of their termination and request for processing their appeal as a class one filed March 26 in the Merit Systems Protection Board.

  • March 25, 2025

    School Districts, Unions Sue Seeking To Halt 'Dismantlement' Of DOE

    BOSTON — A March 20 executive order (EO) concerning the Department of Education (DOE) unlawfully intends to dismantle the agency, two school districts, several unions and a membership association argue in a March 24 complaint filed in a federal court in Massachusetts seeking to halt the EO, including the mass firing of workers.

  • March 24, 2025

    Federal Government Seeks Stay Of Federal Worker Reinstatements From High Court

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), OPM’s acting director and other federal government parties filed an application with the U.S. Supreme Court on March 24 seeking to stay a trial court’s preliminary injunction directing the reinstatement of more than 16,000 probationary workers from six federal agencies who were fired en masse.

  • March 24, 2025

    U.S. Supreme Court Denies Petition On Removals, Review Standard For NLRB Rulings

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 24 denied a petition by a road construction contractor who asked the justices to decide whether the deferential standard of review is still applicable post-Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo to interpretations of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by the National Labor Relations Board and whether cause is required for the president to remove the NLRB general counsel.

  • March 24, 2025

    U.S. Supreme Court Denies 3 Class Tolling Petitions Filed By Union Pacific

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 24 denied three petitions filed by Union Pacific Railroad Co. challenging rulings by three different federal circuits, which all held that American Pipe & Construction Co. v. Utah tolling ends for class members only when they have been “unambiguously excluded” from the class.

  • March 24, 2025

    U.S. High Court Denies Petition Seeking Ruling On NLRA Interpretation Deference

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 24 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari asking the justices to decide whether deferring an interpretation of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to the National Labor Relations Board violates Loper Bright Enterprises, Inc. v. Raimondo.

  • March 21, 2025

    Union, Groups Granted TRO In Suit Seeking To Stop DOGE Access To SSA Systems

    BALTIMORE — A federal judge in Maryland on March 20 granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) halting access to Social Security Administration (SSA) data for anonymous individuals associated with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) while calling the individuals’ actions “a fishing expedition” and stating that the federal government has not “identified or articulated even a single reason for which the DOGE Team needs unlimited access to SSA’s entire record systems, thereby exposing personal, confidential, sensitive, and private information that millions of Americans entrusted to their government.”

  • March 21, 2025

    TRO Denied In U.S. Institute Of Peace’s Lawsuit Seeking To Halt Removals

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in the District of Columbia in a minute order denied a motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) sought by the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) and USIP board members in a case in which they allege that U.S. DOGE Service and DOGE employees have taken over USIP “by force” and that President Donald J. Trump unlawfully fired the president and board members.

  • March 21, 2025

    Expedited Discovery Order Reaffirmed In Union’s Suit Over DOGE Access To DOL

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Washington, D.C., denied reconsideration of a limited expedited discovery order in a lawsuit by labor unions and nonprofits challenging access to U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) records by personnel from U.S. Digital Service and the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization (together, DOGE) and granted an amended motion for expedited discovery filed by the plaintiffs, opining that new evidence that the DOGE personnel are now also employed by the DOL “presents further reason that [DOGE’s] reporting structure needs clarifying.”

  • March 20, 2025

    EEOC, DOJ Release Technical Documents About DEI-Related Discrimination

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on March 19 released technical assistance documents on discrimination related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace.

  • March 19, 2025

    Preliminary Injunction Granted In Military Transgender Ban Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in the District of Columbia on March 18 granted a renewed application for a preliminary injunction filed by servicemembers who are challenging President Donald J. Trump’s executive order (EO) banning transgender people from the military.

  • March 19, 2025

    USAID Workers Partially Granted Preliminary Injunction In Agency Shutdown Suit

    GREENBELT, Md. — A federal judge in Maryland on March 18 in partially granting a preliminary injunction ordered reinstatement of all U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) employees and personal services contractors (PSCs) in a case brought by 26 unnamed USAID workers who allege that the actions taken by Elon Musk and others to shut the agency down violate the U.S. Constitution.

  • March 19, 2025

    9th Circuit Vacates Remand Order In Wage Class Suit Against Funeral Home

    PASADENA, Calif. — A trial court judge failed to properly evaluate an employer’s violation-rate assumption in a wage-and-hour putative class suit, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, vacating an order sending the case back to state court.

  • March 19, 2025

    Alaska High Court Upholds Principal’s Firing Over ‘Disrespectful’ Coaster Design

    ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Alaska Supreme Court affirmed a school board’s firing of a principal for allegedly violating antiharassment policies and related state regulations through the creation of a “disrespectful” coaster design featuring the school’s logo but reversed a decision to deny back pay from the time of termination through the date of the board’s post-termination hearing.

  • March 18, 2025

    Judge Says Expert Is Excluded As Irrelevant In Employment Discrimination Case

    CHICAGO — An expert who will opine that a woman was not at fault for a strategy coding error that her former employer cited as the reason for her termination cannot testify because his opinions are irrelevant to her claims for gender and race discrimination, an Illinois federal judge ruled March 17.

  • March 18, 2025

    EEOC Acting Chair Seeks Info From Law Firms On DEI Practices

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced March 17 that it sent letters to 20 law firms seeking information about their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) related employment practices.

  • March 18, 2025

    Split 9th Circuit Denies Administrative Stay Of Federal Worker Reinstatements

    SAN FRANCISCO — A divided Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 17 denied an emergency motion by the federal government for an immediate administrative stay of a trial court order directing the reinstatement of probationary workers from six federal agencies who were fired en masse.

  • March 17, 2025

    Veterans, Government Dismiss ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Suit After Settlement

    SAN FRANCISCO — Veterans and the federal government filed a joint stipulation of dismissal in a federal court in California in the veterans’ class lawsuit one day after a magistrate judge granted final approval of a class settlement that provides removal of references to sexual orientation from the discharge paperwork of servicemembers discharged under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) and other similar policies.

  • March 14, 2025

    Federal Government Appeals TRO Grant, Extension In En Masse Firings Suit

    SAN FRANCISCO — The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and other federal government parties sued by several unions and other groups seeking to enjoin the terminations of tens of thousands of federal workers filed a notice of appeal on March 13 in a federal court in California following a ruling by a federal judge granting and extending a temporary restraining order.

  • March 14, 2025

    Judge Orders Reinstatement Of Terminated Federal Workers In Multiple Agencies

    BALTIMORE — A federal judge in Maryland on March 13 granted a temporary restraining order filed by 20 states that allege that the mass firing of federal civil servants violates federal law and directed that the terminated probationary workers nationwide be reinstated in all agencies identified in the case except for the U.S. Department of Defense, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and National Archives and Records Administration.

  • March 14, 2025

    Judge Finds President’s Removal Of FLRA Member ‘Unlawful,’ Orders Reinstatement

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald J. Trump’s removal of the Federal Relations Labor Authority (FLRA) chair three weeks after his inauguration without explanation was the first time in the FLRA’s nearly 50 year history a member has been removed, and the action was “unlawful,” a federal judge in the District of Columbia ruled, ordering de facto reinstatement.

  • March 13, 2025

    Judge Allows States Discovery Into DOGE’s, Musk’s Authority In Firings, Data Access

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Fourteen states that sued over purported violations of the appointments clause of the U.S. Constitution were given the opportunity to take expedited discovery on actions taken by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), its personnel and Elon Musk, with a District of Columbia federal judge on March 12 finding that their discovery requests were, largely, narrowly tailored and pertinent to their forthcoming preliminary injunction motion.

  • March 13, 2025

    States Sue To Halt ‘Dismantling’ Of U.S. Department Of Education

    BOSTON — New York, more than a dozen other states and Michigan’s attorney general filed a complaint on March 13 in a federal court in Massachusetts alleging that a March 11 announcement that 50% of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) staff would be laid off is “an effective dismantling of the Department,” an action that is outside the power President Donald J. Trump and his administration.