Mealey's Employment
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July 16, 2024
Mass. Panel Reverses Board Ruling Denying Reimbursement To Workers’ Comp Insurer
BOSTON — A Massachusetts appellate court reversed a review board’s decision upholding the denial of a now-insolvent insurer’s claim for ongoing reimbursements from the Massachusetts Workers’ Compensation Trust Fund, finding that though the insurer was in a run-off period and not assessing premiums, the exception limiting reimbursements to insurers paying assessments into the fund is inapplicable to insurers in run-off.
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July 15, 2024
5th Circuit Vacates NLRB Misconduct Ruling For Exceeding Scope Of Remand
NEW ORLEANS — The National Labor Relations Board exceeded the scope of a remand and violated an employer’s due-process rights when it sought remand of a case concerning employee misconduct during activity protected by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to apply the new interpretation in General Motors LLC and instead used the proceeding to overrule that interpretation, a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled.
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July 15, 2024
Dollar General To Pay $12M, Make Nationwide Safety Investments Under DOL Pact
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Dollar General Corp. and its retail subsidiaries will pay $12 million in penalties and make safety changes as part of its corporate-wide settlement presented to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC).
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July 15, 2024
2 Disney Employees File Class Suit Over Scrapped Relocation Plans
LOS ANGELES — The Walt Disney Corp. told certain California workers that their jobs would be relocated to a new campus in Orlando, Fla., and that they could move or lose their jobs and then later scrapped the plans after some workers moved, two of the impacted workers allege in a putative class complaint seeking damages filed in a California court.
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July 12, 2024
Amazon’s $7.2M Global Security Screening Pay Settlement Approved
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A federal judge in Kentucky granted final approval of a more than $4.3 million settlement to be paid by Amazon.com Inc. and related parties to end the second of two class complaints accusing the online retailer of failing to pay workers at its Pennsylvania warehouses for time spent undergoing mandatory security screenings; this amount brings the total global settlement to end the two cases to $7,205,837.
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July 12, 2024
6th Circuit Upholds Arbitration Determination In Pilots’ Vaccine Mandate Case
CINCINNATI — Religious and disability bias claims by Kalitta Air LLC pilots who filed a putative class complaint challenging their employer’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate required interpretation of the collective bargaining agreement’s terms, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, affirming the trial court’s ruling that the claims must go through arbitration first as minor disputes pursuant to the Railway Labor Act (RLA).
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July 12, 2024
6th Circuit Won’t Rehear Case Over Multiemployer Funds’ Attempt To Force Audit
CINCINNATI — Following an unpublished panel decision with partial dissent that affirmed a ruling against multiemployer fringe benefit trust funds seeking an audit under the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA) and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for rehearing en banc.
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July 11, 2024
Judge Dismisses Former Twitter Employees’ ERISA Suit For Severance Benefits
SAN FRANCISCO — Ruling that the plaintiffs didn’t prove that a severance plan is governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, a California federal judge granted dismissal of a putative class complaint in which former Twitter employees sought more than $500 million in benefits.
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July 11, 2024
Split 9th Circuit: Equal Rights Protections Include U.S. Citizenship Bias
HONOLULU — Equal rights protections in 42 U.S. Code Section 1981 prohibit citizenship or alienage discrimination of U.S. citizens in hiring, a divided Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, reversing a trial court’s dismissal of putative class discrimination claims by a naturalized U.S. citizen and creating a split with the Fifth Circuit’s 1986 decision in Chaiffetz v. Robertson Research Holding, Ltd.
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July 11, 2024
Rehearing Sought After 9th Circuit Issues Class Scope Ambiguity Tolling Opinion
SAN FRANCISCO — Union Pacific Railroad Co. filed a petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc after a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled while answering a question that it stated was one of first impression that where a class definition is narrowed, any dispute or ambiguity regarding the applicability to certain plaintiffs “should be resolved in favor of tolling so that bystander members of the class need not rush to file separate actions to protect their rights.”
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July 10, 2024
Company Not Required Under ADA To Provide Remote Work Option To Freight Dispatcher
MACON, Ga. — A Georgia federal court on July 9 granted the summary judgment motion of a lawn products company in an action by a former employee alleging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in failing to provide her with a reasonable accommodation after she was stricken with a chronic respiratory condition that ensued after a bout of COVID-19, ruling that her position undisputedly required on-site work and that the company was not required to provide a remote-work accommodation.
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July 10, 2024
California Judge OKs Microsoft’s $14.4M Settlement Of Agency’s Leave Bias Suit
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Microsoft Corp. will pay $14,425,000 to end a complaint by the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) accusing the company of retaliation and discrimination against workers based on their use of protected leave, including parental, disability, pregnancy and family care taking leave, according to a July 9 order by a California judge granting entry of consent decree.
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July 10, 2024
6th Circuit Partially Vacates Dismissal Of Cleaning Agent-Related Disability Claims
CINCINNATI — A former Shelby County, Tenn., deputy jailer may proceed with some of her disability claims related to medical reactions she experienced to a cleaning agent initially used in 2013 and continuing past 2020 when the use of the cleaner increased due to the coronavirus pandemic, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled in a July 9 unpublished order.
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July 10, 2024
UPS Granted Summary Judgment In Workers’ ‘Dead End’ Jobs Suit
OAKLAND, Calif. — A federal judge in California granted summary judgment to United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) in a case by three female workers who alleged that they were relegated to work in the back and “dead end” job opportunities due to their gender, age and disabilities, finding in part that the workers were not “diligent in their discovery” and failed to present sufficient evidence of their claims.
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July 09, 2024
Neb. High Court Upholds Waiting Time Penalty, Attorney Fees In Workers’ Comp Case
LINCOLN, Neb. — A Whole Foods Market Inc. employee who was injured when she fell while working was properly awarded attorney fees and a waiting time penalty after the employer refused to pay permanent partial disability (PPD) benefits even though the worker was actually entitled to temporary total disability (TTD) benefits as the employer was aware there “some form of disability as a result of a work accident,” the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled, upholding a decision by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Court.
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July 09, 2024
Snapchat Agrees To $15M Gender Bias Settlement With California Agency
LOS ANGELES — Snap Inc., which created Snapchat, will pay $15 million to end a complaint by the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) alleging discrimination, harassment and retaliation against female employees, according to a joint stipulation for entry of consent decree filed in a California court.
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July 09, 2024
Air Force, Space Force Members Tell 6th Circuit COVID-19 Vaccine Case Not Moot
CINCINNATI — A class complaint by members of the U.S. Air Force and Space Force who refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine for religious reasons in which a classwide preliminary injunction was vacated as moot by the U.S. Supreme Court must be permitted to proceed as “the case, unlike the preliminary injunction, is not moot,” the service members argue in an appellant brief filed July 8 in the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
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July 09, 2024
8th Circuit Reinstates Health Worker’s Religious Bias Vaccine Mandate Case
GRAND FORKS, N.D. — A physical therapist who accuses her employer of discrimination related to requirements for workers who were granted religious exemptions from the company’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate may proceed with her claims as “all reasonable inferences” must be granted in the employee’s favor and the court “cannot assume at this early juncture that religious discrimination did not occur because one subset of potential comparators also faced disparate treatment,” an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled.
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July 08, 2024
8th Circuit Upholds Dismissal Of COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Religious Bias Claims
ST. PAUL, Minn. — A 3M Co. worker who cited his religious beliefs when he opposed the company’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate but later abandoned the argument failed to show that he was discriminated against due to his religion, an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled July 5.
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July 08, 2024
Ferry Authority To 1st Circuit: Workers Likely Won’t Succeed With Vaccine Claims
BOSTON — A trial court properly denied a renewed motion for a preliminary injunction filed by employees of a Massachusetts ferry operations authority who sued after their requests for religious exemptions from a COVID-19 vaccine mandate were denied as the workers failed to show any likelihood of success on the merits of their claims, the authority and its director of Human Resources argue in an appellee brief filed in the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
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July 05, 2024
Judge Postpones Effective Date Of FTC’s Noncompete Rule As Applied To Plaintiffs
DALLAS — A federal judge in Texas on July 3 granted motions for a preliminary injunction filed by a global tax services firm, the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America and three other entities and postponed the effective date of the Federal Trade Commission’s new rule banning noncompete agreements as applied to the movants.
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July 05, 2024
Expert On Drug Testing Regulations Cannot Offer Legal Conclusions, Judge Says
PHILADELPHIA — An expert retained by a practicing Muslim who is suing Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) for violating his constitutional rights by insisting that he drink water during Ramadan to undergo a drug test cannot offer legal conclusions, a federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled, limiting the expert’s testimony.
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July 01, 2024
COMMENTARY: Non-Competes No More? What Businesses Should Do To Protect Trade Secrets And Confidential Information Now
By Geri Haight and Danielle Bereznay
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July 03, 2024
AbilityOne Government Contractor Will Pay $1M To End EEOC Bias Lawsuit
GREENBELT, Md. — A government contractor that hires disabled individuals and is accused of failing to accommodate deaf and hard-of-hearing employees and terminating employees who requested medical leave but did not qualify for leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) will pay more than $1 million to end the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s lawsuit, according to a consent decree signed by a federal judge in Maryland.
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July 03, 2024
Divided U.S. High Court Denies Petition Challenging OSHA’s Safety Standards Power
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A divided U.S. Supreme Court on July 2 declined to consider a challenge to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) power to enforce workplace-safety standards.