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Mealey's Employment

  • November 20, 2024

    Trump Corp. Sues Employment Practices Liability Insurer For Breach Of Contract

    NEW YORK — The Trump Corp. sued it employment practices liability insurer in a New York federal court for breach of contract and seeks a declaration that the insurer has a duty to defend and indemnify it against a terminated employee’s lawsuit alleging unpaid overtime, age discrimination and breach of contract.

  • November 19, 2024

    Texas Federal Judge Sets Aside DOL Rule Raising Minimum Salary For FLSA Exemption

    SHERMAN, Texas — A federal judge in Texas set aside and vacated a U.S. Department of Labor rule raising the minimum salary at which executive, administrative and professional (EAP) employees are exempt from minimum wage and overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), opining that the DOL’s authority to “define and delimit” the exemption is limited.

  • November 19, 2024

    Employee To High Court: Voluntary Dismissal Of Age Bias Suit Is Final Proceeding

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The voluntary dismissal of an age bias suit pending arbitration is a “final proceeding” under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(1)(A) and, alternatively, a “final judgment” under Rule 60(b), and a court may reopen such cases, a former employee tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a Nov. 18 petitioner brief.

  • November 18, 2024

    Parties Dispute Former CEO’s Bid For Severance Benefits During Liquidation

    MADISON, Wis. — The termination of former Wisconsin Reinsurance Corp. and 1st Auto & Casualty Insurance CEO Jason A. Fogg has become an issue in those entities’ liquidation, with Fogg filing an objection in Wisconsin state court to denial of his claim for more than $660,000 and the liquidator countering that the termination was “for cause” under his executive employment agreement.

  • November 18, 2024

    9 Organizations Seek Amicus Input Into ERISA Fight Over Illinois Temp Worker Law

    CHICAGO — Saying that the eventual ruling in a challenge to an Illinois temporary worker law “may set a precedent for how courts apply” the express preemption provision of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act “in the context of other state and local laws that seek to regulate job-based benefits, extending beyond the regulation of temporary work and reverberating well beyond Illinois,” nine organizations including the National Retail Federation (NRF) and the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America filed a Nov. 15 consent motion for leave to file an amicus curiae brief in Illinois federal court.

  • November 18, 2024

    U.S. High Court Won’t Consider Army Reservist’s Disability-Related Appeal

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 18 denied a petition for writ of certiorari filed by a former Volvo Group North America LLC employee and Army reservist who alleged that a federal judge in Illinois erred when he “elevat[ed]” the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) over the protections provided by the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) and refused to alter or amend judgment following the second trial in a USERRA case that resulted in a verdict for Volvo.

  • November 18, 2024

    Former Jailed Worker Waives Response To Maryland County’s Wage-And-Hour Petition

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A former detainee who brought collective and class wage-and-hour claims against a Maryland county waived his right to respond to Baltimore County’s petition for a writ of certiorari that asks the U.S. Supreme Court to decide “[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).

  • November 14, 2024

    2nd Circuit Won’t Review Dismissal Of Whistleblower Suit Against Reinsurer, Others

    NEW YORK — Saying in part that there is “substantial evidence” for the conclusion that the petitioner “did not subjectively believe that” the conduct he cited in a whistleblower retaliation complaint “constituted criminal fraud or violated any securities law provisions,” a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel issued a Nov. 13 summary order declining to review dismissal of the complaint.

  • November 14, 2024

    NLRB Majority: Union Views During Captive-Audience Meetings Are Unlawful

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — An employer violates the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) if it expresses views on unionization during meetings where employees are compelled to attend “on pain of discipline or discharge,” a divided National Labor Relations Board ruled Nov. 13 in a case presenting a number of issues arising out of Amazon.com Services LLC’s opposition to a union organizing campaign.

  • November 14, 2024

    Employers Of Chauffeurs File Cross-Appeal After $2.5M Wage Settlement OK’d

    PHOENIX — The employers of chauffeur drivers who brought a class and collective action wage-and-hour complaint in a federal court in Arizona filed a notice of cross-appeal as to judgment and nine orders issued over the course of four years; the filing followed final approval of a $2.5 million settlement between the drivers and the employers.

  • November 13, 2024

    Panel: Jury’s Finding Of Defamation Established Willful Act, No Coverage Owed

    PASADENA, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Nov. 12 affirmed a lower federal court’s grant of an insurer’s motion to dismiss an insured’s breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking coverage for a $4,941,071 judgment in a defamation action brought by its former employee, finding that the underlying jury's finding of defamation per se established a willful act under California Insurance Code Section 533.

  • November 13, 2024

    Jury Awards Over $12M To Employee Fired For Refusing COVID Vaccine Due To Religion

    DETROIT — A Michigan federal jury awarded the former employee of a medical insurer nearly $3 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages after finding the insurer liable for discrimination for failing to accommodate her religious objection to receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.

  • November 12, 2024

    Transit Agency Says $7.8M Verdict Against It In COVID Vaccine Case Cannot Stand

    SAN FRANCISCO — A transit agency moved for judgment as a matter of law or, in the alternative, for a new trial after a California federal jury awarded six former employees in excess of $1 million each for a total of more than $7.8 million for failing to accommodate their religious objections to being vaccinated for COVID-19, contending that the verdict was against the weight of the evidence and that opposing counsel was allowed to repeatedly make prejudicial comments.

  • November 11, 2024

    Final OK Given To $5.5M Amazon COVID-19 Screenings Pay Class Settlement

    FRESNO, Calif. — A federal magistrate judge in California granted final approval of a $5.5 million settlement between California workers and Amazon.com Services LLC, ending two cases in which the workers allege that they were denied pay for time spent undergoing COVID-19 symptom screenings before their shifts.

  • November 08, 2024

    Judge Stands By Determination That ERISA Governs Deferred Compensation Plans

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge has declined to alter or withdraw an Employee Retirement Income Security Act determination that financial services firm Morgan Stanley and related defendants said caused issues in derivative arbitrations; the unchanged November 2023 holding in the putative class action is that ERISA governs the compensation incentive and equity incentive plans at issue.

  • November 07, 2024

    5th Circuit: Officer’s Claims Over Suspension After Facebook Posts Were Untimely

    NEW ORLEANS — A police officer who sued four police chiefs and the city that employed him 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, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, affirming a trial court’s judgment.

  • November 06, 2024

    Judge Denies Bid To Dismiss Unlawful Discharge Claim In Former Twitter Execs’ Suit

    OAKLAND, Calif. — A California federal judge has denied a motion in which Elon Musk and related defendants sought dismissal of one of six Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims asserted against them by four former Twitter Inc. officers or executives who are seeking severance benefits, equitable relief and statutory penalties.

  • November 06, 2024

    Employer Seeks Rehearing After Default Judgment Upheld In Wage-And-Hour Suit

    ATLANTA — A steel fabricator moved for rehearing or rehearing en banc after an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that a trial court did not err when it entered default judgment against the employer in a collective wage-and-hour lawsuit as a sanction following a finding of bad faith during discovery.

  • November 05, 2024

    U.S. Supreme Court Hears Arguments On FLSA Exemption Standard

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The preponderance-of-the-evidence standard, which is the default standard for civil cases, should be applied to all 34 exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the attorney representing a food distributor and the company’s CEO argued Nov. 5 before the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • November 05, 2024

    Lyft Will Pay $2.1M Civil Penalty To End Misleading Earnings Statement Suit

    SAN FRANCISCO — Lyft Inc. has agreed to pay a $2.1 million civil penalty and to a permanent injunction to end a complaint filed in a federal court in California by the United States alleging that the rideshare company made false and misleading statements about how much its drivers would earn.

  • November 05, 2024

    11th Circuit: Equitable Tolling Entitlement Not Shown In VA Worker’s Race Bias Case

    ATLANTA — A Department of Veterans Affairs worker failed to show that she was entitled to equitable tolling of the 15-day deadline to file a formal administrative complaint with the VA, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in a race bias and retaliation case, affirming dismissal but finding that the case cited by the trial court did not control as the issues were different.

  • November 05, 2024

    Worker, DOT And Amici File High Court Briefing On Differential Pay For Reservists

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A U.S. Coast Guard reservist tells the U.S. Supreme Court in his reply brief that he is entitled to differential pay when performing active duty both during a national emergency and where his service is not found to be a part of a contingency operation.

  • November 05, 2024

    Federal Jury Finds Granite Installer Fired For Age; Judgment Entered For Worker

    PITTSBURGH — The same day a jury awarded a granite installer compensatory damages and front and back pay on age bias claims and found that the bias was willful, a federal judge in Pennsylvania entered judgment for the worker in the amount of $79,148.50.

  • November 04, 2024

    NLRB Waives Response Petition On Deferring NLRA Interpretation To NLRB

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Labor Relations Board waived its right to respond to a petition for writ of certiorari filed in the U.S. Supreme Court by two hospitals who ask the justices to decide whether deferring an interpretation of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) when it comes to terminating a dues checkoff provision following the expiration of a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) to the NLRB violates Loper Bright Enterprises, Inc. v. Raimondo.

  • November 04, 2024

    University Manager Seeks En Banc Review Of 6th Circuit’s Vaccine Ruling

    CINCINNATI — A former University of Kentucky department manager filed a motion seeking en banc review after a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a summary judgment ruling for the university’s board of trustees in a dispute over a COVID-19 test-or-vaccinate policy.