Mealey's Employment : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Employment

June 06, 2024
University Of The Arts Employees File WARN Act Class Suit Following Closure

PHILADELPHIA — Nine employees of a Philadelphia university that announced May 31 that it would be closing its doors one week later filed a class complaint in a federal court in Pennsylvania seeking 60 days of pay and Employee Retirement Income Security Act benefits, alleging that the school violated the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act).
June 05, 2024
6th Circuit Vacates Health Care Provider’s $130,000 Vaccine Mandate Settlement

CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, in considering the second appeal in a settled case by employees over a health care provider’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy, vacated the settlement approval, finding that no named plaintiff in the case had standing as to the health care provider’s affiliates added in the settlement, resulting in the trial court lacking jurisdiction.
June 05, 2024
Petition Seeks Ruling On Legal Test For Employment Bias Circumstantial Evidence

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (FDJJ) asks the U.S. Supreme Court to determine whether McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green and its progeny provide the correct legal test for proving employment discrimination based on circumstantial evidence or whether “the less-rigorous ‘convincing mosaic’ theory” may be used.
June 04, 2024
Navy SEALs Seek Preliminary Class Settlement Approval In COVID-19 Vaccine Case

FORT WORTH, Texas — Navy SEALs and members of the Navy who sued after they were denied religious exemptions from the Navy’s COVID-19 vaccination requirement filed a motion in a federal court in Texas seeking preliminary approval of a class settlement that will provide corrections to their personnel records, policy changes, public postings and attorney fees.
June 04, 2024
U.S. Supreme Court Denies Oil Company’s Donning, Doffing Petition

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 3 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by an oil company asking the justices to decide whether “donning and doffing generic protective clothing” is compensable under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
June 03, 2024
Chamber Of Commerce’s Suit Over FTC’s Noncompete Rule Dismissed After Intervention

TYLER, Texas — A complaint by the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America and two other groups challenging the Federal Trade Commission’s new rule banning noncompete agreements was dismissed without prejudice by a federal judge in Texas after the Chamber and two other plaintiffs notified the court that they successfully intervened in the first-filed case filed in another federal court in the same state.
June 03, 2024
Teacher Asks 7th Circuit To Again Review Transgender Student Name Case

INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana teacher seeking a religious accommodation from using transgender students’ first names filed a notice of appeal after a federal judge in that state granted summary judgment to the teacher’s employer, finding that the requested accommodation placed the school district at risk for litigation and withdrawn funding and “disrupted” its business.
June 03, 2024
DOL Accuses Hyundai, Partners Of Child Labor Violations In U.S. Facilities

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A Hyundai manufacturing plant and two partners are violating the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) child labor laws, the U.S. Department of Labor alleges in a complaint filed in a federal court in Alabama after finding that a 13-year-old worked up to 60 hours per week on an Alabama assembly line rather than attending school.
May 31, 2024
COMMENTARY: "Should I Stay Or Should I Go?”: Supreme Court Resolves FAA Circuit Split On Staying Arbitration

By Ed Mullins, James P. Duffy IV, Niyati Ahuja and Wardah A. Bari
May 29, 2024
COMMENTARY: U.S. Supreme Court Limits Appeals From Decisions Enforcing Arbitration Agreements

By David N. Cinotti
May 31, 2024
6th Circuit: Hospital Had Valid Basis To Fire Worker Who Sought ADA Accommodation

CINCINNATI — A panel of the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a ruling of an Ohio federal court granting the motion for summary judgment of a hospital sued by its in-house pharmacist for denying him a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) after the hospital fired him for leaving his post before the end of his shift to avoid a co-worker exposed to COVID-19 and for terminating him in retaliation for his requesting an accommodation for his hereditary spastic paraplegia.
May 31, 2024
$2.5M Settlement Reached In Wage-And-Hour Suit Between Chauffeurs, Employers

PHOENIX — Chauffer drivers alleging on behalf of a collective and class that they were improperly denied minimum, straight and overtime wages filed a motion in a federal court in Arizona seeking preliminary approval of a $2.5 million settlement with their employers.
May 30, 2024
Amici Support Pandemic Unemployment Applicants’ Exhaustion High Court Arguments

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Chamber of Commerce of the United States and a number of other groups filed amicus curiae briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court supporting arguments by Alabama unemployment benefits applicants who argue that their lawsuit over the delays in processing the large amount of applications filed due to the coronavirus pandemic was improperly dismissed for failure to exhaust administrative remedies.
May 29, 2024
Lyft Asks U.S. High Court To Decide Application Of Viking River In Calif. Cases

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Since Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana was decided in 2022, California courts have violated the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) and the U.S. Supreme Court’s application of the FAA in Viking River by allowing non-individual claims under the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) to be stayed or litigated after arbitration of individual claims has been compelled, Lyft Inc. argues in its reply brief urging the high court to grant its petition for a writ of certiorari filed after a California appellate panel permitted a rideshare driver to proceed with his non-individual PAGA misclassification claims.
May 29, 2024
8th Circuit Reverses Dismissal Of Mayo Clinic Workers’ COVID-19 Vaccine Claims

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Three workers who refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and were denied religious exemptions and two who were granted exemptions but refused their employer’s alternate testing requirements may all proceed with their religious accommodation claims against their employers as the trial court erred when it granted dismissal to The Mayo Clinic, Mayo Clinic Health System-Southeast Minnesota Region and Mayo Clinic, Ambulance (together, Mayo Clinic), an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, finding in part that the Minnesota Human Rights Act (MHRA) provides a cause of action for failure to accommodate religious beliefs.
May 29, 2024
N.J. High Court: Real Estate Independent Contractor Agreement Is Enforceable

TRENTON, N.J. — An independent contractor agreement between a broker and a real estate salesperson is enforceable under the New Jersey Real Estate License Act, also known as the Brokers Act, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled, reversing an appellate panel’s affirmance of a trial court’s denial of a broker’s motion to dismiss and remanding for dismissal of the salesperson’s putative class complaint.
May 28, 2024
5th Circuit Again Finds High Pay Workers Not Paid On ‘Salary Basis’ Owed Overtime

NEW ORLEANS — Two workers who each earned more than $100 per hour do not fall within the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) exemptions for “highly compensated employees” or “learned professionals” as they are not paid on a “salary basis,” a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled May 24 in a second pass at the appeal by the employer and affirming a trial court’s judgment; however, the panel vacated the judgment imposing liquidated damages and remanded for reconsideration, finding that new evidence presented by the employer should have been considered.
May 24, 2024
$30M Settlement Between Jan-Pro, Franchisees Granted Final Approval

SAN FRANCISCO — A $30 million wage-and-hour settlement between Jan-Pro Franchising International Inc. and California cleaning franchisees in a case in which the franchisees alleged that they were misclassified was granted final approval on May 23 by a federal judge in California, who also partially granted and partially denied a motion for attorney fees and service awards.
May 23, 2024
$5.5M Amazon COVID-19 Screenings Pay Settlement Granted Preliminary Approval

FRESNO, Calif. — A federal magistrate judge in California on May 22 granted preliminary approval of a $5.5 million settlement after supplemental briefing and a revised class notice was filed in two consolidated cases by California workers who accuse Amazon.com Services LLC of failing to pay them for time spent undergoing COVID-19 symptom screenings before their shifts.
May 22, 2024
Federal Judge: WARN Act Bakery Worker Class Owed Nearly $3M In Damages

BURLINGTON, Vt. — A federal judge in Vermont partially granted a dissolution receiver’s summary judgment motion in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988 (WARN Act) lawsuit brought by a class of workers after three bakeries ceased operations and determined that the class is owed damages of $2,759,502.02; however, the judge determined that a bench trial must be held to determine whether the receiver is entitled to a reduction of liability based on good faith.
May 22, 2024
Wash. Jury Awards Former University Auditor More Than $2.9M In Whistleblower Case

BELLINGHAM, Wash. — A Washington jury returned a more than $2.9 million verdict for a former state university auditor who alleged that she was fired after investigating and reporting that students were fraudulently being signed up for nonexistent classes to increase their credits for financial aid purposes.
May 22, 2024
Jury Awards 5 Former Drug Execs More Than $26.6M On Counterclaims After Firing

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. — A Pennsylvania jury awarded five drug company executives more than $26.6 million on their counterclaims and third-party claims against their former employer in a lawsuit in which the executives were accused of stealing trade secrets.
May 21, 2024
$80,000 Wage Settlement Approval Denied Due To Confidentiality Pact, Release

PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Pennsylvania denied approval of an $80,000 wage-and-hour settlement between a car dealership and a former employee, opining that “the proposed confidentiality agreement and release language frustrate the FLSA’s [Fair Labor Standards Act] purpose.”
May 21, 2024
Divided Panel: ‘Own Time’ Language In Patent Invention Agreement Is Ambiguous

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Findings by a federal judge in California that a 2011 assignment by an inventor to his company of rights to a bandwidth optimization patent was ineffective because of an invention agreement he signed with a former employer more than two decades earlier must be revisited, a divided Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals concluded May 21.
May 21, 2024
Federal Jury Finds Nashville Deputy Fire Marshal Subjected To Age, Gender Bias

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A federal jury in Tennessee returned a verdict largely for a Nashville deputy fire marshal who alleged that she was prevented from becoming the fire department’s first female fire marshal due to the “good ole boys club,” which resulted in a younger and less experienced male employee from another department being chosen for the job.