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

Mealey's Employment

May 02, 2024
EEOC Touts Insight As Amicus In AI Hiring Discrimination Case

SAN FRANCISCO — The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission touted its unique perspective on discrimination claims allegedly arising from the use of artificial intelligence hiring programs, saying in a reply brief filed in support of its status as amicus curiae in a federal court in California that the case may be the first to address such issues and could have far reaching ramifications.
May 02, 2024
Officer’s ‘Hateful’ Facebook Posts Violated Public Policy, Pennsylvania Panel Rules

PHILADELPHIA — Reversing an arbitrator’s award that reinstated a police officer to his position on a university’s patrol, a Pennsylvania appeals court panel on May 1 found that the Facebook posts for which he was fired violated dominant public policy against discrimination, making his termination not without just cause and, therefore, not in violation of the governing collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
May 02, 2024
Washington Jury Awards Hospital Workers More Than $98M In Wage, Hour Damages

SEATTLE — A Washington jury returned a more than $98 million damages verdict for health care workers in a wage and hour class suit in which they alleged unlawful rounding practices and meal break denials.
May 01, 2024
Preliminary Injunction Denial Upheld In Federal Contractor Minimum Wage Suit

DENVER — A trial court did not err in denying a motion seeking to preliminarily enjoin a U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) rule requiring federal contractors to pay workers a minimum of $15 per hour as the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act (FPASA) likely authorizes the rule, a 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel majority ruled April 30.
May 01, 2024
Retaliation Claim Dismissed Against DME Supplier With $24.2M In FCA Liability

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — A West Virginia federal judge on April 30 granted a durable medical equipment (DME) supplier’s motion to reconsider his ruling denying summary judgment for a retaliatory discharge claim regarding a former employee’s reporting to supervisors alleged overbilling by the supplier that settled a separate False Claims Act (FCA) suit for $24.2 million, finding that the previous order should be revised “to prevent manifest injustice.”
April 30, 2024
Employee Who Refused COVID Tests Appeals Dismissal Of Constructive Discharge Case

MINNEAPOLIS — A former Minnesota county public defender filed a notice of appeal to the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 29, seeking review of a Minnesota federal court’s dismissal of the public defender’s complaint alleging that she was constructively discharged from her position and resigned under duress after she refused to submit to COVID-19 testing in lieu of vaccination as the county transitioned back to an in-office working environment.
April 30, 2024
Judgment Denied In Suit Against DME Supplier Subject To $24.2M In FCA Liability

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — A West Virginia federal judge denied in part a durable medical equipment (DME) supplier’s motion for summary judgment in a suit alleging retaliation, retaliatory discharge and outrage regarding a former employee’s reporting to supervisors alleged overbilling by a supplier that settled a separate False Claims Act (FCA) suit for $24.2 million, finding that disputed material facts remain regarding whether she was terminated for retaliatory reasons.
April 30, 2024
Ohio Trucking Companies To Pay $460,000 To End EEOC Sex Orientation Harassment Suit

CLEVELAND — Two Ohio trucking companies will pay $460,000 and provide other relief to settle a lawsuit by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging that they permitted gay mechanics to be harassed and fired due to their sexual orientation, according to the consent decree signed by a federal judge in Ohio.
April 30, 2024
Judge Gives Initial Nod To $9.4M White Castle Finger Scan Class Action Settlement

CHICAGO — A $9.4 million settlement between White Castle System Inc. and an employee who sued the fast food company for its finger scan policy received preliminary approval from an Illinois federal judge, who deemed the estimated $968 per class member payment to be “substantial relief” for the purported violations of Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by their employer.
April 29, 2024
U.S. High Court Won’t Consider Military Chaplains’ Vaccine Mandate Challenge

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on April 29 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by military chaplains who sued over the denial of their religious accommodation requests when it came to the COVID-19 vaccine and argued that their lawsuit remains live despite the revocation of the mandate.
April 29, 2024
U.S. Supreme Court Denies Employee’s Petition In Suspension With Pay Appeal

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on April 29 denied a September 2022 petition by a former employee who contended that the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals erred when it concluded that a suspension with pay was not an adverse employment action; the denial came just over a week after the justices issued the opinion in Muldrow v. St. Louis, a case that the United States had argued should have been heard together with the present case.
April 29, 2024
9th Circuit Agrees Starbucks Must Recognize, Bargain With Reserve Roastery Union

SEATTLE — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel granted the National Labor Relations Board’s application for enforcement of its decision finding that Siren Retail Corp., doing business as Starbucks, violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) when it refused to recognize and bargain with a union elected via mail-in ballots after arguing that an in-person election should have been ordered.
April 26, 2024
AI Hiring Company Sufficiently Targeted Illinois For Jurisdiction, Class Says

CHICAGO — The intentional contacts an artificial intelligence hiring platform company created with Illinois provide for jurisdiction, and the court should reject the company’s attempts to downplay the reality of those connections, class action plaintiffs say in an April 25 opposition. Previously, the company asked the court to reconsider its ruling finding jurisdiction in the state.
April 26, 2024
Chamber Of Commerce, Other Groups Seek Stay Of FTC’s Noncompete Rule

TYLER, Texas — A motion for a stay of the effective date of the Federal Trade Commission’s new rule banning noncompete agreements and preliminary injunction was filed in a Texas federal court by the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America and two other groups on the same day they sued the FTC over the rule; the complaint is one of several filed in the days after the rule banning the issuance of new noncompete agreements nationwide and largely banning the enforcement of existing agreements was announced.
April 26, 2024
State Courts Lack Jurisdiction To Hear Tribal Police Wrongful Termination Case

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — State courts did not have subject matter jurisdiction to hear a wrongful termination case brought by two former police officers with the Pueblo of Santa Ana Police Department because tribal sovereign immunity bars the claims, a New Mexico panel found in affirming a trial court’s judgment.
April 25, 2024
EEOC’s Race Bias Case Filed Against DHL In 2010 Settles For $8.7 Million

CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois on April 24 signed a consent decree between the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and DHL Express (USA) Inc. requiring the shipping company to pay $8.7 million to end a lawsuit that originated in 2010 and alleges that it assigned Black drivers to less desirable and more dangerous work.
April 25, 2024
Las Vegas Casino And Hotel Will Settle EEOC’s Disability Bias, Retaliation Case

LAS VEGAS — A hotel and casino in Las Vegas agreed to pay $720,000 to end a disability bias and retaliation lawsuit by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission accusing it of failing to provide accommodations and firing an employee because he wore an ostomy bag, the EEOC announced April 25.
April 25, 2024
Workday Opposes EEOC Brief Saying AI’s Use Doesn’t Redefine Employment Agency

SAN FRANCISCO — Workday Inc. opposed the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s motion to participate in a discrimination case involving artificial intelligence employment software as amicus curiae, portraying the brief as an improper second opposition to a motion to dismiss. Earlier, the EEOC said the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning in screening and sorting job candidates offers a “more sophisticated means” of performing employment agency tasks but does not differentiate the company from traditional employment agencies.
April 25, 2024
Ariz. Federal Judge: Expert Can Estimate Unpaid Wages In Suit By Class Of Drivers

PHOENIX — A forensic accounting expert retained by the operator of a fleet of chauffeured transportation services can testify, an Arizona federal judge ruled, denying a motion filed by a class of drivers who sued for wage violations.
April 25, 2024
FTC Issues Final Rule Banning Noncompetes

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Trade Commission issued a final rule banning the issuance of new noncompete agreements nationwide and largely banning the enforcement of existing agreements.
April 24, 2024
U.S. High Court Denies Petition In Appeal Over Jury Trial For ADA Retaliation

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a former employee who argues that he was entitled to monetary damages and a jury trial after his claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) were reduced to one claim of retaliation based on his firing.
April 23, 2024
Starbucks, NLRB Present Arguments To High Court On Test For NLRB Injunctive Relief

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Attorneys representing Starbucks Corp. and M. Kathleen McKinney, a National Labor Relations Board regional director, appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court on April 23 to present arguments on the appropriate standard for reviewing injunctive relief sought by the NLRB; in the case on appeal, the relief sought was the reinstatement of seven fired employees who engaged in pro-union activities.
April 23, 2024
NLRB Urges 9th Circuit To Enforce Bargaining Without Election Framework

SAN FRANCISCO — A new framework for determining when an employer has violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by refusing to bargain with a majority union without an election “will better advance the core statutory policies of effectuating employee choice and deterring unlawful conduct” and “is consistent with decades of precedent,” the National Labor Relations Board argues in an April 22 brief asking the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to enforce its August 2023 decision.
April 23, 2024
Calif. High Court Answers 9th Circuit Question, Finds Inmate Class Not Owed Wages

SAN FRANCISCO — A class of nonconvicted inmates in a California county jail who perform services for a for-profit company that supplies meals have no claim for minimum wages and overtime under current state law, the California Supreme Court ruled April 22, answering a question certified by the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an interlocutory appeal.
April 23, 2024
Red Robin Will Pay $600,000 To End EEOC Sexual Harassment Suit

SEATTLE — Red Robin International Inc. will pay $600,000 and provide other injunctive relief to end a complaint by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging sexual harassment, retaliation and constructive discharge according to an order by a federal judge in Washington approving a consent decree between the parties.