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

Mealey's Employment

December 18, 2024
Morgan Stanley Expenses Settlement Reaffirmed, Attorney Fees Disgorgement Denied

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California reaffirmed the fairness of a more than $10 million settlement in a case accusing Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC (MSSB) of various wage violations and declined to vacate a supplemental attorney fees award, deny further distributions or disgorge past payments.
December 18, 2024
Amended Complaint Allowed In Disney Wage Suit After $233M Settlement Reached

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California judge on Dec 18 permitted an amended complaint to be filed in a lawsuit accusing a theme park operator and the company running its restaurants of wage violations in light of a $233 million proposed settlement that would resolve all claims related to allegedly underpaid service charges under the Anaheim, Calif., Living Wage Ordinance (LWO).
December 17, 2024
Expert In Wages Case Cannot Testify On Legality Of Company’s Actions, Judge Says

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — An expert retained by a landscaping company facing allegations that it failed to properly pay its workers cannot testify, a Kansas federal judge ruled, because his conclusions are entirely improper legal conclusions, which are inadmissible under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.
December 16, 2024
Patients, Employees Settle Data Breach Suit Against Dental Chain For $2.7 Million

DETROIT — A Michigan federal judge granted final approval to a $2.7 million agreement that settles negligence and implied contract claims brought by the employees and patients of a multistate dental chain related to a February 2023 data breach that exposed the personally identifiable information (PII) of almost 2 million people.
December 16, 2024
United Tells 5th Circuit Class Incorrectly Certified In Vaccine Mandate Suit

NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge in Texas erred in partially granting a motion for class certification filed by United Airlines Inc. employees in a case over the company’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate as Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23’s commonality, predominance or superiority requirements were not satisfied, United Airlines argues in an appellant/cross-appellee brief filed in the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
December 16, 2024
9th Circuit Vacates Sending Wage Class Suit Arbitrability To Arbitrator

PASADENA, Calif. — A collective bargaining agreement’s (CBA) arbitration provision requires a court, not an arbitrator, to determine the arbitrability of wage-and-hour class claims brought under California law, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled in a Dec. 13 unpublished memorandum, vacating an order that denied the employers’ motion to compel arbitration pending a decision by an arbitrator.
December 12, 2024
Religious Discrimination In, Disability Discrimination Out In COVID Vaccine Suit

PORTLAND, Ore. — In a lawsuit by a former employee alleging that her employer failed to make a good faith effort to accommodate her religious beliefs and medical disability, both of which led her to decline a company-mandated COVID-19 vaccination and caused her dismissal, an Oregon federal judge on Dec. 11 adopted the findings and recommendation of a magistrate judge and granted the employer’s motion for judgment on the pleadings as to the employee’s disability discrimination claim but denied the motion as to the employee’s religious discrimination claim.
December 12, 2024
Judge: Assignee Lacks Standing To Recover Emotional Distress Damages From Insurer

CHICAGO — A California federal judge held that an assignee cannot establish standing under California Insurance Code Section 11580(b)(2) to recover her emotional distress damages from an insurer as judgment creditor of her former employer, granting the insurer’s motion to dismiss her lawsuit arising from an underlying discrimination judgment in her favor but allowing the assignee leave to amend one of her claims.
December 12, 2024
Federal Judge: Multiple Tenure Protections For NLRB Judges Are Unconstitutional

WASHINGTON, D.C. — National Labor Relations Board administrative law judges (ALJs) are “‘officers of the United States’” and must not protected from presidential removal via multiple levels of protection, a federal judge in the District of Columbia ruled in a case brought by a Massachusetts acute-care hospital accused by the union representing its nurses of violating various provisions of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
December 12, 2024
6th Circuit Reinstates State Farm Worker’s Hostile Environment, Retaliation Claims

CINCINNATI — A former State Farm Insurance claims manager who alleges she was fired after telling other workers about a racist letter she and others received and not because of emails containing confidential information that she sent to outside addresses may proceed with her hostile work environment and retaliation claims, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, finding a sufficient showing of pretext for the firing.
December 11, 2024
Granite Installer Awarded Reduced Attorney Fees After Age Bias Verdict

PITTSBURGH — A granite installer awarded nearly $80,000 for compensatory damages and front and back pay on age bias claims by a federal jury was awarded more than twice that in attorney fees and costs by a federal judge in Pennsylvania.
December 11, 2024
Split 3rd Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Class Suit Over Cannabis Use Firing

PHILADELPHIA — A New Jersey law prohibiting the firing of workers for cannabis use does not create a private cause of action, a split Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, declining an alternative request to certify a question on the law and a question regarding pre-employment discrimination to the New Jersey Supreme Court.
December 11, 2024
Employer’s Rehearing Request Denied; Default Judgment Upheld In Wage-And-Hour Suit

ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc filed by a steel fabricator after an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that there was no error when a trial court entered default judgment against the employer in a collective wage-and-hour lawsuit as a sanction due to a finding of bad faith during discovery.
December 11, 2024
8th Circuit Reverses Summary Judgment For Hospital On Chair’s Speech Claim

ST. PAUL, Minn. — An Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel reversed summary judgment for a hospital on a former department chair’s claim of First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution retaliation, finding that there was evidence that social media posts were discussed leading up to the chair’s demotion.
December 11, 2024
Employee Seeks Reconsideration Of Ruling On Retroactivity Of BIPA Limits Act

CHICAGO — A worker moved for reconsideration of a federal judge’s ruling that an August amendment to Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) that places limits on an individual’s recovery for certain data release violations applies retroactively, citing a Nov. 22 ruling he says reached the opposite conclusion.
December 11, 2024
U.S. High Court Requests Response From Former Detainee To County’s Wage Petition

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court asked a former detainee to respond to a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a Maryland county seeking a ruling on “[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).
December 10, 2024
Straight Worker’s High Court Bias Brief Challenges ‘Background Circumstances’

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A heterosexual worker who claims that she was discriminated against due to her sexual orientation tells the U.S. Supreme Court in her Dec. 9 petitioner brief that the requirement that she present sufficient “background circumstances” is placed only “on majority-group plaintiffs” and that such a “heightened evidentiary burden contravenes” the text of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
December 10, 2024
Supreme Court Justices Hear Arguments On Differential Pay For Reservists

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Civilian employees who serve in the reserves and are “called to active duty under any provision of law must receive differential pay” when the call comes during a national emergency, the attorney representing a U.S. Coast Guard reservist told the U.S. Supreme Court during oral arguments heard Dec. 9.
December 03, 2024
COMMENTARY: The Future Of Work: Exploring The Employment And Data Protection Law Implications Of The Use Of Artificial Intelligence (AI) In European Workplaces

By Matthew Howse, Louise Skinner, Vishnu Shankar and William Mallin
December 09, 2024
Union, Others Oppose Professors’ 1st Amendment Representation Petition

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The union representing City University of New York (CUNY) professors, the school itself and others filed two responses in the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 6 opposing the professors’ arguments in a petition for a writ of certiorari that their First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution rights are being violated as they are required to belong to a bargaining unit they accuse of engaging in anti-Semitic and anti-Israel conduct.
December 09, 2024
Split Alaska High Court Reverses Finding For Worker In Pay Eligibility Dispute

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An Alaska superior court failed to correctly apply the just cause standard in Braun v. Alaska Commercial Fishing & Agriculture Bank in a case by a former state employee who alleged that she was wrongly fired after being accused of misrepresenting where she resided, a split Alaska Supreme Court ruled, reversing the trial court’s decision.
December 05, 2024
Solicitor General Will Participate In Disability Rights High Court Arguments

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court granted a motion by the U.S. solicitor general to participate in oral arguments that will be held in January in an appeal by a retired employee of a Florida city asking whether she has the right to sue under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for discrimination related to the distribution of fringe benefits that took effect after her employment ended.
December 05, 2024
Staffing Agency Settles No-Poach, Wage-Fixing Claims With Illinois For $1.8M

CHICAGO — An Illinois judge approved a $1.8 million settlement to be paid by a temporary staffing agency, one of four defendants in a case alleging that they engaged in a coordinated effort to execute and enforce wage-fixing and no-poach agreements.
December 04, 2024
Jackson Hewitt $10.8M Wage Suppression Class Settlement Granted Final OK

NEWARK, N.J. — A federal judge in New Jersey granted final approval of a $10.8 million settlement in a class complaint by individuals who worked for a tax preparation franchisor or franchisees and alleged that there was a conspiracy to suppress compensation via no-poach agreements and issued an order granting attorney fees, expenses and service awards.
December 03, 2024
Texas Attorney Sanctioned Over AI’s Use In Employment Termination Case

BEAUMONT, Texas — An attorney who relied on artificial intelligence as the sole means to confirm citations and quotations in a brief opposing summary judgment in a wrongful termination case must pay $2,000 and attend legal training, a federal judge in Texas said in imposing sanctions including allowing the defendant to file a reply to the amended response, which it did Dec. 2.