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

Mealey's Employment

February 10, 2025
2nd Circuit Vacates Ruling Against Union In Benefits Row Involving Expired CBA

NEW YORK — Saying in part that language incorporated by reference in an expired collective bargaining agreement (CBA) “can be reasonably understood as guaranteeing benefits beyond the contract’s expiration or as constituting deferred compensation,” a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated and remanded a ruling that a dispute over Xerox Corp.’s termination of certain retiree health benefits was not arbitrable.
February 10, 2025
Limited TRO Entered In 2 Unions’ Suit Seeking To Halt USAID Changes

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in the District of Columbia on Feb. 7 in a case filed by two unions challenging the alleged dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) entered a temporary restraining order (TRO) halting the placement of USAID employees on administrative leave and the expedited evacuation of USAID employees from their host counties but declined to stop the secretary of State’s pause on “all new obligations of funding” for USAID-funded foreign assistance programs.
February 10, 2025
TRO Request Denied In Suit Seeking To Halt DOGE’s Access To DOL’s Private Info

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in the District of Columbia in a Feb. 7 memorandum opinion and order expressed “concerns” about the alleged access to nonpublic U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) information and data being provided to personnel from the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), but denied a motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) filed by five unions and one nonprofit think tank for failure to establish standing.
February 10, 2025
2 Nonprofits File Complaint, 3rd Over EO Ending Civil Servants’ Job Protections

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald J. Trump is “attempt[ing] to dismantle a cornerstone of American democracy: a federal civil service rooted in merit and integrity,” a complaint by two nonprofits filed in a federal court in the District of Columbia alleges, challenging a Jan. 20 executive order (EO) that they say strips thousands of career civil servants of employment protections; the complaint is the third filed by various groups challenging that EO.
February 10, 2025
TRO Ruling Deferred After Government Agrees Not To ID FBI Workers On Trump Cases

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The federal government will not publicly release the identities of Federal Bureau of Investigation workers involved in investigating two events involving President Donald J. Trump at least until after ruling is issued on anticipated motions for a preliminary injunction in two cases seeking to stop such disclosures, according to a consent decree signed by a federal judge in the District of Columbia on Feb. 7.
February 07, 2025
2 Unions’ Complaint Seeks Relief From Alleged Dismantling Of USAID

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald J. Trump and his administration “have systematically dismantled the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)” through unconstitutional and illegal actions, two labor unions argue in a complaint filed Feb. 6 in a federal court in the District of Columbia seeking to reverse the actions already taken and “halt any further steps to dissolve the agency.”
February 07, 2025
2nd Military Transgender Ban Suit Filed As Housing Decision Reversed In 1st

SEATTLE — Seven servicemembers and a civil and human rights organization filed a complaint on Feb. 6 in a federal court in Washington challenging President Donald J. Trump’s executive order (EO) banning transgender people from the military; the complaint was filed one day after the military filed a notice in a similar case in a federal court in the District of Columbia that it was returning a servicemember who is a plaintiff in that case to the female barracks and assigning her a single female “battle buddy” after having moved her to a private single room and assigning her two battle buddies, one male and one female.
February 07, 2025
10th Circuit Affirms Ruling For Worker In ERISA Severance Dispute

DENVER — In an unpublished order and judgment noting the “stark” change in responsibilities that occurred after a change of control, a 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed that a former employee was due severance benefits in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case that involved disputes over a “good reason” clause and the correct standard of review.
February 06, 2025
Acting Labor Secretary Tells High Court No Review Of FLSA Exemption Needed

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals correctly ruled that inside sales representatives (ISRs) “are not employed in a bona fide administrative capacity” and so no review by the U.S. Supreme Court is necessary, the acting secretary of Labor writes in a Feb. 5 brief opposing a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by industrial product wholesaler.
February 06, 2025
5th Circuit: Minimum Wage EO Is Permitted Exercise Of Authority Under FPASA

NEW ORLEANS — A 2021 executive order (EO) by then-President Joseph R. Biden requiring various federal agencies to ensure that contractors and covered subcontractors pay specified workers a minimum of $15 per hour was “a valid exercise of the President’s authority under the FPASA [Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949],” a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, reversing a trial court’s decision to permanently enjoin the EO and remanding for the trial court to consider in the first instance whether the major questions doctrine applies and, if it does, whether the EO violates it.
February 06, 2025
Unions, Groups Allege DOGE Is Seizing Private Info While Dismantling Government

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Personnel from the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have entered several federal agencies in the last two weeks, seized data, including “sensitive personnel data,” taken employment action against those who resist the efforts and started to transform or “fully dismantle” the agencies, five unions and one nonprofit think tank allege in a complaint filed in a federal court in the District of Columbia on Feb. 5, the same day the unions and group moved for a temporary restraining order to halt the seizure of data from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).
February 06, 2025
Workers: 1 Class Properly Certified, 3 Others Should Be Too In Vaccine Mandate Case

NEW ORLEANS — A trial court properly certified a class of customer-facing workers who sought religious accommodations from United Airlines Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine policy and were place on unpaid leave for an indefinite amount of time, but the court erred by leaving certain workers outside of the certified class and by denying certification of three other proposed classes, United Airlines workers argue in an appellee/cross-appellant brief filed in the Fifth Circuit U.S Court of Appeals.
February 05, 2025
Ousted NLRB Member Sues New Chairman, Trump Alleging Removal Was Illegal

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The first Black female to serve on the National Labor Relations Board sued President Donald J. Trump and the new NLRB chairman on Feb. 5 in a federal court in the District of Columbia alleging that her removal from the board before her term was up was “unprecedented and illegal” and “effectively [shuts] down” the NLRB as its left without a quorum.
February 05, 2025
Battery Maker Seeks Rehearing After 3rd Circuit Rules On Back Pay In DOL Case

PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania battery manufacturer filed a petition for rehearing and rehearing en banc after a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that it must pay its workers for the true time they spend completing tasks and not the time the employer determines is “reasonable” and bears the burden of proving that such time is de minimis when using that defense.
February 05, 2025
FBI Workers Involved In Trump Cases File 2 Suits To Keep Identities Private

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two complaints, one of which is a putative class action, and two motions for temporary restraining orders (TROs) were filed Feb. 4 by current and former employees of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Agents Association (FBIAA) in a federal court in the District of Columbia seeking to stop the publication or dissemination of a list allegedly being compiled of FBI employees who were involved in investigating two events involving President Donald J. Trump; the complaints allege that releasing the workers’ identifies will violate their privacy rights and put them at risk of retribution.
February 05, 2025
Attorney Disclaims AI Use, Says Citation Error Is Simple Mix Up

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An attorney representing a woman in an age discrimination suit said he would never use artificial intelligence and that incorrect cites in briefing were the result of confusion arising from the handling of numerous cases and citations.
February 05, 2025
City Employees Failed To Identify Fundamental Rights Violated By Vaccine Mandate

SEATTLE — A Washington federal court granted the motion to dismiss of a city and its mayor and dismissed with prejudice a lawsuit by several employees who were terminated after they refused to become vaccinated for COVID-19, concluding that the employees were unable to establish that they experienced a violation of any fundamental rights that would create a cause of action against the city.
February 05, 2025
Federal Judge Won’t Reconsider Summary Judgment Ruling In Vaccine Mandate Case

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A federal judge in Missouri denied an employer’s request that she reconsider a summary judgment ruling that allows two workers who were fired for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine to proceed with a religious discrimination failure-to-accommodate claim brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and a portion of a religious discrimination claim brought under state law, opining that questions of fact remain as to the issue of undue hardship.
February 04, 2025
7th Circuit: Woman Fired Over Vaccine Owes Legal Fees After Arbitration Challenge

CHICAGO — A Seventh Circuit panel affirmed a trial court’s referral to arbitration and dismissal of a complaint by a former employee of a health care software company who alleges that she was illegally terminated for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine and awarded sanctions for the employee’s “uniformly frivolous” objections to arbitration but also noted that the lower court should have stayed the case instead of dismissing it.
February 04, 2025
High Court Ruling Sought On Grievance, Tolling In Social Media, Suspension Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A police officer filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court seeking consideration of tolling and grievance questions after a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that the officer’s claims 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.
February 04, 2025
2 Unions, Group Sue Treasury Department Over Elon Musk’s Alleged Privacy Intrusion

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Less than two weeks after the Jan. 20 inauguration, Elon Musk and/or other members of the newly formed “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) were provided unfettered access U.S. Treasury Department records in violation of the Privacy Act of 1974 and the Internal Revenue Code, an advocacy group and two unions, each with members that are current or former federal employees, allege in a complaint filed Feb. 3 in a federal court in the District of Columbia.
February 04, 2025
Federal Government Employees File Privacy Class Suit Over OPM ‘Test’ Emails

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two federal workers referred to only as Jane Does filed a class complaint in a federal court in the District of Columbia accusing the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) of failing to conduct and publish a privacy impact assessment (PIA) before allegedly sending out “test” emails that the workers claim are being used to collect information on workers that is being sent to someone working for Elon Musk.
February 03, 2025
Transit Employees Who Won $7.8M For COVID-19 Vaccine Refusal Firings Cross-Appeal

SAN FRANCISCO — Former employees of a state transit agency on Jan. 31 filed a notice of cross-appeal to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals seeking review of a California federal court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the agency on the employees’ First Amendment free exercise claim, as well as the court’s final pretrial order, after a jury awarded the employees more than $1 million each for the agency’s failure to accommodate their religious objections to being vaccinated for COVID-19.
February 03, 2025
Amici Support Ohio Agency’s Arguments In High Court Sexual Orientation Bias Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A civil rights group and others filed the second amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the position of an Ohio agency as respondent in a sexual orientation bias case; the agency argues that employees who allege bias must show “a causal nexus between a protected characteristic and an adverse employment decision” but disputes the argument by the petitioner that the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that majority group plaintiffs are held to a higher burden than that placed on minority plaintiffs.
January 31, 2025
Petition For Rehearing Expected After Wash. Wage Law Found To Apply To Detainees

SEATTLE — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted an extension for filing a petition for rehearing after a split panel ruled that the application of the Washington Minimum Wage Act (WMWA) to voluntary work programs for federal immigration detainees housed in the Northwest Immigration and Customs Enforcement Processing Center (NWIPC) run by a for-profit company does not violate the doctrine of intergovernmental immunity, the state law is not preempted by federal law and the for-profit company does not have derivative sovereign immunity.