Employment

  • October 28, 2024

    Medical Laser Co. Seeks Multiplier For Rival's 'Deceitful' Raid

    A medical laser company has asked a Boston federal judge to double or triple its $25 million verdict against a rival firm — and tack on attorney fees and $6.8 million in interest — for a "calculated and deceitful corporate raid" on its sales workforce.

  • October 28, 2024

    Fired Exec Says TikTok Can't Force Bias Suit Into Arbitration

    A fired TikTok marketing executive told a New York federal court the company can't short-circuit her suit claiming her age and gender landed her on a company "kill list," arguing that her case is protected by a law curbing mandatory arbitration because it includes sexual harassment allegations.

  • October 28, 2024

    Farm Co. Can't Push Worker's Wage Suit To Arbitration

    A California appeals court refused to send to arbitration a farm laborer's suit accusing a farm labor contractor of shorting workers on wages, saying the company can't rely on an arbitration pact that one of its clients signed with the workers.

  • October 25, 2024

    5th Circ. Punts Musk Tweet Lawfulness, But Axes NLRB Order

    An en banc Fifth Circuit majority on Friday overturned a National Labor Relations Board decision that a tweet Tesla CEO Elon Musk sent during a United Auto Workers unionization campaign violated federal labor law, while the court's dissenting members criticized the majority's decision as "logically incoherent."

  • October 25, 2024

    OpenAI, Authors Battle Over Execs' Texts And Proof Of Harm

    California labor law doesn't shield OpenAI from producing CEO Sam Altman's and President Greg Brockman's texts and social media messages relevant to a copyright infringement lawsuit, authors alleging OpenAI and Microsoft illegally used their copyrighted works to train artificial intelligence program ChatGPT have told a New York federal judge.

  • October 25, 2024

    NLRB Wins Injunction, Defeats Constitutional Claims In Mich.

    A Michigan federal judge handed the National Labor Relations Board two victories Friday in the agency's dispute with a hospital, ordering the hospital to resume recognizing the Service Employees International Union affiliate it ousted last year and rejecting the hospital's argument that the agency's structure is unconstitutional.

  • October 25, 2024

    How Big Crash Verdict Revealed Blueprint For Suing Amazon

    A rare $16.2 million verdict against Amazon recently awarded by a Georgia jury is proof that a blueprint of sorts now exists for pinning liability on the retail giant in crash cases involving independent contractors, according to a veteran attorney who helped win the case.

  • October 25, 2024

    Ex-Venture Global Exec Says Co. Lowballed, Then Fired Her

    A former Venture Global executive has sued the U.S. natural gas company in Virginia federal court for allegedly breaching a decades-old stock option agreement, claiming the company's co-founders refused to let her exercise millions of dollars' worth of soon-to-expire options, then fired her for complaining.

  • October 25, 2024

    Vidal Warned Of 'Heightened' Burden, 'Loophole' In Seed Fight

    Two new petitions in front of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director say the patent administrative board created "a heightened new standard" in one instance and a trade secrets "loophole" in another in order to protect patents covering purportedly novel corn seeds developed by a unit of DowDuPont spin-off Corteva.

  • October 25, 2024

    Employment Authority: W&H Compliance Under AI Guidance

    Law360 Employment Authority covers the biggest employment cases and trends. Catch up this week with coverage on how the U.S. Department of Labor's recent guidance for artificial intelligence highlights how employers need to keep an eye on wage and hour compliance and how Alaska could open new paths for captive audience bans. 

  • October 25, 2024

    Yale, Travelers Beat Conn. Age Bias Appeals

    A Connecticut appeals court on Friday declined to revive claims that Yale University and Travelers Indemnity Co. committed age discrimination with job postings seeking "recent" college graduates, reasoning that the court that threw out the cases properly interpreted state high court precedent.

  • October 25, 2024

    Jury Mostly Sides With Woodland Tools On False Ad Claims

    A Wisconsin federal jury has largely found in favor of gardening toolmaker Woodland Tools on allegations that competitor Fiskars Brands made false claims about the design origin and cutting power of Fiskars products including pruners and shears.

  • October 25, 2024

    NJ Ethics Board Faces Contempt Bid In Retaliation Fight

    Counsel for a New Jersey health official who claimed his firing during the COVID-19 pandemic was retaliatory asked a court to hold the State Ethics Commission in contempt for stalling discovery under the guise that the state health regulator initiated the termination, despite "well documented" evidence that it was the commission and Gov. Phil Murphy.

  • October 25, 2024

    Split Mich. Panel Won't Revive Janitor's Burn Injury Suit

    A divided Michigan appellate panel has declined to revive a former manufacturing plant janitor's lawsuit over a workplace explosion that left him severely injured, with the majority saying the case is time-barred by a statute of limitations clause in his employment agreement.

  • October 25, 2024

    'Quiet On Set' Free Speech Row Has Judge Reaching For Advil

    A California judge was undecided Friday about tossing on free speech grounds a defamation lawsuit from former Nickelodeon producer Dan Schneider against Warner Brothers Discovery Inc. over its "Quiet on Set" docuseries, remarking during a hearing that such motions are so headache-inducing he must "remember to bring [his] Advil."

  • October 25, 2024

    Premera Rejection Seems Sparse, 9th Circ. Judges Say

    A Ninth Circuit judge pressed Premera Blue Cross on Friday to defend refusing coverage for a Washington teen's lengthy mental health residential treatment, questioning if the insurer engaged in a meaningful dialogue as required with the youth's family in letters explaining why the treatment was medically unnecessary.

  • October 25, 2024

    Lyft To Pay $2.1M FTC Fine Over Driver Earnings Claims

    Lyft Inc. will pay $2.1 million and clarify its claims about driver pay in order to settle allegations from the Federal Trade Commission that the ride-hailing company made deceptive statements about what drivers could expect to earn hourly and through special incentives, according to a Friday announcement from the agency.

  • October 25, 2024

    Wrongful Firing Suit Alleges Clippers Mishandled Star's Health

    A former trainer for the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers has filed a wrongful termination suit in California state court against the team, alleging he was fired after raising concerns about the health of star forward Kawhi Leonard.

  • October 25, 2024

    Off The Bench: Toss-Up For Ohtani Ball, UFC Fighters' Payday

    In this week's Off The Bench, the three claimants to a historic baseball now know how much is at stake for the winner, a long fight against wage suppression for mixed martial arts fighters is a step closer to ending, and WNBA players want a bigger piece of a growing revenue pie.

  • October 25, 2024

    Mass. Panel Flips Teacher's Tenure Denial Over Family Leave

    Massachusetts' intermediate-level appeals court on Friday invalidated an arbitrator's denial of tenure to a teacher who took maternity leave during one of her first three years of teaching, ruling that the decision had wrongly penalized her for taking the protected time away from work.

  • October 25, 2024

    Ga. Woman Gets 12 Years For $30M COVID Fraud Scheme

    A Georgia woman was sentenced to 12 years in prison Thursday for her role in filing more than 5,000 fraudulent COVID-19 unemployment insurance claims with the Georgia Department of Labor, which resulted in at least $30 million in stolen benefits.

  • October 25, 2024

    Ex-Abercrombie CEO Pleads Not Guilty, Gets $10M Home Bail

    Former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Michael Jeffries pled not guilty on Friday to charges of operating a sex trafficking and prostitution ring that preyed on male models, and was released to home confinement on a $10 million bond.

  • October 25, 2024

    Amazon Presses Drivers To Hand Over Docs, Info In Wage Suit

    Amazon said that 17 named plaintiffs in an eight-year suit accusing the online retail giant of misclassifying drivers as independent contractors failed to meet discovery demands, urging a Washington federal judge to order them to fulfill the requests within 10 days.

  • October 25, 2024

    Ex-Worker Says Circle K Failed To Provide OT, Breaks

    Convenience store company Circle K failed to pay workers overtime wages and provide them with meal and rest periods, the workers alleged Friday in California state court.

  • October 25, 2024

    Spirit Airlines Eyes $80M In Cost Cuts Amid New Deal Rumor

    Spirit Airlines will implement layoffs as part of a plan to cut roughly $80 million in costs and has agreed to sell 23 Airbus aircraft to GA Telesis for about $519 million, disclosing the measures as the company is said to be in renewed talks to potentially sell itself to Frontier Airlines. 

Expert Analysis

  • State Of The States' AI Legal Ethics Landscape

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    Over the past year, several state bar associations, as well as the American Bar Association, have released guidance on the ethical use of artificial intelligence in legal practice, all of which share overarching themes and some nuanced differences, say Eric Pacifici and Kevin Henderson at SMB Law Group.

  • Cos. Should Focus On State AI Laws Despite New DOL Site

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    Because a new U.S. Department of Labor-sponsored website about the disability discrimination risks of AI hiring tools mostly echoes old guidance, employers should focus on complying with the state and local AI workplace laws springing up where Congress and federal regulators have yet to act, say attorneys at Littler.

  • 8 Childhood Lessons That Can Help You Be A Better Attorney

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    A new school year is underway, marking a fitting time for attorneys to reflect on some fundamental life lessons from early childhood that offer a framework for problems that no legal textbook can solve, say Chris Gismondi and Chris Campbell at DLA Piper.

  • Navigating Complex Regulatory Terrain Amid State AG Races

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    This year's 10 attorney general elections could usher in a wave of new enforcement priorities and regulatory uncertainty, but companies can stay ahead of the shifts by building strong relationships with AG offices, participating in industry coalitions and more, say Ketan Bhirud and Dustin McDaniel at Cozen O’Connor.

  • How A Trump Win Might Affect The H-1B Program

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    A review of the Trump administration's attempted overhaul of the H-1B nonimmigrant visa program suggests policies Donald Trump might try to implement if he is reelected, and specific steps employers should consider to prepare for that possibility, says Eileen Lohmann at BAL.

  • Compliance Considerations For Calif. Child Labor Audit Law

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    California employers will need to conduct a fact-intensive analysis to determine whether a new state law that imposes transparency rules for child labor audits applies to their operations, and should look out for regulatory guidance that answers open questions about deadlines and penalties, says Sylvia St. Clair at Faegre Drinker.

  • Opinion

    This Election, We Need To Talk About Court Process

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    In recent decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has markedly transformed judicial processes — from summary judgment standards to notice pleadings — which has, in turn, affected individuals’ substantive rights, and we need to consider how the upcoming presidential election may continue this pattern, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • Illinois May Be Gearing Up To Ban E-Verify

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    Recently passed amendments to the Illinois Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act appear to effectively ban the use of E-Verify in the state, but ambiguity means employers will have to weigh the risks of continued use while also taking note of other work authorization requirements imposed by the updates, say Julie Ratliff and Elizabeth Wellhausen at Taft.

  • Series

    Playing Diplomacy Makes Us Better Lawyers

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    Similar to the practice of law, the rules of Diplomacy — a strategic board game set in pre-World War I Europe — are neither concise nor without ambiguity, and weekly gameplay with our colleagues has revealed the game's practical applications to our work as attorneys, say Jason Osborn and Ben Bevilacqua at Winston & Strawn.

  • 5th Circ. Shows Admin Rules Can Survive Court Post-Chevron

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    The Fifth Circuit's textual analysis of the Fair Labor Standards Act, contributing to its recent affirming of the U.S. Department of Labor’s authority to set an overtime exemption salary threshold, suggests administrative laws can survive post-Chevron challenges, say Jessi Thaller-Moran and Erin Barker at Brooks Pierce.

  • Politics In California Workplaces: What Employers Must Know

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    As the election looms, it is critical that California employers ensure their compliance with state laws providing robust protections for employees' political activity — including antidiscrimination laws, off-duty conduct laws, employee voting leave laws and more, say Bradford Kelley and Britney Torres at Littler.

  • Conn. Court Split May Lead To Vertical Forum Shopping

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    As shown by a recent ruling in State v. Exxon Mobil, Connecticut state and federal courts are split on personal jurisdiction, and until the Connecticut Supreme Court steps in, parties may be incentivized to forum shop, causing foreign entities to endure costly litigation and uncertain liability, says Matthew Gibbons at Shipman & Goodwin.

  • Mental Health First Aid: A Brief Primer For Attorneys

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    Amid a growing body of research finding that attorneys face higher rates of mental illness than the general population, firms should consider setting up mental health first aid training programs to help lawyers assess mental health challenges in their colleagues and intervene with compassion, say psychologists Shawn Healy and Tracey Meyers.

  • Licensing And Protections For Voice Actors In The Age Of AI

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    While two recently enacted California laws and other recent state and federal legislation largely focus on protecting actors and musicians from the unauthorized use of their digital likenesses by generative artificial intelligence systems, the lesser-known community of professional voice actors also stands to benefit, says attorney Scott Mortman.

  • How The Tide Of EEOC Litigation Rolled Back In FY 2024

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    An analysis of the location, timing and underlying claims asserted in U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission-initiated cases during fiscal year 2024 shows that the commission saw a substantial decrease in litigation activity after a surge last year, but employers should not drop their guard, say Christopher DeGroff and Andrew Scroggins at Seyfarth.

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