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Employment
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August 05, 2024
Watchdog OKs Partial Fees To IT Firm Protesting $36M Deal
A federal watchdog called on the U.S. Department of Labor to cover most of an information technology firm's costs of protesting a $36 million support deal, saying the agency had wasted the company's resources by defending a flawed technical evaluation.
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August 05, 2024
Shipping Co. To Pay $400K To End EEOC Disability Bias Suit
A shipping company agreed to pay $400,000 to resolve a lawsuit from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission accusing it of firing a manager after watching his health decline due to cancer, a filing in Georgia federal court said.
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August 05, 2024
Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court
Sunken treasure, rock band discord, a wrestling competition, and more news about Elon Musk — all in all, a colorful week in Delaware's Court of Chancery. The First State's famous court of equity also pushed forward on disputes involving a famous social media app, Delaware's largest hospital system, an artificial intelligence company and a budding commodity futures exchange.
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August 05, 2024
Carnival Agrees To Pay $72K To End Wage Fight With DOL
A Michigan-based carnival agreed to pay $72,200 to the seasonal workers who built and operated rides and staffed games and food stands to resolve the U.S. Department of Labor's claims of underpaying them.
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August 05, 2024
Atlanta, County Say Cops' Firing Claims 'Rife With Conjecture'
Fulton County, Georgia, and the city of Atlanta are urging the Eleventh Circuit to reject the "unadorned conspiracy theories" of two police officers who allege they were wrongly fired and arrested over their widely publicized shooting of a Black man in the city in the summer of 2020.
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August 05, 2024
Ex-GC Says Steakhouse Chain Can't Ax Or Arbitrate Bias Suit
A former general counsel at steakhouse chain Palm Management is asking a New York federal judge not to toss her lawsuit or force her into arbitration, calling the arbitration clause in her employment agreement "unenforceable due to unconscionability based on the content of the clause."
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August 05, 2024
US Chamber Backs Rail Co. Challenge To Crew Size Rule
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is backing railroad companies' argument that the Federal Railroad Administration overstepped by implementing a rule that requires trains to be operated by at least two people, telling the Eleventh Circuit the rule was imposed without adequate justification or consideration of companies' interests.
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August 05, 2024
11th Circ. Won't Revive White Ex-Coach's Race Bias Suit
The Eleventh Circuit on Monday refused to reopen a former football coach's lawsuit accusing a Georgia school district of unlawfully refusing to renew his contract because he's white, backing a lower court's determination that an earlier case against Black school board members barred the current claims.
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August 05, 2024
7th Circ. Says Sanctions Not Needed In Metal Workers' OT Suit
A group of metal workers presented enough evidence to dodge sanctions related to their now-defunct overtime suits, a split Seventh Circuit panel ruled, affirming a lower court decision to turn down a company's bid for punishment.
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August 05, 2024
Wesleyan U. Axes Fired Catholic Chaplain's Bias Suit, For Now
A Connecticut federal judge tossed a Catholic chaplain's suit alleging Wesleyan University fired him for complaining that a Muslim chaplain's departure was an unfair firing, stating the former employee didn't support his claims with enough proof that bias affected the Muslim chaplain's employment or his own.
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August 02, 2024
Fla.'s Trans Healthcare Ban Violates Title VII, Judge Says
A Florida federal judge has ruled the state's Department of Management Services illegally excluded gender-affirming treatment for transgender employees under state-sponsored health benefits plans, finding the state's exclusion only applies to trans individuals and is facially discriminatory under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
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August 02, 2024
Connecticut City Gets Ex-Cop's Arbitration Win Vacated
In a legally rare decision, a Connecticut state judge vacated an arbitration panel's determination that forced a city to reinstate a fired police lieutenant, ruling the arbiters were wrong to ignore an earlier court order banning the lieutenant from coming within 100 yards of the city's police chief.
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August 02, 2024
Ex-Exec Can't Escape Drug Co.'s Trade Secret Suit
The North Carolina Business Court refused to give a win before trial to the former president of a United Therapeutics Corp. subsidiary on a claim that he took trade secrets to a rival, with the court reasoning the drug company took reasonable steps to protect the secrets beyond a three-year limit in his employment agreement.
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August 02, 2024
Employment Authority: OSHA's New Heat Break Rule
Law360 Employment Authority covers the biggest employment cases and trends. Catch up this week with a look at the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration's proposed workplace heat safety rule, the impact of the Ninth Circuit's decision that a federal prison guard's Instagram activity represented harassment toward a female co-worker and how challenges might advance on the National Labor Relations Board's decision to unwind a 2020 regulation that curtailed the practice of pausing elections over alleged misconduct.
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August 02, 2024
OT Rule Exceeds DOL's Authority, Red States Argue
A group of 14 red states joined Texas in calling for a federal court to strike down the U.S. Department of Labor's rule raising salary thresholds for a federal overtime exemption, claiming in a brief that the new rule would hit their states particularly hard.
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August 02, 2024
Wheeling & Appealing: The Latest Must-Know Appellate Action
In this inaugural edition of Wheeling & Appealing, Law360 recaps recent appellate opinions that made waves, quizzes readers about a new word for judicial grievances, and previews August arguments in circuit courts over controversial wage rules and a seven-figure attorney fee award after a digital age intellectual property trial.
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August 02, 2024
Ill. Gov. Pritzker Signs BIPA Reform Into Law
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed biometric privacy reform legislation into law on Friday, significantly reducing companies' potential liability for collecting or sharing individuals' fingerprint and other biometric data without informed consent.
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August 02, 2024
Judge Rejects Intervenors In Religious Workers' Vax Deal Bid
Women who opted out of or objected to a recently vacated $10.5 million deal between Ascension Health Alliance and workers who allege the company retaliated or fired them for seeking COVID-19 vaccine exemptions cannot now intervene in the renewed bid for settlement approval, a Michigan federal judge has ruled, finding their request untimely.
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August 02, 2024
Ex-Lewis Brisbois Partner's Pay Bias Suit Sent To Arbitration
Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP can arbitrate its former partner's gender discrimination suit claiming she was retaliated against for raising concerns about the firm's "unethical billing practices," a California state court judge ruled Friday, staying the entire case pending arbitration.
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August 02, 2024
Sephora Ex-Manager's Retaliation Suit Lacks Proof, Court Told
Sephora urged a Georgia federal judge Friday to toss a Latina manager's retaliation claims that she was fired for refusing to engage in an allegedly discriminatory hiring scheme that would have prioritized white applicants, arguing her suit lacks proof the company knew about her concerns.
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August 02, 2024
UFCW's Disclaimer Ends NY Ouster Bid, NLRB Official Says
A Walgreens employee's request to have an election to decertify a United Food and Commercial Workers affiliate can't go forward, a National Labor Relations Board regional director concluded, explaining that the union disclaimed interest in representing a bargaining unit at stores in New York.
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August 02, 2024
Ex-CFO Of Embattled PE Firm Sues In Del. For Legal Fees
The former chief financial officer of 777 Partners LLC has sued the private equity firm in Delaware's Court of Chancery, seeking advancement of his legal fees in connection with a fraud investigation and at least 20 civil lawsuits related to the company's business.
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August 02, 2024
Plumbing Co. Sales Reps Owed OT, 1st Circ. Affirms
A group of more than 600 sales representatives at a Massachusetts-based plumbing and HVAC wholesaler are eligible for overtime pay, the First Circuit concluded on Thursday, affirming a lower court's finding on a Fair Labor Standards Act complaint brought by the government.
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August 02, 2024
Onion Packer To Pay Nearly $270K In Withheld OT Wages
The U.S. Department of Labor said it recovered nearly $270,000 in back wages and damages for 76 onion farm laborers after the agency found an Idaho business had put them up in substandard housing and had not paid overtime wages.
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August 02, 2024
FedEx Drivers Accept $166K Deal To Close Out OT Suit
Two Massachusetts FedEx drivers claiming the logistics giant shorted them on overtime wages accepted an offer to end the litigation in their favor months before trial for $20,000 each, plus $126,000 in attorney fees.
Expert Analysis
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Why Justices Should Rule On FAA's Commerce Exception
The U.S. Supreme Court should review the Ninth Circuit's Ortiz v. Randstad decision, to clarify whether involvement in interstate commerce exempts workers from the Federal Arbitration Act, a crucial question given employers' and employees' strong competing interests in arbitration and litigation, says Collin Williams at New Era.
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How Attorneys Can Reduce Bad Behavior At Deposition
To minimize unprofessional behavior by opposing counsel and witnesses, and take charge of the room at deposition, attorneys should lay out some key ground rules at the outset — and be sure to model good behavior themselves, says John Farrell at Fish & Richardson.
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FLSA Conditional Certification Is Alive And Well In 4th Circ.
A North Carolina federal court's recent decision in Johnson v. PHP emphasized continued preference by courts in the Fourth Circuit for a two-step conditional certification process for Fair Labor Standards Act collective actions, rejecting views from other circuits and affording plaintiffs a less burdensome path, say Joshua Adams and Damón Gray at Jackson Lewis.
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Series
Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Tackling daily puzzles — like Wordle, KenKen and Connections — has bolstered my intellectual property litigation practice by helping me to exercise different mental skills, acknowledge minor but important details, and build and reinforce good habits, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.
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Colo. Ruling Adopts 'Actual Discharge' Test For The First Time
After a Colorado court’s recent decision in Potts v. Gaia Children, adopting for the first time a test for evaluating an actual discharge claim, employers must diligently document the circumstances surrounding termination of employment, and exercise particular caution when texting employees, says Michael Laszlo at Clark Hill.
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Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice
The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.
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Series
After Chevron: Good News For Gov't Contractors In Litigation
The net result of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision overturning Chevron deference is that individuals, contractors and companies bringing procurement-related cases against the government will have new pathways toward success, say Joseph Berger and Andrés Vera at Thompson Hine.
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In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State
On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.
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Opinion
It's Time For Nationwide Race-Based Hair Protections
While 24 states have passed laws that prohibit race-based hair discrimination, this type of bias persists in workplaces and schools, so a robust federal law is necessary to ensure widespread protection, says Samone Ijoma and Erica Roberts at Sanford Heisler.
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Series
After Chevron: EEOC Status Quo Will Likely Continue
As the legal landscape adjusts to the end of Chevron deference, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s rulemaking authority isn’t likely to shift as much as some other employment-related agencies, says Paige Lyle at FordHarrison.
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How High Court Approached Time Limit On Reg Challenges
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve Board effectively gives new entities their own personal statute of limitations to challenge rules and regulations, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh's concurrence may portend the court's view that those entities do not need to be directly regulated, say attorneys at Snell & Wilmer.
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Series
After Chevron: FTC's 'Unfair Competition' Actions In Jeopardy
While the U.S. Supreme Court's decision ending Chevron deference will have limited effect on the Federal Trade Commission's merger guidelines, administrative enforcement actions and commission decisions on appeal, it could restrict the agency's expansive take on its rulemaking authority and threaten the noncompete ban, say attorneys at Baker Botts.
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How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts
As law firms increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence tools to produce legal text, attorneys should be on guard for the overuse of cohesive devices in initial drafts, and consider a few editing pointers to clean up AI’s repetitive and choppy outputs, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.
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Series
After Chevron: Various Paths For Labor And Employment Law
Labor and employment law leans heavily on federal agency guidance, so the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to toss out Chevron deference will ripple through this area, with future workplace policies possibly taking shape through strategic litigation, informal guidance, state-level regulation and more, says Alexander MacDonald at Littler.
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Series
Boxing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Boxing has influenced my legal work by enabling me to confidently hone the skills I've learned from the sport, like the ability to remain calm under pressure, evaluate an opponent's weaknesses and recognize when to seize an important opportunity, says Kirsten Soto at Clyde & Co.