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Employment
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June 25, 2024
Gas Co. Says Trader Flouted Credit Cap For $37M Storm Trades
A Colorado gas marketing company Tuesday urged a jury to find that an ex-trader ignored a credit policy when he helped make $37 million worth of natural gas trades during a historic 2021 winter storm, arguing that none of his testifying co-workers backed up his story.
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June 25, 2024
Conn. Firefighters Sue Over PFAS In Protective Gear
Connecticut firefighters slapped 3M, DuPont and 17 others with a proposed class action on Tuesday, alleging they have been exposed to dangerous levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, contained in their protective gear manufactured and sold by the companies.
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June 25, 2024
Cardinals Want Arbitration In, Family Out Of Defamation Suit
The Arizona Cardinals, owner Michael Bidwill and their crisis communications company and law firm, which collectively lost an NFL defamation grievance by a former team executive earlier this year, now want a federal defamation suit sent to league-mandated arbitration.
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June 25, 2024
9th Circ. Won't Revive Ex-County Worker's Race Bias Suit
The Ninth Circuit backed a Nevada county's defeat of a Black former juvenile probation officer's lawsuit claiming he was fired because he'd previously filed a discrimination suit against the county, saying Tuesday rumors and a supervisor's rude attitude weren't enough to sustain his bias allegations.
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June 25, 2024
DOL Must Rethink Tossing UAW Member's Election Challenge
The U.S. Department of Labor must take a second look at a United Auto Workers member's challenge to a union officer election, a Michigan federal judge ruled Tuesday, saying the agency should have weighed in on 30 of the members' objections instead of dismissing them as untimely.
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June 25, 2024
7th Circ. Backs State Farm's Employment Suit Coverage Win
State Farm is off the hook for a dispute between the former president of the College of DuPage and the board that fired and allegedly defamed him, the Seventh Circuit said, affirming a lower court's finding that another insurer should cover the litigation and $4 million settlement.
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June 25, 2024
Law Firm Boss Admitted Breaking Ethics Rule, Regulator Says
Connecticut attorney discipline authorities told a state court Monday that the managing partner of a Hartford-based personal injury and employment law firm cannot walk back an admission to a rule violation, reaffirming earlier calls to suspend Emanuele R. Cicchiello for threatening a criminal probe and downloading a departing junior attorney's personal emails.
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June 25, 2024
United Strikes Deal To Exit Bias Suit Over Mask Policy
United Airlines told a California federal court it reached a deal with a baggage handler to end his lawsuit after the Ninth Circuit determined a jury should hear his claims that the company unlawfully refused to let him wear a face shield in lieu of a mask during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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June 25, 2024
Ga. Supreme Court Removes Arrested Judge From Bench
The Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday removed Douglas County Probate Court Judge Christina Peterson from office for violations of the state's code of judicial conduct, including jailing a woman seeking to amend her marriage record, after Peterson was arrested outside an Atlanta nightclub last week on unrelated charges.
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June 25, 2024
CEO Claims She Was Pushed Out, Told To Focus On Family
The former chief executive officer of a petroleum distributor said in a complaint filed Monday that she was forced out of her position and replaced by a man after her mother, the board chair, told her to focus on spending time with her family.
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June 25, 2024
Breaking IP Barriers: Q&A With Harrity's Elaine Spector
Harrity & Harrity LLP partner Elaine Spector has helped shape multiple firms' leave policies after watching other parents face pressure to work shortly after having a child.
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June 25, 2024
Ga. Panel OKs COVID Aid To Atty Who Cared For 2 Young Kids
A Georgia attorney who left his legal job to be the primary caregiver for his young children during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic should have qualified for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, a state appeals panel has ruled, overturning the state's decision to deny benefits.
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June 25, 2024
Immigration Org.'s Attys Can Be In Union, NLRB Official Says
Attorneys at a nonprofit providing immigration legal services may remain in a voluntarily recognized union bargaining unit, a National Labor Relations Board regional director concluded, saying the attorneys are not supervisors who are excluded from unionizing under federal labor law.
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June 25, 2024
NJ Says Union Skipped Over Black Workers For Job Referrals
An ironworkers union passed over workers for job assignments solely because they were Black and looked the other way when workers complained they were subjected to racist, sexist and homophobic harassment, the state of New Jersey told a state court.
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June 25, 2024
Wynn Casino Can't Undo Rehiring Of Worker Fired For Slur
Wynn Resort's Encore Boston Harbor Casino has lost its effort to overturn an arbitrator's decision to reinstate and issue back pay to a call center reservation worker it fired for allegedly calling a Black colleague a racial slur.
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June 25, 2024
Ex-DuPont Workers' Age Bias Suit Cleared For Trial
A Louisiana federal judge refused to grant a win to DuPont in two former employees' suit alleging they were fired because they were in their 40s and 50s, saying a jury should determine whether age bias or safety violations caused their terminations.
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June 25, 2024
Oracle Can Seek PAGA Arbitration, Calif. Panel Says
A California appellate panel said Oracle could compel two workers' 7-year-old individual Private Attorneys General Act wage claims into arbitration, holding that the arbitration agreements couldn't have been enforced until after the U.S. Supreme Court issued the Viking ruling in 2022.
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June 24, 2024
UFC Fighters Swing Again To Get OK On $335M Wage Deal
UFC fighters seeking preliminary approval for their $335 million deal to end class claims that the mixed martial arts organization suppressed their wages submitted a revised distribution plan Monday, after a Nevada federal judge said he wanted to see "life changing" money for fighters who waited through the decadelong litigation.
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June 24, 2024
Ex-Philly Union Head Denied Acquittal On Embezzlement
A Pennsylvania federal judge has declined to throw out the conviction of John Dougherty, the former business manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98, on charges that he stole money from the union to pay for repairs to his home and others' properties.
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June 24, 2024
Split 4th Circ. Panel Reopens DEA Applicant's Retaliation Suit
The Fourth Circuit reinstated a lawsuit Monday accusing the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration of pulling a job offer after it learned the applicant had participated in a sexual harassment suit against the FBI, saying a trial court held the would-be special agent to too high of a standard.
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June 24, 2024
Radio Host Says Politics Behind 'All Lives Matter' Tweet Firing
A former radio announcer for the Sacramento Kings is forging ahead with his wrongful termination suit in California federal court, emphasizing that broadcaster Bonneville International Corp.'s decision to fire him after he tweeted "All Lives Matter" following the 2020 murder of George Floyd was politically motivated.
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June 24, 2024
Health Co. Narrows Doctor's Reneged Benefits Suit
An Arizona federal judge trimmed a doctor's suit claiming her healthcare system employer refused to let her use her benefits to take time off to undergo cancer treatments, but kept alive claims that the company violated state and federal law by misleading her about paid leave.
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June 24, 2024
Teamsters Fund Must Face Pension Conversion Suit
A West Coast-based Teamsters pension fund must keep facing claims that it shortchanged married retirees by using outdated data to convert their benefits from single-life annuity form, with a Washington federal judge deeming the suit strong enough to beat the fund's dismissal motion.
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June 24, 2024
6th Circ. Backs University's Win In ADA Bias, Retaliation Suit
The Sixth Circuit refused Monday to revive a former Western Michigan University employee's lawsuit claiming he was fired for requesting accommodations for his attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, ruling Congress didn't have the power to eliminate states' immunity from retaliation claims under federal disability law.
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June 24, 2024
LA Schools Says Pseudoscience Infected 9th Circ. Vax Ruling
The Los Angeles Unified School District said Friday that a split Ninth Circuit panel leaned on pseudoscience when ruling that a rescinded employee COVID-19 vaccination mandate implicated the right of district employees to refuse medical treatment, urging an en banc panel to correct the "fatally flawed" decision.
Expert Analysis
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Patent Ownership Issues In Light Of USPTO AI Guidance
Recently published guidance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office establishes that inventions created using artificial intelligence may be patentable if a human also significantly contributes, but ownership and legal rights in these types of patents are different issues that require further assessment, says Karl Gross at Leydig Voit.
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Calif. Ruling Shows Limits Of Exculpatory Lease Clauses
A California court's recent decision in Epochal Enterprises v. LF Encinitas Properties, finding a landlord liable for failing to disclose the presence of asbestos on the subject property, underscores the limits of exculpatory clauses' ability to safeguard landlords from liability where known hazards are present, say Fawaz Bham and Javier De Luna at Hunton.
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Breaking Down California's New Workplace Violence Law
Ilana Morady and Patrick Joyce at Seyfarth discuss several aspects of a new California law that requires employers to create and implement workplace violence prevention plans, including who is covered and the recordkeeping and training requirements that must be in place before the law goes into effect on July 1.
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Series
Serving As A Sheriff's Deputy Made Me A Better Lawyer
Skills developed during my work as a reserve deputy — where there was a need to always be prepared, decisive and articulate — transferred to my practice as an intellectual property litigator, and my experience taught me that clients often appreciate and relate to the desire to participate in extracurricular activities, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.
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Fears About The End Of Chevron Deference Are Overblown
While some are concerned about repercussions if the U.S. Supreme Court brings an end to Chevron deference in the Loper and Relentless cases this term, agencies and attorneys would survive just fine under the doctrines that have already begun to replace it, say Daniel Wolff and Henry Leung at Crowell & Moring.
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What A Post-Chevron Landscape Could Mean For Labor Law
With the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Chevron deference expected by the end of June, it’s not too soon to consider how National Labor Relations Act interpretations could be affected if federal courts no longer defer to administrative agencies’ statutory interpretation and regulatory actions, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Former Minn. Chief Justice Instructs On Writing Better Briefs
Former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea, now at Greenberg Traurig, offers strategies on writing more effective appellate briefs from her time on the bench.
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Preparing For Possible Calif. Criminal Antitrust Enforcement
Though a recent announcement that the California Attorney General's Office will resume criminal prosecutions in support of its antitrust enforcement may be mere saber-rattling, companies and their counsel should nevertheless be prepared for interactions with the California AG's Antitrust Section that are not limited to civil liability issues, say Dylan Ballard and Lillian Sun at V&E.
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Studying NY, NJ Case Law On Employee Social Media Rights
While a New Jersey state appeals court has twice determined that an employee's termination by a private employer for social media posts is not prohibited, New York has yet to take a stand on the issue — so employers' decisions on such matters still need to be assessed on a case-by-case basis, say Julie Levinson Werner and Jessica Kriegsfeld at Lowenstein Sandler.
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Stay Interviews Are Key To Retaining Legal Talent
Even as the economy shifts and layoffs continue, law firms still want to retain their top attorneys, and so-called stay interviews — informal conversations with employees to identify potential issues before they lead to turnover — can be a crucial tool for improving retention and morale, say Tina Cohen Nicol and Kate Reder Sheikh at Major Lindsey.
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AI In Accounting Raises OT Exemption Questions
A recent surge in the use of artificial intelligence in accounting work calls into question whether professionals in the industry can argue they are no longer overtime exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act, highlighting how technology could test the limits of the law for a variety of professions, say Bradford Kelley at Littler and Stephen Malone at Peloton Interactive.
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Calif. High Court Ruling Has Lessons For Waiving Jury Trials
The California Supreme Court’s recent decision in TriCoast Builders v. Fonnegra, denying relief to a contractor that had waived its right to a jury trial, shows that litigants should always post jury fees as soon as possible, and seek writ review if the court denies relief from a waiver, say Steven Fleischman and Nicolas Sonnenburg at Horvitz & Levy.
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A Look At 3 Noncompete Bans Under Consideration In NYC
A trio of noncompete bills currently pending in the New York City Council would have various effects on employers' abilities to enter into such agreements with their employees, reflecting growing anti-noncompete sentiment across the U.S., say Tracey Diamond and Grace Goodheart at Troutman Pepper.
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Series
Spray Painting Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My experiences as an abstract spray paint artist have made me a better litigator, demonstrating — in more ways than one — how fluidity and flexibility are necessary parts of a successful legal practice, says Erick Sandlin at Bracewell.
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Draft Pay Equity Rule May Pose Contractor Compliance Snags
The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council's recently proposed rule that would prohibit government contractors from requesting certain job applicants' salary history seems simple on the surface, but achieving compliance will be a nuanced affair for many contractors who must also adhere to state and local pay transparency laws, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.