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Mealey's Employment

February 23, 2024
Walmart’s $2.5M Settlement In COVID-19 Screening Case Preliminarily Approved

PHOENIX — A federal judge in Arizona granted preliminary approval of a $2.5 million settlement to be paid by Walmart Inc. and Wal-Mart Associates Inc. (together, Walmart) to end a class complaint seeking compensation under Arizona law for time spent undergoing mandatory COVID-19 screening before each shift.
February 22, 2024
NLRB Majority: Home Depot’s Barring Of BLM Marking On Aprons Violated NLRA

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A home improvement chain’s instruction that an employee remove the Black Lives Matter (BLM) initials on his apron worn during work or not come to work violated Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), a split National Labor Relations Board ruled Feb. 21.
February 21, 2024
Petition Seeking Ruling On Arbitration Clause Barring Age Bias Claim Denied

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 20 denied a petition for writ of certiorari filed by former International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) employees seeking to appeal a ruling that they were barred from bringing untimely age bias claims under the “piggybacking rule” based on signed arbitration agreements.
February 21, 2024
U.S. High Court Denies Union Fees, Other Employment-Related Petitions

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 20 issued orders denying petitions by employees and job applicants in a number of employment-related cases, including ones addressing union fees, a veteran’s disability rating, overtime eligibility, national origin bias and sexual harassment.
February 21, 2024
U.S. Representatives’ Petition Over Mask Violation Fines Deducted From Pay Denied

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 20 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by three members of the U.S. House of Representatives who argued that the deduction of fines from their pay after they refused to follow a resolution adopted in response to the coronavirus pandemic that required the wearing of masks violated the U.S. Constitution.
February 20, 2024
U.S. Supreme Court Hears Arguments On Delivery Drivers And FAA’s Exemption

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 20 heard arguments on the reach of the carveout in Section 1 of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) for workers engaged in interstate commerce and whether it applies to independent distributors bringing wage-and-hour putative collective and class claims against a baked goods company and its subsidiaries.
February 20, 2024
Rail Workers’ FMLA Interference Petition Denied By Supreme Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 20 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by rail-based freight transportation workers after the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court’s summary judgment and dismissal ruling for the employer in a discrimination and retaliation case in which the workers alleged that they were wrongly found to have sought treatment for bogus or exaggerated injuries.
February 20, 2024
Petition By Wrestlers’ Attorney Challenging Sanctions Denied By U.S. High Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 20 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by an attorney and his firm who represent allegedly injured wrestlers in a class tort complaint and a mass action against World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. and Vincent K. McMahon (together, WWE) and asking the justices to consider the appropriateness of attorney fees and costs as sanctions that they have been ordered to pay.
February 20, 2024
Expert Cannot Opine On Legal Conclusions In Overtime Spat In Ariz. Federal Court

PHOENIX — An Arizona federal judge on Feb. 16 ruled that testimony from an expert witness that “attempts to substitute [the expert’s] own judgment for that of the jury’s” is barred, granting a motion to exclude filed by an operator of a fleet of chauffeured transportation services facing allegations of wage violations from a class of drivers.
February 20, 2024
Oil, Gas Company’s Petition Concerning Arbitration Pact Nonsignatories Denied

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 20 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by an oil and gas company after the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that an arbitration agreement between a worker who sued for misclassification and overtime and the third party that helped place him in the job does not extend to nonsignatories.
February 20, 2024
U.S. High Court Won’t Review Service Dog Accommodation Denial

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 20 denied a petition by a conductor seeking a ruling on reasonable accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) after the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a ruling for the man’s employer in a case over the denial of the conductor’s request to bring a service dog aboard moving freight trains as an accommodation to help his post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and migraines as a result of prior military service.
February 15, 2024
11th Circuit Denies Rehearing Of Causation Standard For Retaliation Claims

ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc filed by a former Walgreen Co. employee after the panel ruled that the proper causation standard for retaliation claims under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and Florida’s Private Sector Whistleblower Act (FWA) is the but-for causation and the majority affirmed a trial court’s summary judgment ruling for Walgreen.
February 15, 2024
Car Dealership Agrees To $145,000 Settlement In EEOC Age, Disability Bias Case

AMARILLO, Texas — A federal judge in Texas on Feb. 14 signed a consent decree between the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and an Amarillo-based car dealership under which the employer will pay $145,000 and furnish other relief to settle an age and disability discrimination lawsuit filed after a nearly 18-year employee was allegedly told to retire or be fired.
February 15, 2024
IT Company Will Pay $255,000 To End EEOC Bias After Not Hiring Deaf Applicant

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A New York-based technology company will pay $255,000 and will provide other nonmonetary relief to end a disability bias complaint brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after the company turned down a job applicant, stating that while he had the appropriate skills, it couldn’t accommodate his deafness, according to a consent decree signed by a federal judge in New York and filed Feb. 14.
February 14, 2024
11th Circuit Agrees Nissan Isn’t Mechanics’ Joint Employer, Upholds Class Denial

ATLANTA — Nissan North America Inc. is not a joint employer of its dealerships’ mechanics, and the mechanics, who sued seeking unpaid wages under federal and Florida law, failed to show that they are similarly situated with other mechanics so that class and collective certification would be appropriate, an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, affirming a trial court’s summary judgment ruling for Nissan and denial of the mechanics’ motion for collective and class certification.
February 14, 2024
Cheese Makers’ $3.5M Wage Class Settlement Preliminarily Approved

FRESNO, Calif. — A federal magistrate judge in California preliminarily approved a $3.5 million settlement between Leprino Foods Co. and Leprino Foods Dairy Products Co. (together, Leprino) and workers whose wage-and-hour class claims resulted in a jury verdict for Leprino.
February 13, 2024
DOD Tells High Court Federal Court Lacks Jurisdiction To Hear Late MSPB Appeal

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The statutory grant of jurisdiction to a federal court to hear appeals from final Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) decisions does not extend to appeals filed outside of the 60-day time limit, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) tells the U.S. Supreme Court in its Feb. 12 respondent brief.
February 13, 2024
Human Resources Expert Out In Discrimination, Retaliation Case Filed By Worker

SEATTLE — A federal judge in Washington on Feb. 12 granted a seafood company’s motion to exclude testimony from an expert retained by a former employee who alleges discrimination and relation charges after finding that “[h]uman resources experts—despite being in a ‘non-scientific’ profession—are not immune from scrutiny under” Federal Rule of Evidence 702.
February 13, 2024
Supplemental Brief Filed Supporting $3.5M Wage Settlement By Cheese Makers

FRESNO, Calif. — Workers whose wage-and-hour class complaint against Leprino Foods Co. and Leprino Foods Dairy Products Co. (together, Leprino) resulted in a jury verdict for Leprino filed a supplemental brief in a federal court in California supporting their motion for preliminary approval of a $3.5 million class settlement; the settlement motion was filed after the workers appealed the verdict to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
February 13, 2024
Federal Judge Denies Remand Of Class Suit Over No Breaks From Walkie Talkies

LOS ANGELES — A putative class complaint accusing a hospitality company of wage-and-hour violations due to its policy requiring workers to keep their walkie talkies on throughout their shifts, even during breaks, contains violations for which the amount in controversy requires the case to remain in federal court, a federal judge in California ruled, denying a motion to remand.
February 12, 2024
Class Complaint Accuses Digital News Company Of WARN Act Violations

NEW YORK — A January mass layoff of staff at The Messenger, a digital news website owned by JAF Communications Inc., violated the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, as well as the New York WARN Act, one of the former workers alleges in a class complaint filed in a federal court in New York.
February 12, 2024
McDonald’s Workers Say U.S. High Court Need Not Weigh In On No-Poach Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision holding that the no longer enforced no-hire agreement between a fast food franchisor and its franchisees might violate antitrust laws is “unremarkable” and “does not merit” review by the U.S. Supreme Court, McDonald’s workers argue in a Feb. 9 opposition to a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by McDonald’s USA LLC and McDonald’s Corp. (together, McDonald’s).
February 09, 2024
Federal Jury Awards EEOC More Than $1.6M In Disability Bias Case

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A federal jury in New York returned a $1,675,000 verdict on Feb. 8 for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in a case in which it accused a distribution company of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) when it failed to interview and hire a deaf applicant.
February 08, 2024
U.S. High Court: Retaliatory Intent Not Required For SOX Whistleblower Provision

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A whistleblower who invokes the anti-retaliation provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) must show that his or her protected activity contributed to an undesirable personnel action but does not need to show that the “employer acted with ‘retaliatory intent,’” a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruled Feb. 8.
February 07, 2024
Professors, Other Amici Support Arguments That MSPB Deadline Isn’t Jurisdictional

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals erred when it treated a 60-day deadline for petitioning for review of decisions by the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) as jurisdictional, law professors argue in one of five amicus briefs filed in the U.S. Supreme Court supporting arguments by a former federal employee.