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

Mealey's Employment

September 25, 2024
Sales Reps Tell U.S. High Court Heightened Standard Needed For FLSA Exemption

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An employer must provide clear and convincing evidence that its employees are exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) minimum and overtime wage requirements, sales representatives argue in a respondent brief filed Sept. 24 in the U.S. Supreme Court.
September 24, 2024
Texas Federal Jury Awards Former Police Captain $21.35M For Retaliatory Termination

SHERMAN, Texas — A former police captain who claimed that he was fired after submitting an affidavit supporting a motion to change venue filed by the jail administrator charged with permitting an inmate to escape was awarded $21.35 million in compensatory and punitive damages by a federal judge in Texas.
September 24, 2024
Split 11th Circuit Panel Addresses Sex-Plus Claims, Mixed-Motive Theories

ATLANTA — A split 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel in a decision affirming summary judgment for an employer in a gender and age discrimination and retaliation case by two former employees “clear[ed] up two other strands of our case law: sex-plus claims and mixed-motive theories of liability.”
September 23, 2024
Arizona Federal Judge Limits Testimony In Firefighter’s Discrimination Case

PHOENIX — An expert retained in an age discrimination and retaliation case can testify on the new fitness requirements for firefighters but cannot offer expert opinions on statements that are understood by an average juror, an Arizona federal judge ruled, also finding that the man suing for discrimination can have his expert testify on his economic damages.
September 19, 2024
MrBeast Game Show Contestants File Wage, Harassment Class Complaint

LOS ANGELES — Five unnamed contestants of Beast Games, a game show produced in part by MrBeast and Amazon Alternative LLC, filed a class complaint in a California court accusing Amazon and others of wage-and-hour violations, harassment and unfair business practices after they say they were told they would be competing with 1,000 people for a $5 million prize but the odds of winning were actually far less when they began competing.
September 19, 2024
Maryland State Police Officers’ Race Bias Class Claims Trimmed By Federal Judge

GREENBELT, Md. — A federal judge in Maryland partially dismissed putative class claims of racial discrimination by three Maryland state police officers who accuse the Maryland Department of State Police (MSP) and individual officials of ongoing discrimination against officers of color, leaving in place the officers’ claims for bias and retaliation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Maryland law against MSP only.
September 16, 2024
U.S. Supreme Court Seeks Response To 1st Amendment Union Representation Question

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court requested a response by Oct. 15 to a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by City University of New York (CUNY) professors who allege that their First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution rights are being violated as they are required to belong to a bargaining unit represented by Professional Staff Congress/CUNY (PSC) which they accuse of engaging in anti-Semitic and anti-Israel conduct.
September 16, 2024
Stay Granted Pending Settlement In Computer Operation FLSA Suit

LAS VEGAS — A federal judge in Nevada granted a joint motion to stay pending court approval of a settlement in a collective Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) case by Las Vegas call center employees seeking compensation for time spent turning on and off their computers; the motion and order come just over a month after the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued a mandate finding triable issues in the case.
September 16, 2024
Massachusetts High Court Rules On Benefits Accrual Under Paid Family Leave Act

BOSTON — Denying state troopers who take paid leave under the Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave Act (PFMLA) the accrual of benefits doesn’t violate the act and discriminate against female employees, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled Sept. 13, affirming a trial court judge’s dismissal of a complaint by female troopers.
September 13, 2024
Attorney Fees Judgment Stayed In Jack In The Box Workers’ Wage Suit

PORTLAND, Ore. — A federal judge in Oregon in a docket entry granted an unopposed motion by Jack in the Box Inc. to approve a supersedeas bond and stay the enforcement of judgment for attorney fees in a wage-and-hour suit by workers pending resolution of post-trial motions and appeal.
September 12, 2024
8th Circuit Grants Rehearing After Reinstating Manager’s Disability Bias Claims

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A petition for rehearing en banc was granted to the operator of a number of Hardee’s restaurants in the Midwest after a split Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel employed a new test for the pretext prong of the McDonnell-Douglas Corp. v. Green and reinstated a former manager’s disability bias and Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) claims, and the case was set for oral argument in October.
September 12, 2024
Rehearing Denied After 6th Circuit Reinstates Worker’s Pandemic Bias Claims

CINCINNATI — A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel in a one-page order denied a petition for rehearing en banc filed by Lampo Group LLC, the company of radio personality Dave Ramsey, after a panel partially reversed a trial court’s dismissal of claims by an employee who alleges that the company failed to take precautions against the spread of COVID-19 during the initial days of the coronavirus pandemic.
September 11, 2024
10th Circuit Reinstates Bias Claims Of Fired Administrator Who Opposed School Play

DENVER — An assistant principal who was fired after citing religious beliefs when disagreeing with a play that was to be put on by students may proceed with his discrimination claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA), a 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled Sept. 10, opining that the former employee “provide[d] a plausible link between his termination and a discriminatory motive.”
September 11, 2024
3rd Circuit: ADA Amendments Act Expanded Scope Of Disability Coverage

PHILADELPHIA — The Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA) expanded the scope of disability coverage under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Macfarlan v. Ivy Hill SNF, LLC, which applied a pre-ADAAA standard to allegations that arose prior to the amendments, does not control claims that arose after the amendments, a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled in a precedential opinion, partially vacating, partially reversing and partially affirming a trial court’s ruling in an employee’s disability bias case.
September 09, 2024
Coca-Cola Seeks Rehearing After Split Panel Reverses Summary Judgment In Drug Case

CINCINNATI — Coca-Cola Bottling Co. (CCBC) filed a petition for rehearing en banc after a split Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that a former employee who is Black and was terminated for failing a drug test may proceed with his race discrimination and retaliation claims after showing that there was a genuine dispute over whether he waived his claims that accrued prior to the negotiation of a last chance agreement (LCA) and presenting sufficient evidence that a similarly situated white male was given an additional chance after also failing a drug test.
September 09, 2024
4th Circuit Upholds Ruling For Employer In Hemp-Derived Products ADA Suit

RICHMOND, Va. — An employee who alleged that she was discriminated against and improperly fired for her use of hemp-derived products failed to show that she was disabled, that the products she used were legal and that her employer’s reason for her firing was not lawful, a partially split Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled.
September 09, 2024
Pennsylvania In-Home Care Agency Appeals $1M Summary Judgment In DOL Wage Case

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A Pennsylvania in-home care agency accused by the acting secretary of Labor of failing to pay workers minimum and overtime wages filed a notice of appeal in a federal court in Pennsylvania three weeks after a judge granted summary judgment to the secretary and ordered the agency to pay $1,059,540.18 in back wages and liquidated damages to nearly 200 workers.
September 09, 2024
6th Circuit: Elevated Pleading Standard In COVID-19 Vaccine Case Was Erroneous

CINCINNATI — A trial court’s dismissal of a worker’s claim that her employer failed to accommodate her religious beliefs when it came to refusing the COVID-19 vaccine wrongly employed the elevated pleading standing of requiring a prima face case, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, partially reversing the ruling and remanding for further proceedings.
September 09, 2024
Care Gig Platform, FTC Reach $8.5M Agreement In Case Over Wages, Cancellations

AUSTIN, Texas — Care.com, a child and older adult care gig platform, will pay $8.5 million to end claims by the Federal Trade Commission that it has systematically deceived caregivers about wages available for potential jobs and at the same time failed to give families looking for care an easy way to cancel their paid memberships.
September 06, 2024
1st Circuit Denies Rehearing After Finding Sales Reps Were Misclassified

BOSTON — The First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for rehearing and petition for rehearing en banc filed by an industrial product wholesaler after a panel in August affirmed a trial court’s ruling that the wholesaler’s inside sales representatives (ISRs) were misclassified as exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
September 06, 2024
Mass. High Court Answers 2nd Certified Question In 7-Eleven Franchisee Dispute

BOSTON — Answering the second question certified by the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an employment classification case, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled Sept. 5 that 7-Eleven Inc. franchisees who “perform various contractual obligations under the Franchise Agreement” and provide 7-Eleven with a percentage of their gross profits do not “‘perform[] any service’ for 7-Eleven within the meaning of” Massachusetts’ independent contractor statute.
September 04, 2024
Judge Denies Motion To Deny Class Certification In Moderator Suit Against TikTok

SAN FRANCISCO — Stating that “the Court is confused as to why this motion was filed at all,” a California federal judge denied a motion to deny class certification by TikTok Inc. and its parent company in a putative class action regarding the defendants’ alleged negligence in failing to protect content moderators from harm, finding that the defendants failed to show why excluding from the class those who signed arbitration agreements “should defeat class certification.”
September 03, 2024
6th Circuit: No Bargaining Need For Nursing Home’s Pandemic Hiring, Pay Decisions

CINCINNATI — A nursing home owner’s hiring and pay decisions in response to staffing shortages at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 were made due to exigent circumstances and did not require bargaining with the union representing two groups of employees, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, partially affirming and partially reversing a decision by the National Labor Relations Board.
September 03, 2024
ERISA-Based Injunction Bid Fails In Federal Suit Over N.J. Temp Worker Law

CAMDEN, N.J. — Denying a preliminary injunction motion concerning New Jersey’s Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights (TWBR), a New Jersey federal judge on Aug. 30 said she “is hard pressed to imagine a situation that would upset the status quo more and detrimentally impact public interest.”
August 30, 2024
9th Circuit: No Attorney Fees For Employee In Mooted Disability Benefits Case

PHOENIX — A worker who sued her employer and its insurer for disability benefits has no grounds to seek attorney fees incurred in a federal district court after she was paid the full amount of compensation she sought because her case was mooted by the voluntary payment, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled Aug. 29.