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Mealey's Employment

  • April 02, 2025

    Veterans Groups File 3 Amicus Briefs In U.S. High Court Veterans’ Pay Class Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Legal representation and advocacy groups for veterans filed three amicus curiae briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the position of a class of veterans who are arguing that settlements of combat-related special compensation (CRSC) requests are controlled by the statute that directs secretaries of the various military branches to pay CRSC to eligible veterans and not the Barring Act.

  • April 02, 2025

    Preliminary Injunction Halts Firing Of Multiple Federal Agency Workers In 20 States

    BALTIMORE — The federal government may fire probationary workers en masse if it follows certain laws and regulations, but the actions taken in multiple federal agencies failed to follow such procedures, a federal judge in Maryland ruled April 1, partially granting a motion for a stay and preliminary injunction sought by 20 states.

  • April 02, 2025

    Only WARN Act Claims Survive Summary Judgment In Pandemic Hotel Closure Class Suit

    NEW YORK — Former employees of a New York City Four Seasons hotel who were furloughed during the coronavirus pandemic may proceed in their class case only with federal and state Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act claims against the defendant that was their employer of record, a federal judge in New York ruled, partially granting and partially denying the defendants’ motions for summary judgment.

  • April 02, 2025

    Union, Groups Challenge Government’s Appeals Court Stay Filing After CFPB Ruling

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The federal government can’t skip over the a trial court and go right to the appellate court requesting a stay after preliminary injunction was granted in a case seeking to halt the dismantling of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a union representing federal workers and other groups argue in filings on March 31 and April 1 in both a trial court in the District of Columbia and the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • April 01, 2025

    D.C. Circuit: Government’s Appeal In Special Counsel’s Removal Suit Is Moot

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted former Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger’s motion to dismiss as moot the federal government’s appeal of a summary judgment ruling for Dellinger in his case challenging his removal by President Donald J. Trump, vacated the summary judgment ruling and remanded with instructions for dismissal of the case with prejudice.

  • April 01, 2025

    8th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of COVID-Related Suit For Failure To File With EEOC

    ST. LOUIS — An Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel in a March 31 per curiam opinion affirmed without rationale the order of a Minnesota federal court dismissing the lawsuit of a former hospital employee who was terminated for refusing to wear an N95 mask as required by hospital policy after accepting a religious exemption from the COVID-19 vaccine.

  • March 31, 2025

    Administrative Stay Denied After Reinstatements Of NLRB, MSPB Members Stayed

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A split District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on March 30 denied emergency motions for administrative stay pending a request for hearing en banc filed by a member of the National Labor Relations Board and a member of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) after a split panel on March 28 granted emergency motions for stay sought by the federal government; the government separately appealed summary judgment rulings for the board members who were fired by President Donald J. Trump shortly after his inauguration.

  • March 31, 2025

    Judge: EEOC’s ‘Nudge’ Saves Disability Bias Class Claims From Dismissal

    PHILADELPHIA — The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission may proceed with disability discrimination claims against certain Pennsylvania hospital entities accused of discriminating against employees who took medical leave by requiring them to reapply and compete for employment opportunities when returning from leave, a federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled, partially granting and partially denying a motion to dismiss the amended complaint, explaining that “[w]hile the Court would have preferred that the EEOC decisively push its claims across the line from conceivable to plausible in its Amended Complaint, just a nudge will do.”

  • March 31, 2025

    D.C. Circuit Administratively Stays Injunction In Military Transgender Ban Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals administratively stayed a trial court’s March 18 preliminary injunction grant sought by service members challenging President Donald J. Trump’s executive order (EO) banning transgender people from the military.

  • March 28, 2025

    2 More Firms Named In EOs File Separate Suits Against Federal Government

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two law firms targeted in executive orders (EOs) issued by President Donald J. Trump on March 25 and 27 filed separate complaints on March 28 in a federal court in the District of Columbia seeking rescission of the orders that criticize the firms for engaging in certain practices and employing certain lawyers, direct various federal government departments and agencies to suspend security clearances held by any individuals at the firms and require federal contractors to disclose any business they do with the firms.

  • March 28, 2025

    Wal-Mart To Pay More Than $415K To 2 W.Va. Workers To End EEOC Sex Bias Suit

    BECKLEY, W.Va. — Wal-Mart Stores East L.P.will pay two female employees who were allegedly subjected to sex discrimination and retaliation at the hands of a former male manager a total of more than $415,000 and implement a series of workplace practices to curtail sexual harassment through a consent decree signed by a West Virginia federal judge.

  • March 27, 2025

    Stay Of Federal Worker Reinstatements Denied As High Court Application Is Pending

    SAN FRANCISCO — A split Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on March 26 denied an emergency motion filed by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and OPM’s acting director seeking a stay of a preliminary injunction directing the reinstatement of more than 16,000 probationary workers from six federal agencies who were fired en masse; the order was filed two days after OPM, the acting director and other federal government parties filed a stay application with the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • March 27, 2025

    Federal Worker Appeals Firing, Seeks Processing Before MSPB As Class Appeal

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The federal government’s use of a reduction-in-force (RIF) to remove diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) employees throughout the government violated RIF procedures and was unlawful discrimination based on sex and/or race as well as political affiliation, the former deputy director of the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) argues in an appeal of their termination and request for processing their appeal as a class one filed March 26 in the Merit Systems Protection Board.

  • March 25, 2025

    School Districts, Unions Sue Seeking To Halt 'Dismantlement' Of DOE

    BOSTON — A March 20 executive order (EO) concerning the Department of Education (DOE) unlawfully intends to dismantle the agency, two school districts, several unions and a membership association argue in a March 24 complaint filed in a federal court in Massachusetts seeking to halt the EO, including the mass firing of workers.

  • March 24, 2025

    Federal Government Seeks Stay Of Federal Worker Reinstatements From High Court

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), OPM’s acting director and other federal government parties filed an application with the U.S. Supreme Court on March 24 seeking to stay a trial court’s preliminary injunction directing the reinstatement of more than 16,000 probationary workers from six federal agencies who were fired en masse.

  • March 24, 2025

    U.S. Supreme Court Denies Petition On Removals, Review Standard For NLRB Rulings

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 24 denied a petition by a road construction contractor who asked the justices to decide whether the deferential standard of review is still applicable post-Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo to interpretations of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by the National Labor Relations Board and whether cause is required for the president to remove the NLRB general counsel.

  • March 24, 2025

    U.S. Supreme Court Denies 3 Class Tolling Petitions Filed By Union Pacific

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 24 denied three petitions filed by Union Pacific Railroad Co. challenging rulings by three different federal circuits, which all held that American Pipe & Construction Co. v. Utah tolling ends for class members only when they have been “unambiguously excluded” from the class.

  • March 24, 2025

    U.S. High Court Denies Petition Seeking Ruling On NLRA Interpretation Deference

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 24 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari asking the justices to decide whether deferring an interpretation of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to the National Labor Relations Board violates Loper Bright Enterprises, Inc. v. Raimondo.

  • March 21, 2025

    Union, Groups Granted TRO In Suit Seeking To Stop DOGE Access To SSA Systems

    BALTIMORE — A federal judge in Maryland on March 20 granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) halting access to Social Security Administration (SSA) data for anonymous individuals associated with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) while calling the individuals’ actions “a fishing expedition” and stating that the federal government has not “identified or articulated even a single reason for which the DOGE Team needs unlimited access to SSA’s entire record systems, thereby exposing personal, confidential, sensitive, and private information that millions of Americans entrusted to their government.”

  • March 21, 2025

    TRO Denied In U.S. Institute Of Peace’s Lawsuit Seeking To Halt Removals

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in the District of Columbia in a minute order denied a motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) sought by the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) and USIP board members in a case in which they allege that U.S. DOGE Service and DOGE employees have taken over USIP “by force” and that President Donald J. Trump unlawfully fired the president and board members.

  • March 21, 2025

    Expedited Discovery Order Reaffirmed In Union’s Suit Over DOGE Access To DOL

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Washington, D.C., denied reconsideration of a limited expedited discovery order in a lawsuit by labor unions and nonprofits challenging access to U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) records by personnel from U.S. Digital Service and the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization (together, DOGE) and granted an amended motion for expedited discovery filed by the plaintiffs, opining that new evidence that the DOGE personnel are now also employed by the DOL “presents further reason that [DOGE’s] reporting structure needs clarifying.”

  • March 20, 2025

    EEOC, DOJ Release Technical Documents About DEI-Related Discrimination

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on March 19 released technical assistance documents on discrimination related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace.

  • March 19, 2025

    Preliminary Injunction Granted In Military Transgender Ban Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in the District of Columbia on March 18 granted a renewed application for a preliminary injunction filed by servicemembers who are challenging President Donald J. Trump’s executive order (EO) banning transgender people from the military.

  • March 19, 2025

    USAID Workers Partially Granted Preliminary Injunction In Agency Shutdown Suit

    GREENBELT, Md. — A federal judge in Maryland on March 18 in partially granting a preliminary injunction ordered reinstatement of all U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) employees and personal services contractors (PSCs) in a case brought by 26 unnamed USAID workers who allege that the actions taken by Elon Musk and others to shut the agency down violate the U.S. Constitution.

  • March 19, 2025

    9th Circuit Vacates Remand Order In Wage Class Suit Against Funeral Home

    PASADENA, Calif. — A trial court judge failed to properly evaluate an employer’s violation-rate assumption in a wage-and-hour putative class suit, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, vacating an order sending the case back to state court.