Benefits

  • June 17, 2025

    Packaging Co. Ex-Worker's Genetic Privacy Suit Dropped

    A former employee claiming a food packaging company unlawfully asked her and other prospective workers about their family medical history have agreed to drop a lawsuit alleging her ex-employer violated Illinois' privacy law, according to a joint filing in Illinois federal court.

  • June 17, 2025

    UMB Says It Granted Ex-VP's Request For More Cancer Leave

    UMB Financial Corp. said an ex-executive's suit claiming she was illegally denied leave to recover from chemotherapy treatments can't stay in Colorado federal court, telling a judge her request to extend her monthslong leave was ultimately approved after the company initially raised concerns about her changing return-to-work date.

  • June 17, 2025

    1st Circ. Says Ex-Santander Loan Officer Can't Bypass ERISA

    A former high-earning mortgage development officer for Santander Bank cannot attempt an "end run" around the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by pursuing civil claims under Rhode Island state law over her 2022 firing, a First Circuit panel has ruled.

  • June 17, 2025

    Burford Blasts Interference Claim In Chicken Price-Fix Case

    The Illinois federal judge handling consolidated price-fixing litigation against the nation's largest chicken producers should throw out the settlement interference counterclaim Tyson lodged alongside its answer in the case because it is no more than a speculation-based "fishing expedition," litigation funder Burford Capital argued.

  • June 17, 2025

    Eversheds Hires ERISA Expert From Groom Law In DC

    Eversheds Sutherland announced Tuesday that it has hired an employee benefits attorney from Groom Law Firm in Washington, D.C., who has more than 25 years of experience counseling clients on related compliance matters.

  • June 16, 2025

    Petroleum Co. Owes $21M In Withdrawal Liability, Fund Says

    Petroleum company Sieveking Inc. was hit Monday with a $21 million withdrawal liability suit in Illinois federal court by a pension fund that says the company should be paying off its balance while it asks an arbitrator to weigh in.

  • June 16, 2025

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    Delaware's Court of Chancery this past week sought answers in the high-stakes battle over the constitutionality of newly enacted Delaware corporation law amendments, which will hitch a ride to the state's Supreme Court via a suit contesting a $117 million acquisition of Clearway Energy Inc. by its majority shareholder.

  • June 16, 2025

    Lowe's Faces Worker Class Claims Over Tobacco Surcharge

    Lowe's overcharges its employees for health insurance if they are tobacco users in violation of federal benefits law, according to a proposed class action filed Monday in North Carolina federal court.

  • June 16, 2025

    Fund Firm Must Face Investors' Suit Over Missing $18.5M

    A Pennsylvania federal judge allows claims brought by former Exelon employees against the estate of a deceased retirement fund manager to proceed to discovery, ruling the employees, who claim they haven't been able to find their invested funds since the fund manager died, have sufficiently pled fraud and other counts.

  • June 16, 2025

    Ohio Tells 6th Circ. PBM Case Doesn't Target Federal Work

    Ohio urged the Sixth Circuit to send its case accusing Express Scripts and Prime Therapeutics of driving up prescription drug prices through rebate schemes back to state court, arguing the case doesn't target any federal government work by the pharmacy benefit managers.

  • June 16, 2025

    Energy Transfer Agrees To $15M Settlement In Pipelines Suit

    Energy Transfer and a group of investors have reached a $15 million settlement to resolve a class action claiming the company misled them about its $3 billion Mariner East 2 and Revolution pipeline projects, after a trial date for the case was scratched last month.

  • June 16, 2025

    HIV, AIDS Patients Denied Class Cert. In CVS Bias Fight

    A California federal judge has refused to certify a proposed class of HIV and AIDS patients alleging CVS Pharmacy Inc. violated federal disability bias protections by making their medication harder to access, finding the proposed group failed to meet the commonality standards under federal law. 

  • June 16, 2025

    JPMorgan Chase Beats ERISA 401(k) Forfeiture Suit

    A California federal judge has tossed a proposed class action claiming JPMorgan Chase & Co. misused 401(k) plan forfeitures to cover its contributions, noting dismissals from other federal courts on similar claims challenging how employers have used the unvested funds.

  • June 16, 2025

    X Workers Say Musk Personally Liable In Severance Spat

    Elon Musk should be held personally liable for workers' unpaid severance benefits claims, the former X Corp. employees told a Delaware federal court, saying he retained so much control over the social media company that the company alone cannot be at fault.

  • June 16, 2025

    Ex-Mich. Worker Gets 3.5 Years For 'Awful' $1.5M COVID Fraud

    A former employee for the state of Michigan was sentenced Monday to spend 41 months in prison and pay $1.5 million in restitution, the amount of a conspiracy a federal judge called "awful" to defraud the government of money meant for unemployment assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • June 16, 2025

    ESOP Urges Court To Keep IRS Rule Challenge Alive

    An employee stock ownership plan and its related parties urged a Wisconsin federal court Monday not to toss their case against the IRS alleging the agency targeted them with additional tax reporting rules, saying the lawsuit does not illegally stop the agency from collecting taxes.

  • June 16, 2025

    High Court Won't Revisit Landmark Religious Freedom Ruling

    The U.S. Supreme Court vacated and remanded a case from a Roman Catholic diocese in New York on Monday, bypassing for now the chance to overturn a landmark ruling that restricts First Amendment religious freedom challenges.

  • June 13, 2025

    5th Circ. Says No Private Right Of Action In No Surprises Act

    The Fifth Circuit has ruled a pair of flight ambulance providers cannot pursue their lawsuit seeking to enforce out-of-network billing dispute resolution awards against a health insurance company, saying there's no private right of action built into a 2022 law that protects patients from surprise medical bills.

  • June 13, 2025

    Ga. Bank Ends Ex-Workers' Suit Over Liquidation Of Shares

    A Georgia-based bank agreed to settle a proposed class action claiming it unlawfully forced former workers out of its employee stock ownership plan, preventing them from receiving their share of a $23.3 million dividend on company stock, according to a filing Friday in federal court.

  • June 13, 2025

    Fired CSX Worker Says FMLA Claims Are Timely

    A former CSX Transportation Inc. employee's suit claiming he was fired for taking leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act were on pause while a similar class action was being litigated, he told a Florida federal judge Friday, urging the court to reject the transport company's dismissal bid.

  • June 13, 2025

    PwC Can't Get Sex Harassment Suit Kicked To Arbitration

    A New York federal judge declined to toss a former PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP principal's lawsuit alleging male colleagues berated her and took credit for her work before forcing her out, ruling a law curbing mandatory arbitration covered claims that she was mistreated because of her gender.

  • June 13, 2025

    'Outcry' Led To Workers' Comp Change, Conn. Attys Told

    A Connecticut Supreme Court ruling that empowered administrative law judges to award ongoing disability benefits created such an outcry that lawmakers intervened in order to cap the costs for entities that would shoulder those bills, attorneys at the state bar association's annual conference heard Friday.

  • June 13, 2025

    Akerman Seeks To Move Malpractice Suits From Medical Cos.

    Akerman LLP has asked to have two malpractice cases from medical laboratories moved from Palm Beach County to Miami-Dade County, where the firm's related unpaid fees case against Rennova Health Inc. is being litigated.

  • June 13, 2025

    Midyear Report: 5 ERISA Decisions Attys Should Know

    The U.S. Supreme Court revived retirement plan mismanagement allegations against Cornell University, the Sixth Circuit restarted a yacht company's suit against its health benefits administrator and American Airlines took a hit for emphasizing socially conscious investing in its 401(k) plan decisions. Here are five important decisions that came down in Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases during the first half of this year.

  • June 13, 2025

    CVS Wants To Halt Ark. Law Banning PBM-Owned Pharmacies

    CVS urged an Arkansas federal judge to block a new state law from taking effect that would ban pharmacy benefits managers from owning pharmacies in the state, arguing the law shirks the U.S. Constitution by tamping down competition and discriminating against out-of-state businesses.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Being An Artist Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My work as an artist has highlighted how using creativity and precision together — qualities that are equally essential in both art and law — not only improves outcomes, but also leads to more innovative and thoughtful work, says Sarah La Pearl at Segal McCambridge.

  • How Judiciary Can Minimize AI Risks In Secondary Sources

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    Because courts’ standing orders on generative artificial intelligence and other safeguards do not address the risk of hallucinations in secondary source materials, the judiciary should consider enlisting legal publishers and database hosts to protect against AI-generated inaccuracies, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.

  • Nvidia Case's Potential Impact On Securities Class Actions

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    In Nvidia v. Ohman Fonder, the U.S. Supreme Court could strip lower courts of their long-standing ability and obligation to holistically weigh all relevant facts supporting plaintiffs' allegations of securities fraud, which would have a wide-ranging impact on securities fraud class actions in the U.S., say attorneys at Labaton Keller.

  • How Attorneys Can Break Free From Career Enmeshment

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    Ambitious attorneys can sometimes experience career enmeshment — when your sense of self-worth becomes unhealthily tangled up in your legal vocation — but taking the time to discover and realign with your core personal values can help you recover your identity, says Janna Koretz at Azimuth Psychological.

  • Short-Seller Implications Of 10th Circ.'s Overstock Decision

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    The Tenth Circuit's Oct. 15 decision in Overstock Securities Litigation provides clarity on the pleading standard for a market manipulation claim under the Exchange Act, and suggests that short sellers might not be able to rely on the fraud-on-the-market presumption typically invoked by securities plaintiffs, say attorneys at Paul Weiss.

  • Lawyers With Disabilities Are Seeking Equity, Not Pity

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    Attorneys living with disabilities face extra challenges — including the need for special accommodations, the fear of stigmatization and the risk of being tokenized — but if given equitable opportunities, they can still rise to the top of their field, says Kate Reder Sheikh, a former attorney and legal recruiter at Major Lindsey & Africa.

  • Employer Lessons From Mass. 'Bonus Not Wages' Ruling

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    In Nunez v. Syncsort, a Massachusetts state appeals court recently held that a terminated employee’s retention bonus did not count as wages under the state’s Wage Act, illustrating the nuanced ways “wages” are defined by state statutes and courts, say attorneys at Segal McCambridge.

  • Opinion

    Judicial Committee Best Venue For Litigation Funding Rules

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    The Advisory Committee on Civil Rules' recent decision to consider developing a rule for litigation funding disclosure is a welcome development, ensuring that the result will be the product of a thorough, inclusive and deliberative process that appropriately balances all interests, says Stewart Ackerly at Statera Capital.

  • The Strategic Advantages Of Appointing A Law Firm CEO

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    The impact on law firms of the recent CrowdStrike outage underscores that the business of law is no longer merely about providing supplemental support for legal practice — and helps explain why some law firms are appointing dedicated, full-time CEOs to navigate the challenges of the modern legal landscape, says Jennifer Johnson at Calibrate Strategies.

  • Series

    Beekeeping Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The practice of patent law and beekeeping are not typically associated, but taking care of honeybees has enriched my legal practice by highlighting the importance of hands-on experience, continuous learning, mentorship and more, says David Longo at Oblon McClelland.

  • Tobacco Surcharge Suits Spotlight Wellness Reg Compliance

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    A mounting wave of tobacco-user surcharge litigation against employee benefit plans highlights compliance challenges associated with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act wellness regulations, and reminds plan sponsors to ask existential questions about the utility of their wellness programs, say Finn Pressly and Lesley Wolf at Ballard Spahr.

  • What To Know About New Employment Laws In Fla.

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    Florida employers should familiarize themselves with recent state laws, and also federal legislation, on retirement benefits, teen labor and heat exposure, with special attention to prohibitions against minors performing dangerous tasks, as outlined in the Fair Labor Standards Act, say Katie Molloy and Cayla Page at Greenberg Traurig.

  • Opinion

    Legal Institutions Must Warn Against Phony Election Suits

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    With two weeks until the election, bar associations and courts have an urgent responsibility to warn lawyers about the consequences of filing unsubstantiated lawsuits claiming election fraud, says Elise Bean at the Carl Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy.

  • How Cos. Can Build A Strong In-House Pro Bono Program

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    During this year’s pro bono celebration week, companies should consider some key pointers to grow and maintain a vibrant in-house program for attorneys to provide free legal services for the public good, says Mary Benton at Alston & Bird.

  • Series

    Home Canning Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Making my own pickles and jams requires seeing a process through from start to finish, as does representing clients from the start of a dispute at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board through any appeals to the Federal Circuit, says attorney Kevin McNish.

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