Employment

  • February 02, 2026

    Calif. Justices Revive 'Unreadable' Arbitration Agreement Suit

    In a 6-1 decision, the California Supreme Court clarified on Monday that courts must "closely scrutinize the terms of difficult-to-read contracts for unfairness or one-sidedness," but the "illegibility" — font size, placement, prominence, etc. — of agreements do not themselves indicate that it is unconscionable.

  • February 02, 2026

    Wheeling & Appealing: The Latest Must-Know Appellate Action

    What happened to a GOP donor's $250,000 Swiss watch? Can cigarette warnings show jarring medical images? Will a circuit split of "far-reaching importance" for arbitration get even wider? That's a taste of the oral argument menu we'll help you digest in this preview of February's top appellate action.

  • February 02, 2026

    5th Circ. Panel Blushes At Starbucks Worker's Snapchat Notes

    A Fifth Circuit panel pressed the National Labor Relations Board to explain why Starbucks lacks the ability to fire a union organizer who used excessively colorful language in private messages to co-workers, saying Monday the language used would "make any of us blush."

  • February 02, 2026

    Staffing Agencies Beat Ill. Workers' BIPA Revival Bid

    An Illinois Third District Appellate Court panel has refused to reverse two staffing agencies' pre-trial win over manufacturing workers' claim that the agencies illegally collected their time-clock fingerprint data, saying simply helping another entity obtain such data cannot trigger liability under a statutory provision requiring informed consent to collect it.

  • February 02, 2026

    Bikini Barista Boss Says Wash. AG Defamed Him In Wage Suit

    The owner of Seattle-area Paradise Espresso stands slammed the Washington State Office of the Attorney General on Monday for filing a wage theft and employment discrimination lawsuit "containing known falsehoods" and disparaging his bikini barista business in a related press release.

  • February 02, 2026

    Custodians Tell NJ Justices COVID Law Doesn't Preempt CBA

    School custodians urged the New Jersey Supreme Court on Monday to reinstate an award of extra money for their in-person work during the pandemic, arguing an arbitrator had a reasonably plausible interpretation of a state statute when he determined it didn't preempt the custodians' collective bargaining agreement.

  • February 02, 2026

    Swedish Health Nears Deal In Hospital Workers Wage Row

    Seattle-area hospital system Swedish Health Services and the workers who were seeking about $126 million from it told a Washington state court that they agreed to settle a suit claiming meal break violations and rounding practices that led to unpaid wages.

  • February 02, 2026

    Curaleaf Can't Ditch All Ill. Whistleblower Act Claims

    An Illinois magistrate judge on Monday mostly denied a bid from Curaleaf Inc. to throw out a former regional director's Illinois Whistleblower Act claims, saying the complaint is sufficient to allege that he was retaliated against for reporting compliance violations to the state government.

  • February 02, 2026

    Worker Claims Univ. Of Colorado Health Underpaid Wages

    University of Colorado Health routinely shortchanged its hourly employees of wages under the healthcare system's rounding policy, a former UC Health worker alleged in a proposed collective and class action in Colorado federal court.

  • February 02, 2026

    Honeywell Faces Bid For Fee Advancement In Russia Case

    The Delaware Chancery Court on Monday heard a sharply contested argument over whether a former Honeywell executive is entitled to advancement of legal fees tied to Russian insolvency and customs proceedings, as well as "fees on fees," in a dispute that turned less on the underlying foreign matters than the mechanics of Delaware advancement law.

  • February 02, 2026

    State Dept. Accused Of Overreach With 75-Country Visa Pause

    A group of U.S. citizens, nonprofits and foreign workers sued the Trump administration on Monday over its pause of immigrant visas for applicants from 75 countries over public charge concerns, arguing that the executive branch can't rewrite federal immigration law.

  • February 02, 2026

    EEOC Calls School Board's Bias Probe Challenge Premature

    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission urged a New Mexico federal judge to toss a school board's challenge to an agency investigation into alleged hiring discrimination against Native Americans, arguing the case is procedurally out of line.

  • February 02, 2026

    Philly Art Museum Wins Bid To Arbitrate CEO's Firing Suit

    Former Philadelphia Museum of Art CEO Alexandra "Sasha" Suda's lawsuit against the museum alleging that a "corrupt faction" in its leadership forced her out of her position must be handled in arbitration, a city judge has ruled, citing a contract provision.

  • February 02, 2026

    Teamsters Look To Ax Kraft Heinz's Challenge To Grievance

    Kraft Heinz shouldn't be allowed to scuttle a benefits fight by arguing that it should have been routed through the company healthcare plan's dispute resolution process, a Teamsters local told a Delaware federal judge, saying the dispute can be resolved through the grievance and arbitration process.

  • February 02, 2026

    Tracy Anderson Workouts Are Copyrightable, 9th Circ. Told

    Celebrity fitness trainer Tracy Anderson urged the Ninth Circuit on Monday to reverse a ruling that invalidated copyrights to her "Tracy Anderson Method" workout routines, arguing that her routines are expressive protectable works distinct from yoga poses at issue in the Ninth Circuit's Bikram ruling.

  • February 02, 2026

    Judge Skeptical Of XAI's Claims In OpenAI Trade Secrets Suit

    A California federal judge has said she's inclined to grant OpenAI's motion to dismiss a trade secrets complaint from Elon Musk's xAI "in full," saying the plaintiffs have not provided enough facts to support claims that OpenAI poached employees and stole source code.

  • February 02, 2026

    Company Agrees To Pay $18M To Settle Truckers' Wage Suit

    A Nebraska-based trucking company agreed to pay $18 million to nearly 100,000 current and former drivers to end a more than 11-year-old consolidated class action over unpaid minimum wages, reaching a deal the day before trial was set to begin, according to settlement papers filed in federal court.

  • February 02, 2026

    Mail Carriers Can't Bring OT Suit Against USPS In NJ

    The mail carriers who accused the U.S. Postal Service of automatically deducting time for meal breaks they didn't take failed to show any connection to New Jersey beyond residence, a federal judge ruled, agreeing to toss their overtime case.

  • February 02, 2026

    Worker Fired After Bias Claim Should Get $5M, Jury Says

    A Utah federal jury awarded a former human resources worker $5 million in her retaliation suit claiming a hospice provider fired her as punishment for lodging an age and gender bias charge with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

  • February 02, 2026

    Fla. Cemetery, Ex-Employee End Wage Suit

    The operator of a cemetery and funeral homes and a former employee reached a deal to end a lawsuit alleging that the employer paid her on a commission basis, leading to about $81,000 of unpaid overtime, according to a Florida federal magistrate judge's order approving the settlement.

  • February 02, 2026

    Wollmuth Maher Picks Up Attys From Paul Hastings, SDNY

    Wollmuth Maher & Deutsch LLP has added the longtime leader of Paul Hastings LLP's New York employment law department and has bolstered its white collar bench by bringing in a veteran former assistant U.S. attorney.

  • January 30, 2026

    Uber Eats, Others To Pay Workers $5M In Wage Deal With NYC

    Uber Eats and two other food delivery platforms will pay more than $5 million in total to nearly 50,000 workers in New York City for violating the city's minimum wage requirements for delivery workers, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Friday.

  • January 30, 2026

    Employment Authority: EEOC Harassment Pivot Leaves Void

    Law360 Employment Authority covers the biggest employment cases and trends. Catch up this week with coverage on how employers can navigate a new compliance landscape after the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission scrapped harassment guidance, what a nixed complaint against the Salvation Army means for the future of the National Labor Relations Board and how new pay standards will affect gig workers in New York City. 

  • January 30, 2026

    'Inferential Leap' Kills Academic Researchers' Conspiracy Suit

    A New York federal judge took a proposed class of academic researchers to task Friday, permanently dismissing their lawsuit accusing six of academia's largest journal publishers of colluding to stifle their leverage and eliminate pay for peer review work, finding that the publishers' rules being contested do nothing of the sort.

  • January 30, 2026

    Back Pay Over Vax Mandate Is Equitable Relief, Justices Hear

    A U.S. Air Force reservist told the U.S. Supreme Court this week that equitable relief under a religious freedom law should extend to his back pay claim related to his refusal to follow its COVID-19 vaccine mandate, arguing he's only seeking "status-restoring relief."

Expert Analysis

  • How OECD Tax Update Tackles Mobile Workforce Complexity

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    The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s recently updated model tax convention — a recalibration of international tax principles in response to an increasingly mobile workforce — should prompt companies to reevaluate cross-border operations, transfer pricing policies and tax controversy strategies, say attorneys at Eversheds.

  • 7 Strategies To Optimize Impact Of Direct Examination

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    Direct examination is a make-or-break opportunity to build a witness’s credibility, so attorneys should adopt a few tactics — from asking so-called trust-fall questions to preemptively addressing weaknesses — to drive impact and retention with the fact-finder, says Allison Rocker at Baker McKenzie.

  • Del. Dispatch: Key 2025 Corporate Cases And Trends To Know

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    The Delaware corporate legal landscape saw notable changes in 2025, spurred by amendments to the Delaware General Corporation Law, ubiquitous artificial intelligence fervor, boardroom discussion around DExit, record shareholder activism activity and an arguably more expansive view of potential Caremark liability, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

  • Series

    Nature Photography Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Nature photography reminds me to focus on what is in front of me and to slow down to achieve success, and, in embracing the value of viewing situations through different lenses, offers skills transferable to the practice of law, says Brian Willett at Saul Ewing.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Practical Problem Solving

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    Issue-spotting skills are well honed in law school, but practicing attorneys must also identify clients’ problems and true goals, and then be able to provide solutions, says Mary Kate Hogan at Quarles & Brady.

  • How Workforce, Tech Will Affect 2026 Construction Landscape

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    As the construction industry's center of gravity shifts from traditional commercial work to infrastructure, energy, industrial and data-hosting facilities, the effects of evolving technology and persistent labor shortages are reshaping real estate dealmaking, immigration policy debates and government contracting risk, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Opinion

    A Uniform Federal Rule Would Curb Gen AI Missteps In Court

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    To address the patchwork of courts’ standing orders on generative artificial intelligence, curbing abuses and relieving the burden on judges, the federal judiciary should consider amending its civil procedure rules to require litigants to certify they’ve reviewed legal filings for accuracy, say attorneys at Shook Hardy.

  • Calif. AG's No-Poach Case Reflects Tougher Antitrust Stance

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    This month, California’s attorney general resolved the latest enforcement action barring the use of no-poach agreements, underscoring an aggressive antitrust enforcement trend with significant increases in criminal and civil penalties, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • 3 Defense Strategies For Sporadically Prosecuted Conduct

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    Not to be confused with selective prosecutions, sporadic prosecutions — charging someone for conduct many others do without consequences — can be challenging to defend, but focusing on materiality, prosecutorial motivations and public opinion can be a winning strategy, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.

  • 2025 Noncompete Developments That Led To Inflection Point

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    Employers must reshape their approaches to noncompete agreements following key 2025 developments, including Delaware's rejection of blue-penciling and the proliferation of state wage thresholds, say attorneys at Gunderson Dettmer.

  • Series

    The Law Firm Merger Diaries: Integrating Practice Groups

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    Enacting unified leadership and consistent client service standards ensures law firm practice groups connect and collaborate around shared goals, turning a law firm merger into a platform for growth rather than a period of disruption, says Brian Catlett at Fennemore Craig.

  • Tapping Into Jurors' Moral Intuitions At Trial

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    Many jurors approach trials with foundational beliefs about fairness, harm and responsibility that shape how they view evidence and arguments, so attorneys must understand how to frame a case in a way that appeals to this type of moral reasoning, says Steve Wood at Courtroom Sciences.

  • Opinion

    Supreme Court Term Limits Would Carry Hidden Risk

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    While proposals for limiting the terms of U.S. Supreme Court justices are popular, a steady stream of relatively young, highly marketable ex-justices with unique knowledge and influence entering the marketplace of law and politics could create new problems, say Michael Broyde at Emory University and Hayden Hall at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

  • Insuring Equality: 3 Tips To Preserve Coverage For DEI Claims

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    Directors and officers and employment practices liability are key coverages for policyholders to review as potentially responsive to the emerging liability threat of Trump's executive orders targeting corporate diversity, equity and inclusion policies and practices, says Micah Skidmore at Haynes Boone.

  • The SEC Whistleblower Program A Year Into 2nd Trump Admin

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's whistleblower program continues to operate as designed, but its internal cadence, scrutiny of claims and operational structure reflect a period of recalibration, with precision mattering more than ever, say attorneys Scott Silver and David Chase.

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