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Mealey's Employment

  • September 12, 2025

    1st Circuit: No Preliminary Injunction Stay In Fed Agencies Staff Reductions Case

    BOSTON — A First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Sept. 11 denied a motion by federal government agencies and President Donald J. Trump to stay a trial court’s preliminary injunction in a case brought by nearly two dozen states that restrains the federal government from implementing an executive order (EO) “attempt[ing] to dismantle congressionally sanctioned agencies” as applied to the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS).

  • September 12, 2025

    Union Seeks 45-Day Stay Of Collective Bargaining EO Injunction Appeal

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) moved in the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for a 45-day stay of briefing in the government’s appeal of a preliminary injunction granted by a trial court in the union’s challenge of a March executive order (EO) that the union says eliminates collective bargaining for approximately two-thirds of the federal workforce; NTEU argues that the ruling being appealed “will imminently become moot” when summary judgment cross-motions are decided.

  • September 12, 2025

    Dismissal Of DOGE With Leave To Amend Granted In Federal Worker RIF Suit

    SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California partially granted a motion to dismiss a complaint challenging an executive order (EO) and memorandum implementing the EO that resulted in widespread layoffs of federal workers only as to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) but granted the unions, groups and municipalities leave to amend and properly name U.S. DOGE Service as a defendant.

  • September 12, 2025

    DOL Tackles Deferred Incentive Compensation Issue In Advisory Opinion

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Weighing in on an issue that has recently featured prominently in dozens of arbitrations and several lawsuits, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued an advisory opinion taking the view that a certain deferred incentive compensation program is “a bonus program” not governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. 

  • September 12, 2025

    10th Circuit Won’t Revisit Labor Practices Ruling In Hallmark Film Production Case

    DENVER —  The 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc filed by two Utah film corporations over a split panel’s ruling that that the National Labor Relations Board had “substantial evidence” to find that the companies committed unfair labor practices in violation of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) when they threatened to retaliate against employees on the set of two Hallmark movies if the employees joined or supported a union and refused to call them back from layoff.

  • September 12, 2025

    6th Circuit Revives FMLA Interference, Pregnancy Discrimination Claims

    CINCINNATI — In a mixed ruling that drew a partial dissent, the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed summary judgment for a hospital ultrasonographer on pregnancy discrimination and Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) interference claims but affirmed summary judgment against her on all other discrimination and retaliation claims.

  • September 11, 2025

    En Banc 11th Circuit Finds Health Plan Not Discriminatory To Transgender Worker

    ATLANTA — An 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals en banc majority found that an exclusion in a Georgia county sheriff’s department’s health insurance plan that denied coverage for “sex change” surgery and treatment to a transgender employee “is not facially discriminatory under Title VII” in reversing a federal judge’s judgment, vacating a permanent injunction and remanding the case for further proceedings.

  • September 11, 2025

    Split Panel Enjoins Interference With Copyright Register’s Job Pending Appeal

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A divided District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Sept. 10 enjoined various federal government parties from interfering with Shira Perlmutter’s service as the register of copyrights and director of the U.S. Copyright Office pending appeal; Perlmutter appealed a trial court’s denial of her motion for preliminary injunction in a case challenging her purported firing in May by President Donald J. Trump.

  • September 10, 2025

    5th Circuit Panel Denies Rehearing For Reinstatement Of Fired Miss. School Worker

    NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel was unpersuaded by a Mississippi school district’s argument that a Federal Rule of Civil Procedure limiting principle merited rehearing of a decision to reinstate a fired employee and reverse and remand the denial of the employee’s request for reinstatement or front pay in denying both panel rehearing and rehearing en banc.

  • September 10, 2025

    Employee Awarded $425,000 For Vaccine Refusal Firing Seeks Front, Back Pay

    CHICAGO — After an Illinois federal jury awarded him $425,000 for violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act stemming from his termination for refusing to become vaccinated against COVID-19 after being denied a religious exemption, a former transit authority employee filed a post-trial brief in support of his request that he be awarded front and back pay.

  • September 10, 2025

    4th Circuit Stays Mandate In Unions’ DOGE Data Access Case Until Petition Decided

    RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals temporarily stayed the mandate in an appeal over U.S. Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) access to individuals’ personally identifiable information (PII) until after a petition for rehearing en banc filed by the unions and veterans who brought the complaint is considered.

  • September 10, 2025

    Federal Reserve Governor Granted TRO In Suit Over Purported Firing

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A temporary restraining order (TRO) as to the purported removal of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa D. Cook was granted Sept. 9 by a federal judge in the District of Columbia, who ruled that Cook’s case and actions by President Donald J. Trump “raise many serious questions of first impression that the Court believes will benefit from further briefing on a non-emergency timeline” and that Cook “made a strong showing that her purported removal was done in violation of the Federal Reserve Act’s ‘for cause’ provision.”

  • September 10, 2025

    Employer Seeks Extension For Response To McDonnell Douglas Evidence Petition

    WASHINGTON, D.C — A Hardee’s franchisee accused by a former manager of disability bias and Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) violations moved on Sept. 9 for a one-month extension to respond to the employee’s petition for a writ of certiorari that asks the U.S. Supreme Court to consider two questions concerning McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, pretext and motives at the summary judgment stage.

  • September 10, 2025

    9th Circuit: Judge Tossed Trader Joe’s Trademark Suit Against Union Too Soon

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel revived Trader Joe’s Co.’s trademark infringement suit against a labor union representing employees at the company’s grocery stores, finding that a California federal judge wrongly applied the likelihood-of-confusion test when evaluating if tote bags and other products sold by the union infringed the company’s marks and prematurely held that the Norris-LaGuardia Act (NLGA) barred injunctive relief.

  • September 10, 2025

    Judge: Expert Retained By Ex-Employees Can Opine On Value Of Stock Options

    NEW ORLEANS — An expert retained by former employees of a smoothie franchise company can testify on the value of stock options they allege were wrongfully revoked after they left the company, a Louisiana federal judge ruled Sept. 9 in denying a motion to exclude.

  • September 10, 2025

    FTC Dismisses Noncompete Rule Challenge Appeal As It Seeks Info On Agreements

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted a motion by the Federal Trade Commission to dismiss the commission’s 2024 appeal of a federal judge in Texas’ decision to strike down the FTC’s 2024 noncompete final rule largely banning noncompete agreements.

  • September 09, 2025

    Split 4th Circuit: States Lack Standing To Sue Over Federal Worker Firings

    RICHMOND, Va. — Nineteen states and the District of Columbia lack standing under Article III of the U.S. Constitution to sue over the firing of probationary federal workers en masse, a divided Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled Sept. 8, vacating a trial court’s preliminary injunction and remanding with instruction that the case be dismissed.

  • September 09, 2025

    2nd Circuit: Courts Can’t Decide Arbitral Fee Disputes In Laid-Off Workers’ Case

    NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that Twitter Inc.’s refusal to pay ongoing fees during individual arbitration proceedings with several laid-off employees after a dispute “is a procedural issue entrusted to the arbitrator or arbitral body — not the court — for resolution within that proceeding” and not construed as a failure to arbitrate pursuant to the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) in reversing and remanding a New York federal judge’s order.

  • September 08, 2025

    U.S. High Court Grants Administrative Stay In FTC Commissioner Removal Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A trial court’s summary judgment ruling for Rebecca Slaughter, one of two Federal Trade Commission commissioners purportedly removed in March from the Federal Trade Commission without cause, was administratively stayed by U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. on Sept. 8 pending further order by the high court.

  • September 05, 2025

    FTC Seeks Info On Noncompete Agreements As Rule Challenge Remains Stayed

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a request Sept. 4 for information on employee noncompete agreements “to better understand the scope, prevalence, and effects of employer noncompete agreements, as well as to gather information to inform possible future enforcement actions.”

  • September 05, 2025

    Union Sues Over Elimination Of Patents Office Workers’ Collective Bargaining Rights

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — An August executive order (EO) that expanded on a March EO and nullified the collective bargaining rights of additional agencies, including the Office of the Commissioner for Patents, was “retaliatory and not based on the statutory criteria” contained in the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (FSLMRS), the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) argues in a complaint filed in a federal court in the District of Columbia.

  • September 05, 2025

    U.S. High Court Asked To Stay Removal Ruling In Favor Of FTC Commissioner

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The federal government filed an application with the U.S. Supreme Court on Sept. 4 seeking an immediate administrative stay and a stay pending appeal after a split District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel declined to stay a trial court’s summary judgment ruling for Rebecca Slaughter, one of two Federal Trade Commission commissioners purportedly removed from the FTC without cause in March.

  • September 05, 2025

    3rd Circuit: Policy Violations Not Federal Crimes, Passwords Not Trade Secrets

    PHILADELPHIA — Under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), workplace policy infractions are not federal crimes and federal and Pennsylvania laws do not hold that passwords protecting proprietary business information are trade secrets, a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found “for the first time” in affirming a district court ruling that two former employees of a national debt-collection firm did not commit computer fraud, steal trade secrets or violate other state and federal laws through the creation and sharing of a spreadsheet containing passwords and login information protecting “confidential and proprietary information.”

  • September 04, 2025

    Injunction Pending Appeal Granted In ‘Abortion Accommodation Mandate’ Case

    LAKE CHARLES, La. — A federal judge in Louisiana in a Sept. 3 order enjoined the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the EEOC chairman (together, EEOC) from interpreting and enforcing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act’s (PWFA) “abortion accommodation mandate” against the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and others pending their appeal of a ruling that granted them partial summary judgment.

  • September 04, 2025

    Split Panel Denies Stay Pending Appeal Of Removal Ruling For FTC Commissioner

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Despite previously granting an administrative stay, a District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel majority denied a stay pending appeal sought by the federal government after a trial court’s summary judgment ruling for Rebecca Slaughter, one of two Federal Trade Commission commissioners purportedly removed from the FTC without cause in March.