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Mealey's Employment

  • May 09, 2025

    Religious COVID-19 Vaccination Exemption Suit Dismissed Per Stipulation Of Parties

    DETROIT — Pursuant to the stipulation of a health insurance company and a former employee who alleged that she was wrongly denied a religious exemption from the company’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy, a Michigan federal judge on May 8 dismissed with prejudice the employee’s claims.

  • May 08, 2025

    Intelligence Agencies Appeal Preliminary Injunction Order In DEIA Positions Case

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Central Intelligence Agency and the directors of the two intelligence agencies filed a notice of appeal more than a month after a federal judge in Virginia partially granted a renewed motion for preliminary injunction filed by national security workers alleging that they were wrongly forced to choose resignation or termination because they were in temporary assignments related to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA).

  • May 08, 2025

    5th Circuit: No Jurisdiction Over Constitutionality Of Amazon NLRB Proceedings

    NEW ORLEANS — A split Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction an appeal by Amazon.com Services LLC challenging the “constructive denial” of its injunctive relief motion concerning two National Labor Relations Board proceedings that it alleged it was being subjected to in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

  • May 08, 2025

    Split D.C. Circuit Alters Stay Of Preliminary Injunction, Reinstates CFPB RIF Ban

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In pair of orders, one by a federal judge in the District of Columbia and one by a District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel majority, issued in a case over the termination of more than 1,400 workers at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the appellate panel modified an earlier partial stay of a preliminary injunction in the case that effectively reinstated the ban on the reduction in force, and the trial court judge then denied as moot a motion to enforce the preliminary injunction sought by a workers union and other groups.

  • May 08, 2025

    5th Circuit: Texas District Not Wrong To Fire Teacher Over Absence After COVID

    NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed that a Texas school district did not violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) or the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) by firing a teacher who did not return to her classroom after the COVID-19 pandemic because of concerns about contracting the virus, citing failure to meet the burdens for proving the claims.

  • May 07, 2025

    Preliminary Injunction Halts Function, Staff Reductions At 3 Federal Agencies

    PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A federal judge in Rhode Island on May 6 granted a preliminary injunction motion by nearly two dozen states restraining 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).

  • May 07, 2025

    En Banc Rehearing Denied In Case Challenging NLRB Impasse, Terms Ruling

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for rehearing en banc filed by Hood River Distillers Inc. after a split panel denied the employer’s petition for review of a National Labor Relations Board decision in a case in which the company alleged that it reached an impasse while trying to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) and accused the union of engaging in delay tactics before and during the coronavirus pandemic.

  • May 06, 2025

    Split U.S. High Court Stays Injunction In Military Transgender Ban Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A divided U.S. Supreme Court on May 6 granted the federal government’s application to stay pending appeal a March preliminary injunction granted to servicemembers and an organization that sued in a federal court in Washington challenging President Donald J. Trump’s executive order (EO) banning transgender people from the military.

  • May 06, 2025

    Stay Of Military Transgender Ban Injunction Sought From U.S. High Court

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A stay of a trial court’s March 27 preliminary injunction granted to servicemembers and an organization that sued in a federal court in Washington challenging President Donald J. Trump’s executive order (EO) banning transgender people from the military is necessary as the federal government is likely to succeed on the merits of its claims, the questions presented warrant high court review, the injunction causes irreparable harm to the government and the public and the balance of equities favors a stay, the federal government argues in its reply supporting its stay application filed in the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • May 06, 2025

    Government Applies To U.S. High Court For Injunction Stay In SSA Records Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Social Security Administration (SSA) and other federal government agencies and officials filed an application in the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay of a trial court’s injunction and a request for an administrative stay in a case over Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) access to SSA data.

  • May 06, 2025

    ERISA, Breach Of Contract Claims Fail In Row Over ‘Pre-Separation Programs’

    CHICAGO — Dismissing a putative class action over United Airlines Inc. early retirement programs with leave to amend but expressing skepticism “that the plaintiffs can cure the problems with the complaint,” an Illinois federal judge ruled in part that a policy the airline announced in 2017 “does not constitute an . . . employee welfare benefit plan” that is governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

  • May 05, 2025

    Stay Of Injunctive Relief Pending Appeal Denied In Collective Bargaining EO Suit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in the District of Columbia issued a minute order denying the federal government’s request to stay pending appeal a preliminary injunction ruling in a lawsuit by the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) seeking to halt the impact of a March executive order (EO) that the union says eliminates collective bargaining for approximately two-thirds of the federal workforce.

  • May 05, 2025

    Judge: 3 Nonprofits Suing Over DEI, Gender EOs Largely Failed To Show Standing

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three nonprofits that sued President Donald J. Trump and other federal agencies and officials challenging the constitutionality of three executive orders (EOs) regarding diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and gender identity failed to show that they have standing related to a portion of the challenged provisions as the EOs “inflict no concrete harm on private parties—or at least not on these parties” and failed to sufficiently allege constitutional violations on their remaining claims, a federal judge in the District of Columbia ruled May 2, denying the groups’ motion for a preliminary injunction.

  • May 05, 2025

    Judge: U.S. Constitution Bars President’s EO Targeting Perkins Coie

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A March executive order (EO) “stigmatiz[ing] and penalize[ing]” Perkins Coie LLP for its representation “of clients pursing claims and taking position with which the current President disagrees, as well as the Firm’s own speech” is a violation of the U.S. “Constitution and is thus null and void,” a federal judge in the District of Columbia declared May 2, granting the firm’s summary judgment motion and denying a motion to dismiss filed by the various federal government defendants.

  • May 02, 2025

    6th Circuit Denies Agency’s Request For Rehearing On ‘Salaried’ Worker Decision

    CINCINNATTI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 1 denied an employment agency’s petition for rehearing en banc of an earlier split panel decision that classified a pipe inspector who was provided guaranteed pay each week and paid his hourly amount for work performed in excess of eight hours as a “salaried” worker exempt from overtime, with the original panel finding that the issues were “fully considered” and no other judge requesting a vote to reconsider.

  • May 02, 2025

    7th Circuit Rehearing Sought Over Back Pay, Seniority In Sheriff’s Office ADA Case

    CHICAGO — An Illinois county and its sheriff say in a petition for rehearing that the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ decision to affirm seniority benefits and reinstate the possibility of back pay for a former correctional officer who sued for alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and the U.S. Constitution for requiring release of his medical records to complete a fitness-for-duty exam to return to work after he was put on leave “conflicts with other Circuit Courts of Appeals, including authority that the district court relied on” and would be “problematic” in future litigation.

  • May 01, 2025

    4th Circuit En Banc Majority Won’t Stay Injunction In DOGE, SSA Records Case

    RICHMOND, Va. — A divided en banc Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 30 denied a motion by the Social Security Administration (SSA) and other federal government agencies and officials to stay a preliminary injunction order pending appeal in a case over the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) access to SSA data.

  • May 01, 2025

    5th Circuit Denies Rehearing For Shriners Employees Fired Over Vaccine Refusal

    NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel denied a petition for panel rehearing and rehearing en banc that several Shriners Hospital for Children employees who were fired for not taking the COVID-19 vaccine filed seeking reconsideration of a ruling dismissing federal and state claims against their former employer.

  • May 01, 2025

    Law Students Sue EEOC, Chair Over Personal Data Requests In DEI Hiring Process Probe

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three law students who applied to or worked at one or more of 20 law firms that were sent letters by Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Acting Chair Andrea Lucas requesting disclosure of “sensitive personal information” regarding diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) hiring processes sued the EEOC and Lucas in District of Columbia federal court alleging that they “acted ultra vires in excess of their authority under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964” by sending the letters without a properly filed charge.

  • April 30, 2025

    High Court:  Reservists Owed Differential Pay For National Emergency Active Duty

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled April 30 that a U.S. Coast Guard reservist called to active duty during a time in which a national emergency has been declared “is entitled to differential pay without having to prove that his service was substantively connected in some particular way to some particular emergency.”

  • April 30, 2025

    News Organization, Workers Agree To $4.5M WARN Act Class Settlement

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York granted preliminary approval of a $4.5 million settlement to end a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act class case brought by workers against JAF Communications Inc. after they were terminated by a now-defunct news organization, The Messenger.

  • April 29, 2025

    Magistrate Judge Rules On Discovery In EEOC, United HealthCare Vaccine Mandate Suit

    COLUMBUS, Ohio — A federal magistrate judge in Ohio ordered the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to “work with” United HealthCare Services Inc. in narrowing down which details of a fired work-from-home employee’s medical records should be considered when they confer on outstanding discovery disputes in a lawsuit alleging that United violated the employee’s rights when it denied her a request for a religious exemption from its COVID-19 vaccine mandate and terminated her.

  • April 29, 2025

    Parties Agree To Dismiss; Challenge To $12M Verdict For Vaccine Refuser Dropped

    DETROIT — The parties filed a stipulation of dismissal with prejudice on April 28 in a case in which a Michigan federal jury awarded a former employee of a medical insurer nearly $3 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages after finding the insurer liable for discrimination for failing to accommodate her religious objection to receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.

  • April 29, 2025

    U.S. High Court Hears Arguments On Veterans’ Pay In Appeal Of Class Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on April 28 heard arguments from counsel representing veterans and the United States in a class dispute over the application of the Barring Act to settlements of combat-related special compensation (CRSC) requests.

  • April 25, 2025

    ER Doctor Whose Suspension For Refusing COVID Vaccine Was Upheld Seeks Rehearing

    PHILADELPHIA — An emergency room doctor on April 24 filed a petition for panel rehearing or rehearing en banc of a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel opinion affirming the judgment of a Pennsylvania federal court, which granted summary judgment in favor of a hospital in the doctor’s lawsuit alleging religious discrimination and retaliation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (PHRA) after the doctor was refused a religious exemption from a company-mandated COVID-19 vaccination and suspended.