2nd Circ. Cautious About Unsealing Ex-Twitter Exec's Award

By Caroline Simson

The Second Circuit appeared uncomfortable Monday with the New York Times' argument that a confidentiality agreement between two parties to an arbitration might not outweigh the public's right to view court records, as the paper looks to unseal an arbitral award issued to a former Twitter executive.

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3rd Circ. Sides With Nuclear Plant Co. In Union Benefits Fight

By Kellie Mejdrich

The Third Circuit on Monday sided with a nuclear power company in a dispute with an electrical workers union over contributions to employee healthcare premiums, holding that the union couldn't force issues out of court because their disagreement was outside the scope of the collective bargaining agreement's arbitration provision.

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Meta Ends WhatsApp Security Head's Retaliation Suit For Now

By Gina Kim

A California federal judge dismissed, for now, a retaliation claim by a former Meta employee who claimed he was fired after reporting cybersecurity shortfalls concerning WhatsApp, finding the plaintiff's complaints aren't protected under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act since his cybersecurity violation reports don't relate to internal accounting controls.

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Trump Admin Probes Harvard Over Race, Antisemitism Claims

By Chris Villani

The Trump administration on Monday opened two new investigations into Harvard University to probe whether the school is using race in its admissions process and failing to curtail antisemitism on campus.

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Cognizant Fired Worker Over Hiring Bias Claims, Jury Told

By Pete Brush

A New York University computer science professor on Monday told a federal jury in Manhattan he was unlawfully fired from a lucrative job at Cognizant Technology Solutions for alleging the New Jersey information technology company was engaging in hiring practices that favored immigrant workers from India.

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Immigration Judges To Challenge Their Firing At Fed. Circ.

By Britain Eakin

Attorneys for a pair of fired immigration judges said Monday they will ask the Federal Circuit to review a federal panel ruling that stripped them of civil service protections, warning of a dramatic expansion of presidential authority over the civil workforce.

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Salesforce Gets Promotion Bias Suit Sent To Arbitration

By Grace Elletson

A white woman must arbitrate her suit alleging Salesforce ignored her complaints that her male boss promoted only Indian men, a Colorado federal judge said, rejecting arguments that her case raised harassment claims that triggered a law shielding her from an out-of-court resolution.

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Emory Healthcare Defeats Black Nurse's Retaliation Suit

By Kelcey Caulder

Emory Healthcare has escaped a suit brought by a Black travel nurse alleging she was fired for complaining about receiving less training than white nurses, a Georgia federal judge ruled Monday, finding the nurse failed to show she engaged in protected activity. 

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EEOC Lacks Quorum For Probe Of NM Schools, Board Argues

By Crystal Owens

A New Mexico school board that is suing the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission argued Friday in federal court that the EEOC lacked the quorum needed to initiate a race-discrimination charge and investigation of the board, because President Donald Trump removed two commissioners last year.

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NJ Law Firm Hit With Firing Suit From Former Paralegal

By Carla Baranauckas

A former paralegal at Rainone Coughlin Minchello LLC has alleged the New Jersey municipal-law firm violated the New Jersey Family Leave Act in illegally firing her after she sought intermittent family leave to care for her mother‑in‑law following a debilitating stroke.

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Reed Smith Pushes To Continue Atty Depo In NJ Bias Suit

By Jake Maher

Reed Smith LLP is urging a New Jersey state trial court to allow it to resume its deposition of a former attorney suing it for gender discrimination years after the last deposition date in the wake of an appeals court decision widely expanding the scope of discovery.

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Fiat Chrysler Agrees To Pay $3.8M In OT Math Case

By Irene Spezzamonte

Fiat Chrysler has agreed to pay approximately $3.8 million to about 68,000 workers to settle a suit in Michigan federal court accusing it of not including shift differentials and nondiscretionary bonuses in production employees' pay.

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Chicken Grower's Federal Wage Claims Against Perdue Axed

By Benjamin Morse

A Perdue Foods chicken farmer who claimed he was misclassified as an independent contractor filed his federal wage claims too late, a Georgia federal judge ruled, while allowing portions of his state law claims to proceed.

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Concrete-Maker Survives OT Suit With FLSA Exemption

By Irene Spezzamonte

A concrete-maker supported its arguments that drivers who claimed they were misclassified as overtime-exempt fell under a Fair Labor Standards Act exemption, a Texas federal judge said, adopting a magistrate judge's findings.

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NC Justices Split On Wage Act Elements In Earth Fare Appeal

By Hayley Fowler

North Carolina's highest court has upheld a six-figure unjust enrichment verdict favoring the founder of the organic supermarket chain Earth Fare in a split decision that set off a debate among the justices about what is required to prove a state Wage and Hour Act claim.

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Co. Denied Denver Airport Workers Screening Pay, Suit Says

By Benjamin Morse

An airport services company failed to pay employees at Denver International Airport for off-the-clock tasks, including time spent undergoing mandatory security screenings, according to a proposed class action filed in state court.

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Trucking Co. Denied H-2A Workers Overtime, Suit Says

By Benjamin Morse

A Texas trucking company denied H-2A workers overtime pay and misrepresented the nature of their work to qualify for the federal visa program, according to a proposed collective action filed Monday in federal court.

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New Wash. Laws Create NLRB Stand-In, Ban Noncompetes

By Rachel Riley

Wash. Gov. Bob Ferguson signed employment bills on Monday establishing a fallback framework for the state to oversee certain private-sector labor disputes in the case that the National Labor Relations Board's jurisdiction is scaled back by the federal government and expanding the state's restrictions on noncompete provisions to an outright ban.

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Union Accuses VA Of Violating Contract Injunction

By Emily Brill

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hasn't confirmed that its employees are eligible for benefits and protections under a union contract even though a Rhode Island federal judge ordered the agency to resume complying with the contract, an American Federation of Government Employees local claims.

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Chicago Can't Ditch Airline Group's Sick Leave Law Challenge

By Irene Spezzamonte

An organization representing the largest U.S. airlines supported its claims that Chicago's new paid sick leave law could affect air carriers' business, an Illinois federal judge said, keeping alive the group's challenge to the law.

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DOJ Says Block On Sen. Kelly's Demotion Must Be Reversed

By Tom Lotshaw

The Trump administration told the D.C. Circuit a court order shielding U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., a retired Navy captain, from a demotion for telling service members they don't have to follow illegal orders was "gravely wrong" and threatens military discipline.

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AbbVie Escapes Ill. Genetic Privacy Lawsuit

By Celeste Bott

An Illinois federal judge on Friday granted AbbVie summary judgment in a lawsuit claiming it violated the state's genetic privacy law, saying there was "no genuine dispute" that AbbVie never conditioned the plaintiff's employment on whether he disclosed genetic information in the physical exam he was required to undergo before starting work.

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Marketing Firm Claims $23M Loss In Client-Poaching Suit

By José Luis Martínez

A Georgia-based digital marketing agency said its former executive based in Texas siphoned off confidential client lists and proprietary strategies tied to auto dealership clients before launching a rival firm, costing the company about $23 million in lost business.

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Flagstar Seeks To Shut Down Ex-CCO's Retaliation Suit

By Katryna Perera

Flagstar asked a New York federal judge to toss a suit from one of its former compliance chiefs that claims he was wrongfully terminated for blowing the whistle on the bank's former CEO over alleged compliance violations, saying the suit attempts to "cobble together" unrelated incidents into a retaliation claim.

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Judge Tosses Ex-Director's Suit Against Ore. Pot Commission

By Jonathan Capriel

Oregon's liquor and cannabis authority has defeated, for now, a wrongful termination lawsuit filed by its deputy director who was fired in the wake of a liquor scandal, with a federal judge saying the ex-employee's choice to retire doesn't prove the existence of some unwritten separation agreement.

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Akin Brings On Munger Tolles Employment Ace In LA

By Rose Krebs

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP announced Monday that it has brought on a former Munger Tolles & Olson LLP partner in Los Angeles to bolster its capacity to handle labor and employment matters.

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Labor & Employment Head Named Next Morgan Lewis Chair

By Tracey Read

Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP announced Monday that the global leader of its labor and employment practice was unanimously elected as the firm's next chair to take over for Jami McKeon, who will retire at the end of the year.

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7 Employer Tips For Handling Calif. Privacy Risk Assessments

Recent changes to the California Consumer Privacy Act require certain employers to complete detailed risk assessments before handling workforce data in many routine ways, so employers should assess whether previous risk assessments can be reused or combined, assemble a team, and create a plan of action, among other steps, say attorneys at Littler.

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How 2 Decisions Reframed Witness-Centered Trials

The recent Maryland federal jury verdict in U.S. v. Goldstein and the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Villarreal v. Texas suggest that the traditional paradigm of American civil trial practice, with its emphasis on witness performance and assertive advocacy, may not reflect the ideal approach for the modern courtroom, says Joshua Robbins at Crowell & Moring.

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DOJ Says Gov't Attys Can't Be Punished Over ICE's Actions

By Ryan Boysen

The Trump administration says a Minnesota federal judge erred by holding a government attorney in contempt after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement flouted a court order, claiming the lawyer was "wrongfully held captive to induce ICE's compliance."

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Judicial Conference Backs Latest Judge Newman Suspension

By Jack Karp

The federal judiciary on Tuesday upheld the latest extension of Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman's suspension and the decision not to transfer her case to another circuit, finding neither to be unconstitutional.

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Goldstein Seeks New Trial, Citing 'A Series Of Legal Errors'

By Emily Sawicki

SCOTUSblog founder and appellate icon Thomas Goldstein has filed a lengthy motion for a new trial or acquittal after his conviction on a dozen criminal charges related to tax evasion, alleging his trial was marred by improper jury instructions, improper exclusion of evidence and inadequate evidence, among other things.

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Analysis

Fraud Task Force May Boost White Collar Defense Work

By Phillip Bantz

A new federal anti-fraud task force involving at least a dozen federal agencies could soon expose more state and local governments, contractors, companies and others to compliance risks, particularly in healthcare fraud and False Claims Act cases, experts say.

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Fla. Judge Faces Discipline For Remark About Shooting Attys

By David Minsky

A Florida state judge is facing a public reprimand after admitting to becoming frustrated with attorneys in an estate dispute and saying that he "would like to tell the deputy to pull his gun and shoot all three of you," according to records filed Tuesday in the state's high court.

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Senate Confirms Chief Of New DOJ Fraud Division

By Courtney Bublé

The U.S. Senate voted 52-47, along party lines, on Tuesday to confirm Colin McDonald to the newly created assistant attorney general for fraud role.

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Reed Smith's Silence On Depo 'Speaks Volumes,' Ex-Atty Says

By Jake Maher

A former Reed Smith LLP attorney suing the firm for underpaying her based on her gender criticized the firm for its "inexcusable delay and attempted meandering" in seeking to resume deposing her years after her last deposition date.

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Beasley Allen Says NJ Justices Review Of Talc DQ 'Essential'

By George Woolston

Beasley Allen urged the New Jersey Supreme Court to hear its appeal of a lower court's decision to disqualify it from representing plaintiffs in multicounty litigation over Johnson & Johnson's talc-based baby powder, arguing that the court's immediate review of the interlocutory order is "essential."

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