9th Circ. Seems Skeptical Of Religious Coach's Vax Suit

By Vin Gurrieri

The Ninth Circuit appeared reluctant Wednesday to revive a suit from a former Washington State University head football coach who alleged he was fired after being denied a religious exemption to a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy, with one judge saying the coach is engaged in an "uphill" battle.

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States Say Trump's DEI Rule For Contractors Is Unclear, Illegal

By Ben Adlin

Attorneys general from 19 states and Washington, D.C., on Wednesday sued numerous federal officials and agencies in an attempt to block the Trump administration's March 26 executive order prohibiting government contractors — including states — from engaging in "racially discriminatory" activity around diversity, equity and inclusion.

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Appeals Panel Flags AI Concerns As It Reverses Lower Court

By Grace Elletson

A Georgia school district is immune from some claims in a trio of race discrimination suits brought by Black former principals, a state appeals court ruled Wednesday, overturning a lower court order it said contained mistakes and at least one "hallucinated" case law reference.

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Pa. Panel Revives AT&T's Arbitration Bid In Worker's Suit

By P.J. D'Annunzio

In a precedential opinion Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Superior Court held that AT&T and its retailer Prime Communications' request to compel arbitration in an employment dispute should not have been overruled outright, saying that questions remained about whether the employee clicking an electronic box constituted signing an arbitration agreement.

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Restaurant's Attys Sanctioned After Sushi Chef's Deposition

By Emily Brill

A Connecticut restaurant's attorneys must pay $7,000 to a sushi chef's attorneys after bringing the chef's ex-manager onscreen during a remote deposition in a wage lawsuit, a Connecticut federal judge ruled Wednesday, saying sanctions are warranted for conduct that can reasonably be interpreted as an intimidation tactic.

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DOT Scrubs Disparate Impact From Discrimination Regs

By Linda Chiem

The U.S. Department of Transportation on Wednesday eliminated disparate impact from its regulations governing discrimination, as part of the Trump administration's sweeping rejection of the theory of liability premised on seemingly neutral policies having discriminatory effects.

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NJ Hospital Says Ex-CEO's Inaction At Event Supported Firing

By George Woolston

A New Jersey hospital urged a Garden State federal court to reject a bid from its former CEO for a finding that the hospital breached his employment agreement when it fired him over a topless art exhibit at a fundraising event, arguing that the ex-CEO has misinterpreted its sexual harassment policy.

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Cop Urges Justices To Strike Down Burden-Shifting Precedent

By Grace Elletson

A Black police officer asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take up his case alleging he was fired out of race bias, claiming the Sixth Circuit was too quick to accept the argument that rap videos he posted online were the reason for his termination.

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Fired Black Teacher Appeals NC School's Race Bias Suit Win

By Hayley Fowler

A Black teacher who claims he was fired from a public charter school in North Carolina for teaching a novel about racial justice is taking his discrimination case to the Fourth Circuit after a federal judge sided last month with the school, court records show.

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Calif., Others Sue Ed Dept. Over Special Education Grant Cuts

By Gina Kim

California and other states sued the U.S. Department of Education in federal court Tuesday alleging it canceled special education service grants supporting students with disabilities for "political reasons," and rejected their applications for using "equity-related language" that complies with the General Education Provisions Act requiring proposals to ensure equitable access.

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NYC Sanitation Officers Accuse City Of Skimping On OT

By MJ Koo

Over 100 New York City sanitation officers have sued the city in a federal court, claiming it has systematically failed to pay them for time worked before and after their scheduled shifts, miscalculated their overtime rate, and delayed overtime payments.

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Colorado Ski Resorts Hit With Rest Break Wage Suits

By Zach Dupont

Former employees of a hotel and mountain resort in Colorado claim that they were routinely denied 10-minute breaks during their shifts in violation of Colorado law, according to a pair of proposed class actions filed in Colorado state court Tuesday.

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Brief

Disney Imagineering, Staffing Firm Settle IT Worker's OT Suit

By MJ Koo

A former IT project manager, Walt Disney's theme park design arm and a staffing firm have agreed to resolve the worker's lawsuit alleging the companies failed to pay him overtime wages, according to a mediation report filed in Florida federal court.

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Unions Rally As 5 Shops Approach Contract Deadline

By Andrea Keckley

Legal service providers across New York City gathered in City Hall Park on Wednesday afternoon as five unions represented by the Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys approach their deadlines for a new contract at the end of the month.

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Union May Tap Surety For Unpaid Benefits, Mass. Court Says

By Julie Manganis

A labor union's benefits fund is entitled to pursue a claim against a general contractor's surety bond after two subcontractors failed to make contractually obligated contributions, the Massachusetts intermediate appellate court ruled Wednesday in reversing a lower court.

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Transit Co. Can't Dodge $1.8M Pension Fund Bill

By Grace Elletson

A now-defunct transit company can't toss claims that it owes a Teamsters-affiliated pension fund $1.8 million in reallocation payments after the fund saw a mass withdrawal, a New York federal judge ruled, stating it's too early in the case to determine whether its insolvency blocks the bill.

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Broker Says Ex-Employee Moved 800 Clients To Rival

By Benjamin Morse

An insurance brokerage urged a Colorado federal judge Wednesday to block three former employees and a rival from using allegedly stolen trade secrets, saying a senior broker took confidential customer spreadsheets before helping move more than 800 clients to a competitor.

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Vax Ruling Offers Employer Tips For Handling Political Speech

A California appeals court's recent decision in Rademacher v. ABC, rejecting a "General Hospital" actor's suit alleging he was terminated for opposing a vaccine policy, demonstrates the importance of the employer's process, including neutral policies, documentation, and evidence of who knew what and when, say attorneys at Krevolin Horst.

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Susman Godfrey Beats, Seward & Kissel Matches Milbank Pay

By Tracey Read

At least four more firms have joined the associate pay raise bandwagon, with Seward & Kissel LLP matching the salary scale recently set by Milbank LLP, and Susman Godfrey LLP exceeding it.

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Judicial Noms Say Biden Won, But Critics Fault Their Caveats

By Courtney Bublé

Three district court nominees on Wednesday said President Joe Biden won the 2020 election, a departure from other judicial nominees in the second Trump administration, but court watchers on the left took issue with how they couched those statements.

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Camp Mystic Fights Sanctions Over 'Burn In Hell' Atty Remark

By Lynn LaRowe

Camp Mystic and parents of a girl killed in flooding there last summer faced off Wednesday over whether the camp should be sanctioned because its attorney said a plaintiff's lawyer would "burn in hell" and for other alleged misconduct in litigation over flooding deaths at the Texas camp.

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Ga. Federal Judge Faces 2nd Set Of Impeachment Articles

By Kelcey Caulder

A Georgia congressman has filed articles of impeachment against a federal judge who was reprimanded for having sex with a police officer in her Atlanta chambers within earshot of staff, the second lawmaker this week to do so. 

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'Anti-ICE Vigilantes': DOJ Says Law Clerks Aided Noncitzens

By Lauren Berg

Two state court clerks in Utah are facing criminal charges after federal prosecutors say they acted as "self-appointed anti-ICE vigilantes" by helping noncitizens leave the courthouse by a back door to evade arrest by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to the newly unsealed case.

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Morgan & Morgan Atty Again Blocked From Harvard Suit

By Carolyn Muyskens

A Massachusetts judge rebuffed a Morgan & Morgan PA attorney's second attempt to appear in a lawsuit over the theft of body parts from a Harvard Medical School morgue, saying he would not reconsider his earlier decision to bar the attorney over an incident in a separate court involving fake AI-generated case citations.

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