11th Circ. Backs Unions In Members' Race Bias Suit

By Katherine Smith

The Eleventh Circuit upheld a win Monday for a pipe fitters union in a lawsuit alleging it routinely passing over Black journeyman pipe fitters for work assignments in favor of white workers, finding the claims failed to show that the unions had established discriminatory referral practices.

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8th Circ. Nixes Native American Worker's Race Bias Suit

By Patrick Hoff

The Eighth Circuit on Monday upheld a clinical research institute's defeat of a lawsuit from a former manager who said she was laid off because she's Native American, siding with the institute's assertion that she was let go for budgetary reasons because her position was funded with internal money.

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Costco Can't Shake Wash. Workers' Moonlighting Class Action

By MJ Koo

More than 26,000 Costco Wholesale Corp. workers have beaten back the company's bid for an early win in their Washington state court moonlighting class action, though a judge also denied the workers' own push for a pretrial victory.

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Judge Certifies Military Class In Delta Pilots' Leave Suit

By MJ Koo

Delta pilots who alleged that the airline failed to pay them for short-term military absences secured class certification in Georgia federal court, with a judge finding the core question of whether the airline's uniform leave policy violates federal military leave law can be resolved using common evidence.

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Food Services Co. Inks $1.5M Deal In EEOC Hiring Bias Suit

By Grace Elletson

A Colorado-based food services company has agreed to pay $1.5 million to resolve a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission suit claiming its CEO discouraged hiring Black, Afghan and female applicants and that a human resources manager lost her job for opposing the executive's instructions. 

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NJ Public Defender Atty Says Demotion Was Due To Age, Race

By Parker Quinlan

A former deputy in charge of a regional New Jersey public defender office has filed an age and race discrimination lawsuit, alleging she was demoted and received a pay cut at the direction of the state's top public defender because she refuses to retire.

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11th Circ. Affirms Ga. University System's Win In Bias Suit

By Kelcey Caulder

The Eleventh Circuit on Monday upheld a win for the University System of Georgia in a disability discrimination case brought by a former respiratory therapy student who alleged he was improperly found to be endangering patients' safety and given a failing grade as punishment.

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Conn. Town Wins Cop's Medical Marijuana, Discrimination Suit

By Aaron Keller

A Connecticut town has prevailed against a former police officer's discrimination claims tied to a training injury, comments by colleagues, a pension application and subsequent medical marijuana use, with a state judge issuing wins as a matter of law to the municipality and its officials on all four counts alleged.

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Spa Fights 9th Circ.'s 'Swinging Dicks' Order At High Court

By Jeff Overley

The Ninth Circuit's rejection of a spa's religious objections to serving transgender customers is incompatible with several major precedents, according to a U.S. Supreme Court petition filed Monday in litigation that soared in prominence when dozens of circuit judges decried a salacious dissent.

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Insurer Must Defend Education Fund In Termination Dispute

By Hope Patti

An insurer must defend and indemnify a plumbers' union-backed education fund accused of retaliating against a member who claimed he was wrongfully terminated after submitting a request for paternity leave, a New Jersey federal court ruled, finding that an exclusion barring coverage for activities of the union does not apply.

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Clinics' Suit Over Fund Use Ballot Measure Gets Tossed

By Rae Ann Varona

A California federal judge tossed a suit that federally designated community health clinics filed to block the placement of an expenditure transparency reporting initiative on the November ballot, saying the clinics' claims aren't ripe for court review.

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9th Circ. Backs City Of Tacoma In Pension Liability Rate Fight

By Ben Adlin

A Ninth Circuit panel sided with the city of Tacoma, Washington, in a pension fund dispute Monday, holding that a lower court correctly upheld an arbitrator's reassessment of the city's liability after it withdrew from the Western Metal Industry Pension Fund following the expiration of underlying collective bargaining agreements.

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Brief

Electrolux Seeks DC Circ. Review Of IAM Pension's $32M Win

By Patrick Hoff

Appliance manufacturer Electrolux is turning to the D.C. Circuit to challenge a $32 million arbitration award in favor of an International Association of Machinists pension fund after a trial court upheld the award last month over the company's objections.

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Logistics Firm Hit With Suit Over Tobacco Use Surcharge

By Carla Baranauckas

Logistics firm NFI Industries Inc. unlawfully imposed a tobacco use surcharge on thousands of workers without offering mandated wellness program alternatives in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, a proposed class claimed in a New Jersey federal court complaint.

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Insurer Must Cover Financial Services Co.'s Arbitration

By Danielle Ferguson

An excess insurer owes up to $5 million in coverage for a financial service company's arbitration over allegations workers misappropriated their previous employer's trade secrets, the Delaware Superior Court said, finding the arbitration was not connected to a dispute that occurred before the policy period.

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Judge Trims Wells Fargo Ex-VP Whistleblower Suit

By Celeste Bott

An Illinois federal judge Friday trimmed a former Wells Fargo testing and validation executive's suit alleging she was fired for flagging reporting inaccuracies, finding that her allegations were too vague and that she did not correctly report the alleged activity to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

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Gates Manager Fired After His Bias, Safety Reports, Suit Says

By Taylor Bowie

Power transmission belts manufacturer Gates Corp. unlawfully fired a regional health and safety manager after he escalated concerns about regulatory violations, environmental compliance and the disparate treatment of minority employees, according to a complaint filed in North Carolina federal court over the weekend.

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Baker Donelson Adds Immigration Atty To Atlanta Office

By Emily Johnson

Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC has added the owner and attorney for the Law Office of Cheryl Geiser LLC in its Atlanta office, strengthening the firm's immigration practice and labor and employment group.

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Data Center Risks Include Schedules, Supply Chain, Labor

Managing the dynamic technical and legal risks related to data center development requires sophisticated strategies for dealing with compressed schedules and liquidated damages, supply chain and long-lead equipment challenges, and labor shortages and productivity issues, say Randa Adra and Lily Geyer at Crowell & Moring, and Natasha Dahl at Ankura.

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Handling Section 301 Tariffs When CBP Detains Goods

Importers subject to Section 301 tariffs on goods under a U.S. Customs and Border Protection forced labor hold should consider three approaches when deciding whether to pay tariffs on goods that may ultimately be excluded, or wait and watch port demurrage compound daily, says James Ferry at Ferry Trade.

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Trump Picks Ex-Personal Lawyer As New White House Counsel

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump's incoming White House counsel is a former personal attorney for the president who is already working for the White House and was at the U.S. Department of Justice during his first term.

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Ill. Gov. Signs Bill Restricting PE Role In Legal Industry

By Emma Cueto

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has signed into law a bill designed to target nonlawyer ownership of law firms, outlawing fee sharing with out-of-state alternative business structures and attempting to place restrictions on law firms' use of managed services organizations.

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CREXi Can't Stay CoStar Case For Quinn Emanuel DQ Appeal

By Matthew Perlman

A California federal court rejected a bid Monday from Commercial Real Estate Exchange Inc., or CREXi, for a stay in CoStar's copyright case while CREXi looks to undo the disqualification of its attorneys from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP.

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Biz Owners Appeal Morgan Lewis Win In Tax Shelter Suit

By Andrea Keckley

A pair of business owners asked the Florida Supreme Court to reverse a decision affirming judgment in favor of Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP in a dispute over whether the law firm had routed income through illegal tax shelters.

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