9th Circ. Confused By San Jose's Firefighter OT Math

By Max Kutner

A Ninth Circuit panel on Wednesday appeared skeptical of an argument by the City of San José, California, that a lower court miscalculated the overtime pay owed to firefighters, but the judges also said they were "struggling with" the firefighters' argument.

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OPM's DOGE Data Access Was Unlawful, Judge Says

By Katherine Smith

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management unlawfully gave employees associated with the Department of Government Efficiency "broad" access to the sensitive personal information of millions of current and former federal workers, a New York federal judge has ruled.

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9th Circ. Judges Hint Hospital CBA May Mandate Arbitration

By Rachel Riley

A Ninth Circuit panel appeared receptive on Wednesday to Long Beach Memorial Medical Center's argument that a nurse should be forced to individually arbitrate proposed class break claims, with two judges suggesting that a union contract's repeated references to Golden State labor law bolster the hospital's position.

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Drexel Keeping Its Counsel In Ex-Exec's Bias Suit

By James Boyle

A Pennsylvania federal judge on Tuesday denied a former Drexel University compliance executive's bid to have the school's attorney dismissed from the case over an alleged conflict of interest and tossed the executive's motion for sanctions against Drexel's attorney over comments he made during a deposition.

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Brief

EEOC's Federal Sector Overhaul Nears Finish Line

By Patrick Hoff

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is poised to overhaul how federal employees' bias complaints are handled, sending the proposed regulation to the White House for approval just weeks after the public comment period closed.

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GEO Gets Split Trial In 12-Year-Old Colo. Forced Labor Suit

By Rachel Konieczny

A 12-year-old class action by former detainees of a Colorado immigration detention facility alleging private prison operator The GEO Group Inc. unlawfully profited from their forced labor will have a split trial and begin Nov. 2, as scheduled, a Colorado federal judge ruled.

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Precedent-Setting Calif. Bias Suit Over Slur Heads To Jury

By Bonnie Eslinger

A decadelong, precedent-setting race bias case wrapped trial Wednesday with counsel for a Black San Francisco prosecutor's office worker arguing she was left debilitated by the city's inaction after a co-worker called her a racial slur while a city lawyer said the slur was likely never uttered.

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SEIU Fired Organizer Over Military Leave, Suit Says

By Patrick Hoff

An SEIU organizer was subjected to intense scrutiny and ultimately fired for taking time off to fulfill her obligations as a member of the U.S. Army Reserve, according to a new lawsuit filed in Pennsylvania federal court.

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Calif. Man Sues Rivian Over Cannabis Test Firing, Wages

By Mike Curley

A Sacramento man is suing electric vehicle maker Rivian LLC in California state court, alleging he was wrongly fired after a cannabis test despite not being impaired or otherwise using cannabis at work, and that the company has not fully paid out his wages.

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Atlanta, Ex-Inspectors End Age Bias Suits Over Promotions

By David Aaro

Two former Atlanta building inspectors have agreed to end their lawsuits accusing the city of denying them promotions to a chief inspector role because of their age, according to filings in Georgia federal court.

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Allegheny County Passes 12-Week Paid Parental Leave

By Max Kutner

Pennsylvania's second-most populous county approved what worker advocates said was the first county-mandated paid parental leave policies in the U.S.

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Pa. Panel Sets 3-Year Limit On Minimum Wage Claims

By MJ Koo

A split Pennsylvania appeals court panel ruled Wednesday that workers have three years, not six, to sue for unpaid wages under the state's minimum wage law, siding with a pharmacy accused of shorting 20 employees on overtime pay.

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Colo. Cleaning Equipment Co. Accused Of Shorting Pay

By Zach Dupont

A cleaning equipment company employee claimed in Colorado state court Tuesday that the company violated several state wage laws by not paying employees for hours worked off the clock, failing to properly compensate overtime premiums and more.

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Prison Union Fights BOP's Emergency Bid To Ax Labor Deal

By Benjamin Morse

The Bureau of Prisons' push to immediately terminate its collective bargaining agreement does not constitute an emergency, a prison guards union argued Wednesday, urging a Connecticut federal judge to reject the agency's request to fast-track its bid to end the contract.

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Employers Say United Health Double Dealt With Claims

By Spencer Brewer

Multiple employers with self-funded medical plans including Aramark and Kraft Heinz told a Texas federal judge United Health Group Inc. regularly approved bogus healthcare claims collectively worth millions of dollars and then helped itself to undisclosed fees incurred from those approvals.

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Lowe's Moonlighting Action Remanded To Wash. State Court

By Ben Adlin

An employee's proposed class action accusing Lowe's Home Centers LLC of wrongfully restricting lower-wage workers from moonlighting in violation of Washington law must return to state court, a Seattle federal judge ruled Tuesday, finding insufficient evidence that the employee suffered the necessary injury to establish federal standing.

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Linde Seeks $1.2M Clawback From Exec Who Joined Rival

By Aaron Keller

International industrial and healthcare gas supplier Linde PLC is seeking to recover more than $1.2 million in stock and performance rewards gains from Joseph H. Porto III, the onetime executive director of growth at Linde Gases U.S., after Porto allegedly left for a competitor.

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Ex-Holtec CFO Wins $2.1M Verdict On Whistleblower Claim

By George Woolston

A New Jersey state jury on Wednesday found that nuclear services company Holtec International violated the state's whistleblower law when it fired its chief financial officer days after he objected to what he believed were false and misleading statements in a document meant for a potential investor, awarding him $2.1 million in economic damages.

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Reckitt Benckiser Denies Firing Manager For Whistleblowing

By Gina Kim

Reckitt Benckiser urged a New Jersey federal judge to end a former senior regulatory manager's suit alleging she was fired for raising product safety issues, arguing Tuesday she rejected a lateral transfer amid a global reorganization and unsuccessfully gambled the company would give in to her promotion and higher pay demands.

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Remote Work Ruling Clarifies Calif. Law Limits, With Caveats

Although a California state appeals court's recent decision in Saberin v. Alation confirmed that California employment laws do not operate extraterritorially merely because a company is headquartered in the state, employers shouldn't construe this as authorization to relocate decision-makers to circumvent statutory obligations, says Hallie Aylesworth at Sheppard.

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5 Ways Trial Attys Can Build Mental Health Counseling Skills

Studies demonstrate that many attorneys are not equipped to respond adequately to trauma exposure, but trial lawyers can build several key skills drawn from mental health counseling into their interactions with clients and colleagues, from cognitive reappraisal to boundary setting, says Alexandra Echsner-Rasmussen at Aylstock Witkin.

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New Weil-Willkie Domains Add To Merger Speculation

By Marialuisa Taddia

Two domain names that combine the names of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP and Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP have been registered, fueling speculation about a potential merger between the two prominent Wall Street law firms.

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JPMorgan, Ex-Frank Execs Clash Over $2.1M In Legal Fees

By Jarek Rutz

JPMorgan Chase & Co. faced renewed demands in the Delaware Chancery Court on Thursday to pay about $2.1 million in withheld legal fees for convicted Frank founder Charlie Javice and former executive Olivier Amar, as their lawyers accused the bank of using repeated billing objections to delay funding for their criminal defenses.

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Bonus Spotlight

Hueston Hennigan Bumps Clerkship Bonus To $205K

By Lynn LaRowe

Trial boutique Hueston Hennigan is offering a $205,000 bonus to lawyers who have completed one or more federal clerkships, the firm confirmed Thursday.

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Jackson Walker Hits Back At Fee Clawback Sanction Move

By Vince Sullivan

Law firm Jackson Walker said Wednesday that it should not be sanctioned for failing to bring to a Texas federal judge's attention additional cases involving an undisclosed romantic relationship between a bankruptcy judge and one of its attorneys because the U.S. Trustee already investigated those cases and didn't take action.

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Texas Judge Probe Shows Lack Of Mental Impairment Process

By Jack Karp

Fifth Circuit officials have done a reasonable job of handling a rare situation involving a Texas federal judge who appears to be undergoing a mental health crisis, but the episode highlights that a more standardized way of dealing with federal judges experiencing mental impairment needs to be established, experts and scholars say.

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GOP Reps. Seek Probe Of Fla. Judge's Sanctions Order

By Courtney Bublé

Top Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee asked the Judicial Conference Thursday to investigate a Florida federal judge for potential misconduct with an order she issued in the case involving the leak of President Donald Trump's tax returns.

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