NLRB Judge Tosses Case Against 'Memphis 7' Starbucks

By Hailey Konnath

An administrative law judge has determined that Starbucks didn't violate the National Labor Relations Act when it surveilled employees' union activities, more strictly enforced its punctuality policy and disciplined a union employee at a store that illegally fired seven activists in 2022.

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6th Circ. Seems Skeptical Of Ex-Paralegal's Harassment Claim

By Vin Gurrieri

The Sixth Circuit on Thursday seemed to lean toward a broad interpretation of a 2022 law that bars mandatory arbitration for sexual harassment cases, but appeared skeptical that a sexual harassment claim by a former Adams & Reese LLP paralegal passed muster.

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DoorDash, Uber Sue NYC To Block Checkout Tip Prompt Law

By Rae Ann Varona

DoorDash and Uber Eats filed suit together Thursday in Manhattan federal court, seeking to block two New York City laws that the food delivery companies say force them to solicit tips before or as customers check out, in an alleged violation of the companies' constitutional rights.

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NJ Justices Say Teacher Was 'Essential' During Pandemic

By Carla Baranauckas

An Ocean Township teacher who died from COVID‑19 in 2020 was an "essential employee" entitled to a statutory presumption that her illness was work-related, the New Jersey Supreme Court affirmed Thursday, rejecting the school district's arguments that the workers' compensation judge improperly granted summary relief without supporting affidavits.

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WNBA Player Ends Suit Alleging Pregnancy Prompted Trade

By Chart Riggall

A WNBA player and the Las Vegas Aces struck a deal to resolve Hamby's suit alleging the team traded her because she became pregnant, according to a filing in federal court Thursday.

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Marriott's $175K Deal Wraps Up EEOC Religious Bias Suit

By Grace Elletson

A Florida federal judge has approved a $175,000 deal to end a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission suit claiming hotel giant Marriott unlawfully required a Seventh-day Adventist employee to work on her Sabbath, the agency said Thursday.

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EEOC Challenges Care Co.'s Bid For Win In Harassment Suit

By Celeste Bott

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is pushing back on a nursing home and rehabilitation center operator's bid for a pretrial win in a suit alleging it failed to act when a nurse was sexually harassed by her supervisor, saying that several disputed facts require a jury to weigh in.

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CSX Seeks Rehearing In Conductor's Retaliation Suit

By Mike Curley

CSX Transportation Inc. is asking the Second Circuit to reconsider its recent decision reviving a former conductor's suit alleging he was fired in retaliation for reporting a hostile work environment, saying the panel wrongly overturned the circuit's own precedent.

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Judge Certifies Conn. Sushi Chef's Raw Deal Paycheck Suit

By Aaron Keller

A Connecticut Asian fusion restaurant must face a class action employment case led by a sushi chef who claimed he and others worked close to 80 hours some weeks at a flat rate, without overtime pay.

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Ga. Judge Joins Geico Call Center Actions Ahead Of Deal

By Chart Riggall

A Georgia federal judge agreed Thursday to consolidate a pair of class actions accusing Geico of shorting its call center workers on pay for pre- and post-shift work, clearing the way for settlements that were reached in late October.

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NJ Cannabis Co. Challenges Law Requiring Deal With Unions

By Katherine Smith

A cannabis company is urging a New Jersey federal court to pause an upcoming arbitration proceeding with a United Food and Commercial Workers local over its firing of several employees, claiming that it had been coerced into entering an agreement with the union by an unconstitutional state law.

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NJ Judge Won't Lift Bid Deadline On Tunnel Rail Project

By Emily Brill

A New Jersey federal judge said Thursday she won't lift a deadline to bid on a railway-construction project associated with building a new tunnel to New York City, saying a New Jersey construction company isn't likely to win its challenge to a project labor agreement tied to the venture.

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Firing After Kirk Post Violated Free Speech, Tenn. Worker Says

By Grace Elletson

A Tennessee state insurance agency violated a worker's First Amendment free speech rights when it fired her for posting on Facebook that assassinated conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was a "white supremacist," she told a federal court.

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March Trial Date Set For Ex-NJ Judge's Pension Fight

By George Woolston

A trial date has been set in a former New Jersey Superior Court judge's challenge to the denial of her disability pension application, according to a Wednesday text order.

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Josh Cellars President Denied Early Win In $4M Royalty Feud

By Aaron Keller

The former president of the company that produces Josh Cellars wines has been denied an early win in a $4 million trademark royalties lawsuit because a judge said she cannot resolve whether the parties orally amended an LLC agreement or whether a clause requiring written alterations is controlling.

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Mich. Justices Weigh If Quitting Can Start Whistleblower Clock

By Danielle Ferguson

Michigan's Supreme Court justices on Thursday pressed an attorney for a school district on whether a buildup of alleged harassment can allow a worker to claim the adverse treatment forced them to resign — and whether that triggers the time window to bring a suit under the state's Whistleblower Protection Act.

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6 Laws For Calif. Employers To Know In 2026

California's legislative changes for 2026 impose sweeping new obligations on employers, including by expanding pay data reporting, clarifying protections related to bias mitigation training and broadening record access rights, but employers can avoid heightened exposure by proactively evaluating their compliance, modernizing internal systems and updating policies, says Alexa Foley at Gordon Rees.

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What Law Firm Liability Risks In 2025 Signal For Year To Come

Trends and statistics reveal that law firms of all sizes and practice areas remained attractive litigation targets this year, so firms must take concrete steps to avoid professional liability risks in the year to come, say Douglas Richmond and Andrew Ricke at Lockton Companies.

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Series

Knitting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Stretching my skills as a knitter makes me a better antitrust attorney by challenging me to recalibrate after wrong turns, not rush outcomes, and trust that I can teach myself the skills to tackle new and difficult projects — even when I don’t have a pattern to work from, says Kara Kuritz at V&E.

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Wash. Justices Retroactively Lower Bar Exam's Passing Score

By Ben Adlin

As Washington state is preparing to transition to a new bar exam, its Supreme Court has ordered a retroactive adjustment to the current exam's minimum passing score, making an estimated hundred-plus law school graduates who narrowly failed in recent years newly eligible for admission to practice law.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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Dems Demand Release Of 2nd Jack Smith Report

By Courtney Bublé

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday demanding she release the second volume of former special counsel Jack Smith's report on President Donald Trump's retention of classified documents after he left office the first time.

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Roundup

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Laura Stewart Liberty

This past week in London has seen Shell hit with a climate change claim from 100 survivors of a typhoon in the Philippines, London Stock Exchange-listed Oxford Nanopore bring legal action against its co-founder, and the editors of Pink News sue the BBC for defamation following its investigation into alleged sexual misconduct at the news site.

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Higgs Fletcher Forms White Collar, Regs Enforcement Team

By Andrea Keckley

San Diego-based law firm Higgs Fletcher & Mack LLP has launched a white collar crime and regulatory enforcement defense practice group, citing heightened regulatory scrutiny in the financial and healthcare sectors and rising enforcement risks for licensed professionals and institutions.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

President Donald Trump issued an executive order to review the influence that proxy adviser firms have, and law firms saw a 9.8% increase in compensation expenses along with a similar increase in billable rates. ​These are among the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Watchdog Sues White House For Records On Law Firm Deals

By Emily Sawicki

A Washington-based nonprofit watchdog has sued the Trump administration, seeking records related to deals BigLaw firms struck to provide an estimated nearly $1 billion worth of pro bono legal services to further the administration's priorities, following the president's executive orders to withhold security clearances and investigate the firms.

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Ex-NJ Municipal Court Admin Says COVID Got Her Fired

By George Woolston

The former municipal court administrator for West Windsor Township, New Jersey, has alleged that the town failed to accommodate her disability when it fired her instead of giving her a short medical leave of absence after she contracted COVID-19.

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US Atty Nominee For Wyo. Was Outside Capitol On Jan. 6

By Courtney Bublé

One of President Donald Trump's U.S. attorney nominees, who was on the U.S. Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021, and recently told senators he still thinks "there were imperfections" in the 2020 election process, has been advanced toward Senate confirmation.

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Del. US Atty Resigns Citing 'Politics,' Successor Appointed

By Rose Krebs

The acting U.S. Attorney for Delaware said Friday that she is resigning, citing "a highly politicized, flawed blue-slip tradition" for nominees and saying she "fully" supports her first assistant, who has been appointed by a federal judge to succeed her.

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Bonus Spotlight

Axinn Veltrop's Bonuses Reach Up To $240K

By Andrea Keckley

Axinn Veltrop & Harkrider LLP is giving out bonuses of up to $240,000 for its associates, according to an in-house memo seen by Law360 Pulse.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP and Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Ninth Circuit handed Epic Games Inc. a partial win by mostly affirming an injunction blocking Apple Inc. from charging developers "prohibitive" commissions on iPhone app purchases made outside its systems.

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