5th Circ. Judge Hints PWFA Fight May Be Headed For Justices

By Vin Gurrieri

The full Fifth Circuit grappled Tuesday with whether lawmakers had to be physically present to have validly enacted the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, in a case one judge said will head to the U.S. Supreme Court if a lower court ruling barring PWFA enforcement against Texas stands.

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Liberty Mutual Gets $103M Age Bias Verdict Cut To $20M

By Patrick Hoff

A California judge slashed a $103 million jury verdict in favor of a former Liberty Mutual employee who said she was treated poorly and fired because of her age, concluding that the severity of the harassment she alleged did not warrant $83 million in punitive damages.

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DC Circ. Doubts Cleaner's Process Complaints In NLRB Fight

By Braden Campbell

The D.C. Circuit appeared skeptical Tuesday that the National Labor Relations Board unfairly refused to admit certain evidence in a picketing dispute as it probed a cleaning contractor's attempt to escape a redone ruling that it punished workers over a protected protest more than a decade ago.

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Palestinian Ex-Associate Slaps DLA Piper With Bias Claim

By Lynn LaRowe

DLA Piper has been hit with a federal civil rights lawsuit in Illinois from a former summer associate alleging discrimination, a hostile work environment and retaliation based on her identity as a Palestinian, Gazan, Arab and Muslim woman.

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Fired Immigration Judge Says Trump Can't Skirt Bias Laws

By Grace Elletson

A former immigration judge urged a D.C. federal court not to throw out her bias suit challenging her firing, arguing the U.S. Department of Justice was pushing the "breathtaking proposition" that the president was empowered to commit unlawful discrimination.

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Weinstein Accuser Credible, Jury Told As 3rd NY Trial Ends

By Frank G. Runyeon

A Manhattan jury heard closing arguments Tuesday in Harvey Weinstein's third New York rape trial, with a prosecutor arguing that aspiring actress Jessica Mann "has absolutely no motive to lie" about an assault she said took place in 2013.

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Colo. Legislators Approve AI Bias Law Replacement

By Patrick Hoff

The Colorado Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would revamp the state's landmark law regulating the use of artificial intelligence technologies in employment, education and other significant decisions, sending the legislation to Gov. Jared Polis for his signature.

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Female Medtronic Manager's Firing Driven By Bias, Court Told

By Benjamin Morse

Medtronic fired a longtime manager for disciplining a male subordinate and raising concerns about gender discrimination and retaliation, the worker told a Colorado state court.

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Race, ADHD Claims Led To Firing, Ex-Oil Co. Staffer Tells Jury

By José Luis Martínez

A former employee for oil and gas company Apache Corp. told a Houston jury in Texas federal court Tuesday that she was fired after her requests for disability accommodations and race-related complaints were not resolved, while the energy company says her performance issues were to blame.

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Ex-Employee Says Pot Co. Fired Him Over Disability

By Jonathan Capriel

Multistate marijuana operator Ethos Cannabis was hit with a discrimination lawsuit by a former employee who claims he was fired for using medical leave for his chronic back problems and migraines, according to a complaint filed Monday in Pennsylvania federal court.

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DOL Suspends Data Co.'s Requests To Hire Foreign Workers

By Patrick Hoff

The U.S. Department of Labor said Tuesday it was freezing a data company's access to a program that allows employers to hire foreign workers, following a Department of Justice lawsuit alleging the company discriminated against U.S.-based job candidates by earmarking specific positions for employees on temporary visas.

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Mich. Cannabis Dispensary Chain Calls Tip Suit 'Frivolous'

By Benjamin Morse

A cannabis retailer and one of its co-owners urged a Michigan federal court to toss a proposed collective action accusing the company of improperly confiscating employee tips, calling the suit "frivolous" and denying any unlawful tip-pooling practices.

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Alaska Airlines Strikes Deal In Military Pilots' Leave Suit

By Grace Elletson

Alaska Airlines has agreed to settle a pilot's class action claiming the company didn't let employees on military leave accrue the same amount of sick and vacation time benefits civilian employees collected on other types of leave, according to a Washington federal court filing.

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Detainees Fight GEO's 'Second Bite' Quick Appeal Bid

By Benjamin Morse

A group of former immigrant detainees urged a Colorado federal judge to reject The GEO Group Inc.'s latest bid for a quick appeal in a forced labor class action, arguing the company is trying to relitigate a years-old ruling.

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NextEra Cuts $9.5M Deal In Nuclear Power Wage-Fixing Case

By Hailey Konnath

NextEra Energy has agreed to shell out $9.5 million to put to rest proposed class action allegations it conspired with other nuclear energy producers to fix wages, according to a notice filed Tuesday in Maryland federal court.

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Ex-FCA Exec Must Answer GM Discovery In UAW Bribery Suit

By Melanie Dorsey

Former Fiat Chrysler labor executive Alphons Iacobelli, who was convicted for his role in a union bribery scheme, must answer hundreds of deposition questions in General Motors' sprawling civil suit, a Michigan appellate panel ruled.

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7th Circ. Judges Question NLRB's Union Reinstatement Bid

By Lauraann Wood

Seventh Circuit judges weighing the National Labor Relations Board's bid for an injunction requiring a truck seller to recognize a union it has twice rebuked seemed skeptical Tuesday that the company's employees face irreparable harm without it.

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Insurer Needn't Cover Pre-Policy Losses, 8th Circ. Says

By Hope Patti

A quadriplegic woman is not entitled to benefits under a long-term care policy, the Eighth Circuit affirmed, saying the policy expressly states that it does not cover the loss of ability to perform daily living activities that existed before it went into effect.

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Brief

Ga. Lets Gig Workers Tap Into Benefits Without Status Shift

By Kelcey Caulder

Georgia gig workers can access benefits like health insurance and retirement savings plans without giving up independent contractor status under legislation recently signed by Gov. Brian Kemp. 

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Ex-Palantir Workers Get Trade Secret Suit Sent To Arbitration

By Lauren Berg

A New York federal judge Tuesday sent to arbitration Palantir Technologies Inc.'s lawsuit accusing three former employees of absconding with its confidential intellectual property for their rival company, Percepta AI.

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Ex-Google Engineer's Bid To Nix Conviction Nears Partial Win

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge appeared open Tuesday to partly unwinding a jury's decision to convict a former Google engineer of trade secret theft and economic espionage, saying he's "somewhat skeptical" of the economic espionage charges since he doesn't see sufficient evidence the engineer intended to benefit China.

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Drone Co. Skirts Unfair Biz Practices Claim In Ex-VP's Pay Suit

By Hayley Fowler

North Carolina's Business Court pared down a dispute between a company that makes emergency response drones and its former vice president of sales, finding his claim that the company misled him about its intent to pay him a bonus doesn't rise to the level of an unfair or deceptive business practice.

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Nurse's Family Fights Workers' Comp Loss Over COVID Death

By Hayley Fowler

The family of a North Carolina nurse who died from COVID-19 is challenging the denial of their workers' compensation claim, saying the state incorrectly determined she most likely contracted the virus in the community despite federal standards indicating healthcare workers faced an increased risk of exposure at work.

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Dinsmore Grows With Addition Of Litigation Firm In Chicago

By Christine DeRosa

Dinsmore & Shohl LLP has expanded its footprint in Chicago with the addition of litigation and advisory firm Galarnyk & Associates Ltd. and its three-attorney team.

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Fox Rothschild Adds Trial Partner From Nelson Mullins In Fla.

By Madison Arnold

Fox Rothschild LLP has expanded its litigation department in West Palm Beach, Florida, with a new partner from Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP.

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Latest NLRB Pick Could Put 4 Key Rulings On Chopping Block

If President Donald Trump's recent nominee for the National Labor Relations Board is confirmed, it would restore the board's critical three‑member majority and position it to begin revisiting Biden‑era decisions, including Cemex, Thryv and others, say attorneys at Proskauer.

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Operational AI Washing: A New Securities Class Action

In rising claims of operational AI washing — plaintiffs alleging that artificial intelligence was invoked to explain corporate business decisions in ways that may obscure underlying financial distress — earnings calls, restructuring disclosures and board-level communications will serve as key defense evidence, say attorneys at Akerman.

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4 Emerging Approaches To AI Protective Order Language

Over the last year, at least five federal district courts have issued or analyzed specific protective order provisions restricting the use of generative artificial intelligence platforms with protected materials, establishing that proactive AI-specific provisions are now standard practice and demonstrating that no single model works for every case, says Joel Bush at Kilpatrick.

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How They Won It

Attys For Tufts Profs Didn't Blink In A Tenure Standoff

By Julie Manganis

When Jennifer Henricks and Kevin Peters first learned what was happening to tenured professors at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston a few years ago, they knew that what was at stake involved more than just a dispute over the terms of a contract.

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Law Student Can't Get School To Nix Kirk Comment Discipline

By Mike Curley

A Texas federal judge on Tuesday said the court cannot force Texas Tech University's leaders to rescind a reprimand against a law student who allegedly celebrated following the death of Charlie Kirk, as the university has sovereign immunity.

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Michigan Dems Noncommittal On Trump's Judicial Pick

By Courtney Bublé

Michigan's two Democratic senators played it coy on Tuesday when asked if they would support the district court nominee for their state that the president announced the night before.

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PayPal Settles Gov't DEI Probe With Small Biz Program

By Sarah Jarvis

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday that it has reached a settlement with PayPal Inc. to end an investigation into what the department said was a discriminatory investment program for Black- and minority-owned businesses.

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