Arbitrator Backs WaPo Columnist Fired After Kirk Posts

By Patrick Hoff

The Washington Post was ordered to rehire an opinion columnist it fired for social media posts she made in the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination, the columnist's union said Monday, after an arbitrator faulted the newspaper's "rushed" decision to let her go.

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11th Circ. Revives Title IX Claim Against Ga. Charter School

By Emily Brill

An Eleventh Circuit panel has revived a Title IX claim against an Atlanta-area charter school, saying it ignored allegations of harassment against a middle school science teacher who later assaulted and was accused of harassing female students.

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Texas Court Says Southwest Can't Probe Abortion Posts

By Spencer Brewer

A Texas federal judge stopped Southwest Airlines Co. from snooping through an employee's social media posts about religion or abortion after the employee won a religious bias suit, issuing a court order blocking the airline from using future posts for disciplinary action.

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'History And Tradition' Allow For Religious Emails, USDA Says

By Katherine Smith

The U.S. Department of Agriculture urged a California federal court to toss a suit by federal workers and their labor union accusing the agency's secretary of sending "proselytizing" religious emails to employees, arguing the messages align with the "history and tradition" of public officials making references to religion.

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Fla. College Protest Rule Blocked In 'ICEBreakers' Suit

By David Minsky

A Florida federal judge blocked a Miami college's rule restricting protest activities after it was used to discipline several students who staged a brief public demonstration against immigration tactics, finding that the regulation likely violates the First Amendment.

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Former Disney Child Star Alleges Rape By Adult On Film Set

By Gina Kim

A former Disney child actress has sued the entertainment giant in California state court, alleging that nobody protected her while an adult employee twice her age plied her with alcohol and raped her during the filming of a Disney Channel Original Movie, "The Poof Point," when she was 14.

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Firm Blames AAA Check Flub For Workers' Axed Arbitration

By Matthew Santoni

A New Jersey personal injury firm says it should not be held responsible and sanctioned for the termination of arbitration proceedings for former employees, telling a state court that the American Arbitration Association had seemingly lost its check for a $6,550 payment.

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DHS Must Face Bias Suit Over Candidate's Ayahuasca Use

By Patrick Hoff

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security can't escape a lawsuit alleging it unlawfully nixed an applicant's job offer because her religious practice includes consuming the psychoactive tea ayahuasca, a Florida federal judge ruled Friday, rejecting the agency's assertion that the court can't review its hiring decisions on national security grounds.

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Mich. Judge Lets Prosecutor's Retaliation, Bias Claim Proceed

By Melanie Dorsey

A Michigan federal judge on Monday refused to dismiss a Washtenaw County assistant prosecutor's lawsuit accusing the elected prosecutor and his office of retaliating against him after he filed a grievance, finding he plausibly alleged First Amendment, whistleblower and race discrimination claims. 

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'Old Boys Club' Tainted College Prof's Review, Jurors Told

By George Woolston

A former professor at The College of New Jersey told a Garden State jury on Monday that the college's finance department was run like an old boys club and that her contract was not renewed because she's a woman.

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Brief

Jushi Reaches Settlement In Pa. Age Bias Suit

By Jonathan Capriel

Cannabis giant Jushi has settled an age discrimination lawsuit with a former plant controller who alleged she was fired and replaced by a younger worker she trained, with a Pennsylvania federal judge dismissing the case.

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2nd Circ. Backs Amazon Workers After Conn. High Court Win

By Aaron Keller

The Second Circuit Monday vacated Amazon's temporary win in a wage class action, saying the Connecticut Supreme Court's more recent conclusion that state law requires compensation for employee time spent awaiting and undergoing mandatory security screenings is "squarely at odds" with a federal district judge's original decision.

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Wis. Grocery Chain Settles Manager OT Suit For $7.5M

By Benjamin Morse

A Wisconsin grocery chain and a group of department managers have asked a federal court to preliminarily approve a $7.5 million settlement resolving claims that the workers were misclassified as overtime-exempt, a deal expected to cover roughly 1,000 current and former employees.

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Mich. Judge OKs $100K Deal Over OT Suit Against Strip Club

By Susan Smiley

A Michigan federal judge on Monday gave the green light to a $100,000 settlement resolving a six-year collective action alleging a Detroit strip club violated federal wage laws by misclassifying its dancers as independent contractors, who are paid only in consumer tips, and failing to pay them minimum wage and overtime.

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Staffing Co. Says Wage Suit Propped Up By Contradictions

By MJ Koo

Manual laborers pursuing wage claims against a staffing company have contradicted their own deposition testimony and failed to raise genuine disputes about whether they were paid for all hours worked, the company told a North Carolina federal court, defending its effort to end the suit.

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NYC Fights Officers' Bid To Shield Dog Care Records

By MJ Koo

New York City has pushed back against a protective order sought by police dog handlers who allege the city owes them overtime for caring for their dogs at home, arguing in New York federal court that the workers have withheld key documents and failed to provide an adequate computation of their claimed damages.

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Brief

Humana Strikes Deal To Wrap Up Nurse's FLSA Suit

By David Aaro

Humana Inc. and a nurse who sued the health insurer in Georgia federal court for allegedly skimping on overtime pay have reached a deal to bring her proposed collective action to a close.

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Brief

Auto Co. Workers Net Deal In Wage Fight After Expert Axed

By Hayley Fowler

An automotive parts seller has staved off joint trials in North Carolina federal court after reaching deals with 11 workers in parallel wage cases, according to notices filed over the weekend indicating the employees accepted separate offers of judgment.

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DaVita Defeats Nurse Overtime Collective Bid

By Benjamin Morse

A Colorado federal judge refused to conditionally certify a 41-state collective of DaVita nurses and technicians who say the company denied them overtime by failing to pay for short rest breaks, finding too little evidence of a companywide practice.

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Health System Must Face Nurse's Meal Break Wage Suit

By MJ Koo

A Michigan federal court has refused to dismiss a proposed collective action brought by a nurse who alleged that Trinity Health Corp. failed to pay patient care workers for meal breaks regularly interrupted by patient care duties, finding that the complaint adequately alleges that the large Catholic health system qualifies as his employer under federal wage law.

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Mich. Judge Tosses Union Suit Over Energy Co. Seniority

By Katherine Smith

A Michigan federal judge on Monday upheld an arbitration award finding that an energy company did not violate its collective bargaining agreement with a power plant workers' union when it made changes to its seniority system, finding that the award was based on a reasonable interpretation of the contract.

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Insurance Broker Says Rival Poached 18 Employees

By Julie Manganis

Insurance broker Willis Towers Watson says rival Lockton Cos. orchestrated a "smash and grab" of 18 employees who all quit within a 45-minute span Wednesday to jump to Lockton, taking more than a dozen clients with them, according to a suit in Massachusetts state court.

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DOD's $285B Maintenance Backlog Creates Risks, GAO Says

By Elaine Briseño

A Government Accountability Office report found that a $285 billion maintenance backlog by the U.S. Department of Defense has led to widespread deterioration of its facilities, including buildings plagued by mold and algae and cramped workspaces.

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AGs Want Meta's Privilege Claims Reviewed In Bellwether Trial

By Dorothy Atkins

During a break in a jury trial Monday over states' claims Meta hid social media's harm, states' counsel urged a California federal judge to require Meta to re-review all of its attorney-client privilege designations, arguing that "it seems actually logically impossible" that Meta described the wrong standard in only a single document.  

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Legal Center Says DOJ Is Stonewalling Fund Records Request

By Jared Foretek

A voting rights nonprofit is accusing the U.S. Department of Justice of stonewalling a request for records on the Trump administration's attempted "anti-weaponization fund," claiming that the agency has spent the summer unlawfully ducking a Freedom of Information Act submission.

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Galindo Law Files For Ch. 11 After Camp Lejeune Fee Fight

By Ben Zigterman

A Houston-based personal injury law firm sought bankruptcy relief on Monday with more than $50 million in liabilities after a mass tort litigation marketing company sued for over $9 million in fees related to finding potential victims of water contamination at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.

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Attys Ask Court To Toss Suit Alleging They Stole 1,000 Cases

By Spencer Brewer

Multiple attorneys asked a Texas federal court to toss claims that they conspired to hijack 1,000 cases filed by hurricane survivors who had hired and built cases with a different firm, claiming the firm that brought the suit failed to plead a viable RICO claim.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court last week saw a wave of lawsuits involving corporate oversight, take-private deals, financing transactions, bankruptcy fallout, stockholder voting rights and disputes over control.

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