2nd Circ. Says EFAA Bars Arbitration Of Ex-Exec's Entire Suit

By Grace Elletson

The Second Circuit ruled Wednesday that an ex-executive can keep her case in court after asserting sexual harassment claims against a Texas law firm, ruling the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault Act shields her whole suit from arbitration — not just her sexual misconduct claims.

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Senate Confirms Keith Sonderling As Labor Secretary

By Max Kutner

The full U.S. Senate late Wednesday approved President Donald Trump's nomination of Keith Sonderling to serve as secretary of labor and lead the U.S. Department of Labor.

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7th Circ. Backs Truckers In Union Pacific BIPA Suit

By Craig Clough

A Seventh Circuit panel on Wednesday affirmed that fingerprint scans at Union Pacific's Illinois facilities violated a state privacy law, rejecting the company's stance that a government contractor exception applies anytime the contract is active.

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Smithfield Foods Can't Escape EEOC Age Bias Suit

By Patrick Hoff

Meat processor Smithfield Foods must face a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit alleging it fired a senior sales employee because she was approaching 60, after a Georgia federal judge concluded that a jury should sort out the company's shifting explanations for letting her go.

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Cos. Settle Claim They Nixed Job Offer Over Cancer Diagnosis

By Julie Manganis

Two affiliated property management companies in Boston have agreed to pay $112,000 and comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act to settle a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission suit alleging they revoked a job offer after learning the applicant had cancer.

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Parler Ex-CEO Makes Final Trial Pitch For $100M Damages

By Cara Salvatore

The former CEO of social media site Parler made his final argument Wednesday that he was wrongly stripped of a stake worth up to $100 million, with his lawyer telling a Nevada jury a valuation finding the entire company worth $10.81 was "bunk."

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Northwestern Wrongly Fired Gender Center Chief, Ill. Jury Told

By Lauraann Wood

Northwestern University illegally fired its former gender and sexuality center director for criticizing its decision to remove resources from the center's website in an email to colleagues that leaked to the student newspaper and "embarrassed" the university, Illinois state jurors heard Wednesday.

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EEOC Claims UPS Yanked Deaf Applicant's Job Offer

By Grace Elletson

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claimed in a Wednesday lawsuit that UPS violated federal civil rights law by offering a job to a deaf applicant and then later rescinding the role after failing to give him a sign language interpreter for his employee orientation session.

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EEOC Sues Staffing Firm Over 'ONLY H1B' Job Notice

By Elaine Briseño

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued an information technology recruiting firm over alleged discriminatory practices after the company allegedly broke off contact with an American applicant after he questioned the legality of the recruiting email designated "ONLY H1B."

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Ex-NFL Players Object To Proposed Race-Norming Settlement

By Tom Lotshaw

More than 100 former NFL players spoke against a proposed class action settlement over allegedly discriminatory cognitive disability assessments, telling a federal judge it threatens to release the league's benefit plans from claims raised in other litigation and deliver largely empty rescoring promises.

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Mich. School District Defeats Another Race Bias Suit

By Susan Smiley

Eastpointe Community Schools' distribution of COVID-19 relief bonuses was not racially discriminatory, a Michigan federal judge ruled Wednesday, saying a former Eastpointe High School assistant principal provided no evidence to refute the district's explanation for which administrators received bonuses.

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NC City Public Housing Chief Loses Race Bias Suit

By George Woolston

A North Carolina federal judge tossed a race discrimination and breach of contract suit lawsuit filed by the former chief executive officer of a city's public housing authority, holding that she failed to allege that her rights were violated by a municipal policy.

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Former NJ Transit Atty Launches Age Bias Suit Over Firing

By Adrian Cruz

A former New Jersey Transit assistant general counsel told a New Jersey state court that the agency fired him due to his age while also failing to abide by its own human resources policies in making its decision.

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Colo. County Accused Of Disability Bias In Job Denial

By Zach Dupont

A 29-year Grand County, Colorado, employee who retired as the county's superintendent for roads and bridges because of a disability has claimed in federal court that the county and its board of commissioners refused to hire him for a different job despite being "imminently qualified," according to his complaint. 

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'Bikini Barista' Owner Asks Judge To Trim $1.8M Award

By Benjamin Morse

The owner of Beehive Espresso, which operates Seattle-area kiosks known as bikini barista coffee stands, asked a state judge to rethink a $1.86 million judgment for baristas, arguing that the court imposed uniform assumptions about unpaid work and employee cash contributions without showing those figures reliably applied across the class.

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DOJ Calls Meat Plant Workers' Wage-Fixing Deals 'Inadequate'

By Bryan Koenig

The U.S. Department of Justice intervened Tuesday in Colorado federal court antitrust litigation accusing the country's largest meat producers of fixing wages at their beef and pork processing plants, arguing that the class action settlements resolving the case are insufficient because they do nothing to block future wage-fixing.

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Detainees Urge Justices To Deny Prison Co.'s Wage Appeal

By MJ Koo

Immigrant detainees and Washington state asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reject a prison operator's bid to review a ruling on minimum wages for detention facility workers, arguing a federal agency changed the underlying rules months before the government urged the court to take the case.

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Brief

Boeing Worker Drops OT Suit After Arbitration Pact Surfaces

By MJ Koo

A Washington state Boeing worker has voluntarily dismissed his proposed class action alleging that the aerospace giant failed to include bonuses and other incentive pay in overtime and sick leave calculations, after the company produced an arbitration agreement that barred him from pursuing class claims in court.

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Ga. Delivery Co. Wraps Up Former Driver's OT Suit

By David Aaro

An Atlanta-area FedEx delivery contractor and a former worker have resolved a proposed collective action in Georgia federal court that accused the company of paying drivers a flat wage and withholding overtime pay.

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Delta Concealed Noncompetes, Wash. Class Action Claims

By Ben Adlin

Delta Air Lines Inc. broke Washington state law by failing to disclose the terms of its noncompetition restrictions to job applicants before they accepted employment, a worker has claimed in a proposed class action filed in King County Superior Court.

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Military Drone Makers' Trade Secrets Suit Survives Dismissal

By Ivan Moreno

A Utah federal judge has allowed two military drone companies to proceed with most of their lawsuit accusing a former executive and his new company of misappropriating trade secrets to compete in the military drone market.

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Joby Air Taxi Trade Secrets Suit Against Archer Trimmed

By Linda Chiem

A California federal judge has cleared Joby Aviation to advance a slimmed-down lawsuit alleging rival electric air-taxi developer Archer Aviation misappropriated its trade secrets, but again rejected Archer's counterclaims alleging Joby unfairly jockeyed for government contracts and concealed its pervasive China ties.

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Ex-BDO Partner Says Board Retaliated With Equity Cut

By Jarek Rutz

A former BDO USA partner urged the Delaware Supreme Court on Wednesday to revive claims that the accounting firm improperly stripped him of equity after he announced plans to retire, arguing that even broad contractual discretion cannot be used in bad faith or retaliation.

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Relator Must Seek Part Of $4.7B Opioid Deal In State Courts

By Gianna Ferrarin

A whistleblower must turn to state courts to pursue his bid for a portion of a $4.7 billion settlement between Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. and a group of states resolving opioid-related claims against the retail pharmacy chain, an Illinois federal judge ruled.

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3rd Circ. Ruling Shows ADA Limits Amid Worker Misconduct

In Hileman v. West Penn Allegheny Health System, the Third Circuit recently rejected a wrongful termination claim under the Americans with Disabilities Act, illustrating that disability and leave laws don't automatically insulate employees from the consequences of prior workplace misconduct, say attorneys at Bond Schoeneck.

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AI Meeting Recaps Pose New Discovery And Privilege Risks

The New York City Bar Association’s recent ethics opinion, cautioning attorneys not to record nonclient conversations with artificial intelligence tools, reflects an emerging view that AI meeting recaps are now a distinct business record category, meaning counsel should set meeting-level controls and apply framework-level updates, says William Wright at Faegre Drinker.

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UCLA Law Is Latest DOJ Target Over Race Bias In Admissions

By Dorothy Atkins

The U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division accused the UCLA School of Law of discriminating against white and Asian students in its admissions process in a letter sent to the school's counsel Thursday, following multiple other similar letters that the DOJ sent to other higher-education institutions.

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DOJ Outlines New Corporate Fraud Enforcement Priorities

By Phillip Bantz

Federal prosecutors "must place great weight" on a new list of factors when considering potential charges in corporate fraud cases, including whether the matters involve government programs, threats to national security or immigration offenses, according to a memo released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Justice.

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Trump Announces Judicial Noms For 5th Circ., NC

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he's nominating Todd Butler, a managing partner at Phelps Dunbar LLP, to serve as a judge on the Fifth Circuit. 

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Blackburn Holds Up White House's Tenn. Judge Pick

By Courtney Bublé

The White House is standing by its nominee for a federal judgeship in the Eastern District of Tennessee amid a holdup from Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., a White House official confirmed to Law360 on Thursday.

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Richards Layton Atty Confirmed To Join Del. Chancery Bench

By Rose Krebs

Delaware's Senate on Thursday confirmed a Richards Layton & Finger PA director to a 12-year term as a vice chancellor on the Chancery Court.

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FBT Gibbons Beats DQ Bid In Suit Over Cigna Payments

By George Woolston

A New Jersey state court judge has rejected a plastic surgery practice's bid to disqualify FBT Gibbons LLP from representing Cigna and a group of employer-sponsored health plans in its suit over the insurer's alleged underpayments, finding the bid appears more of an effort to gain an advantage rather than one to protect the interests of any client.

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Roundup

The Top In-House Hires Of September

By Michele Gorman

Legal department hires during the past month included high-profile appointments at MSG Sports, Nestle and the Associated Press. Here, Law360 Pulse looks at some of the top in-house announcements from September.

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Judge Reinstates Rogoff As Seattle US Atty After Trump Firing

By Rachel Riley

A Washington federal judge issued an order from the bench on Thursday reinstating Roger Rogoff as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington, finding that President Donald Trump exceeded his authority when he fired him in July.

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Trump Says Copyright Chief Can't Stay In Office Amid Appeal

By Adam Lidgett

The Trump administration is urging the D.C. Circuit to let it remove U.S. Copyright Office leader Shira Perlmutter, arguing that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision protecting Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook for now does not entitle Perlmutter to remain in office while her firing challenge proceeds.

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Monthly Merger Review Snapshot

By Matthew Perlman

State enforcers settled their case challenging Paramount Skydance's planned $110 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery, while the U.S. Department of Justice probes Fox's planned $22 billion deal for Roku and regulators review massive deals in the energy and railroad sectors.

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