EEOC Scraps Long-Standing Affirmative Action Guidance

By Anne Cullen

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced Tuesday it has rescinded several decades-old guidance documents relating to voluntary workplace affirmative action plans, concluding the previous positions were out of step with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

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UNC Escapes Bias Suit From Native American Ex-Professor

By Grace Elletson

A federal judge tossed Tuesday a Native American professor's suit claiming the University of North Carolina declined to renew his contract because he was a vocal critic of the institution, ruling he failed to rebut UNC's argument that he lost his job for changing course material without permission.

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Claims Full Of 'Fog' Cloud Pa. Nurse's Racial Bias Suit

By Matthew Santoni

An employment lawsuit argued Tuesday in Pittsburgh could raise questions of a joint employer's obligation to investigate and oppose alleged racial bias by another employer, but a federal judge said the claims were obscured by "a bunch of fog" and sharply challenged the plaintiff's lawyer to state the case more clearly.

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Feds Can't Use DEI Order To Block Cities' Funds, Judge Rules

By Ben Adlin

A Washington federal judge Monday dealt a blow to President Donald Trump's efforts to restrict federal funds going to cities and counties that promote diversity programming and "gender ideology," ordering the administration to temporarily halt enforcement of two executive orders in several U.S. cities and counties.

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Ex-Name Partner Drops Suit Over 'Toxic' Workplace At NJ Firm

By Jake Maher

A former name partner at the personal injury firm now known as Corradino & Partners LLC dropped a suit against the firm and its remaining principal over allegations the partner was forced out of the firm by being subjected to a "toxic and intolerable environment."

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2 Ex-Clifford Chance Attys Say Firm Wants To Claw Back $6M

By Jake Maher

Two former practice group leaders at Clifford Chance LLP have sued in New York federal court alleging the firm is trying to claw back nearly $6 million in total from the pair after they moved to Sidley Austin LLP early this year.

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Justices Won't Hear MSPB Case After Slaughter Decision

By Sarah Jarvis

The U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday denied a former Merit Systems Protection Board member's bid to review a D.C. Circuit decision upholding her firing from the agency, following a Monday high court decision finding that presidents have unlimited authority to fire members of independent agencies.

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Trump Loses Bid To Remove Copyright Office Leader For Now

By Ivan Moreno

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to let the Trump administration remove U.S. Copyright Office leader Shira Perlmutter for now, leaving in place a D.C. Circuit order that allows her to keep leading the office while her lawsuit challenging her firing proceeds.

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EEOC Says Auto Dealer Fired Worker Over Sabbath Request

By Benjamin Morse

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued an auto dealership chain in Georgia federal court Tuesday, alleging it fired a sales employee after refusing to excuse him from Saturday work because of his religious beliefs.

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Piggly Wiggly Owner Sued Over Denying Worker Sabbath Off

By Emily Brill

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued a Piggly Wiggly operator in Georgia federal court on Tuesday, accusing the grocer of denying a religious accommodation to a deli worker that would have allowed her to observe Sunday Sabbath.

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Cannabis Co. Says EEOC Sex Harassment Claims Too Vague

By Mike Curley

Cannabis giant Ascend Wellness Holdings Inc. is urging an Illinois federal court to throw out claims from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging that a class of unnamed women employees faced constant sexual harassment, saying the complaint is too vague for the company to be on notice for what it has to defend against.

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Trans Troops Class Certified Despite Representation Concerns

By Jared Foretek

A D.C. federal judge on Tuesday certified a class of military members challenging the Trump administration's ban on transgender troops, but she raised significant concerns about the proposed class counsel's ability to represent thousands of members.

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UCHealth Workers Fight Bid To Toss Wage Suit

By Benjamin Morse

Two former hospital workers urged a Colorado federal court to keep alive their proposed class and collective action alleging University of Colorado Health shorted hourly employees through a time-rounding policy and denied them required meal and rest breaks, saying their claims are sufficiently detailed to proceed.

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Conn. Servers Seek Quick Win On Minimal Duties Claims

By MJ Koo

Restaurant servers have asked a Connecticut state court to throw out a steakhouse's argument that some of their unpaid work was too small to matter, saying a recent state high court ruling makes clear that no amount of work can go uncompensated under state law.

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Mental Health Nonprofit Hit With RN's Wage Suit Over Breaks

By Melanie Dorsey

A former Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services registered nurse filed a proposed collective action on Tuesday accusing the Michigan health provider of shorting hourly workers on overtime pay through automatic meal-break deductions, time-rounding practices, unpaid training and excluded bonuses. 

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SAG-AFTRA Wants House Panel To Advance AI Deepfakes Bill

By Elliot Weld

The president of actors union SAG-AFTRA spoke to a congressional subcommittee Tuesday to press the need for a bill to allow for the removal of deepfakes from the internet, framing the advent of digital replicas of people as a fundamental alteration in the methods of human interaction that cannot be ignored by lawmakers.

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Ex-Google Engineer Can't Undo Trade Secrets Conviction

By Cara Salvatore

A California federal judge rejected a former Google engineer's argument that prosecutors withheld proper notice of their trade secrets charges by burying him in paper, saying this happened only because he misappropriated "such a large volume of documents."

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JPMorgan Fights $4M Arbitration Loss Over Super Bowl Firing

By Lauren Berg

A JPMorgan Chase & Co. subsidiary asked a California federal judge Monday to vacate a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel's decision awarding a wealth manager $4.25 million after he was fired for expensing a $640 platter of food for a Super Bowl party, saying the award "manifestly disregarded the law."

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NC City Beats Ex-Paralegal's Besmirched Reputation Suit

By Hayley Fowler

A North Carolina city's characterization of how a fired paralegal allegedly misused city resources is not enough to sustain her suit accusing the city of trampling on her reputation and using her as a scapegoat for her boss's misdeeds, a federal judge said in throwing out the case.

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Gordon Rees Adds 8 Partners In Northern California

By Tracey Read

Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLP has expanded its offices in Northern California with eight new partners who have expertise in multiple practice areas, a firm spokesperson told Law360 Pulse on Tuesday.

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Venable Adds Former Cooley Employee Benefits Atty In DC

By Jack Rodgers

Venable LLP has hired a former Cooley LLP special counsel who focuses her practice on employee benefits matters including retirement, health and welfare plans, the firm announced Monday.

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NY Defamation Carveout Hinges On Causation, Not Labels

A New York federal court's decisions in two cases involving tortious interference claims, and the recent Second Circuit ruling in Satanic Temple v. Newsweek Digital, highlight that the dispositive question for alleged defamation is whether injury flows through reputation or through direct interference with a relationship, says attorney Andrea Natale.

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Series

Power To The Paralegals: Burnout As A Structural Problem

Law firm leadership can best retain their paralegals not by encouraging self-care, but by seeking top-down structural solutions for the quiet proliferation of responsibilities and the vicarious exposure to client trauma that particularly drive burnout in this vital role, says Erika Sneeringer at Brockstedt Mandalas.

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Law Firm Mergers Level Off As Risks Tick Up

By Aebra Coe

Despite two large law firm combinations closing this week, deal announcements flatlined to a near-decade-low in the first half of the year as law firms face a patchwork of risks including geopolitical volatility, private equity interest and uncertainty around artificial intelligence in law. However, activity is expected to pick up by year-end.

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Brief

Texas Federal Judge Requires Confirmation Of AI Checks

By Emily Sawicki

Attorneys and self-represented parties appearing before U.S. District Judge Ernest Gonzalez of the Western District of Texas are now required to certify that they have independently verified the contents of any filings created or edited using artificial intelligence.

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Hogan Lovells Cadwalader Sees 'Opportunity' In Boston

By Chris Villani

With the official launch of Hogan Lovells Cadwalader, Boston attorneys at Hogan Lovells are expecting the firm to be able to leverage Cadwalader's strengths and some of the Hub's unique traits in what they call a truly "additive" merger.

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5 NYC Legal Service Provider Union Contracts Have Expired

By Andrea Keckley

The collective bargaining agreements for five New York City-based indigent defense and civil legal aid providers expired at the end of the day Tuesday as multiple unions reported outstanding points of contention in their negotiations.

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Withers Promotes 12 Partners In US, UK, Singapore

By Christine DeRosa

International law firm Withers has appointed a dozen new partners across three countries, nearly half of whom are based in the United States.

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Roundup

The Top In-House Hires Of June

By Michele Gorman

Legal department hires during the past month included high-profile appointments at Bayer, Harley-Davidson and PBS. Here, Law360 Pulse looks at some of the top in-house announcements from June.

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Littler Adds Ex-Morgan Lewis Labor Litigator In California

By Matt Perez

Littler Mendelson PC, which primarily deals in employment and labor law practice representing management, announced on Tuesday the hiring of a former Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP attorney as a shareholder in its Walnut Creek, California, office.

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PCAOB Names Ex-Venable Partner As GC

By Jessica Corso

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has named a former Venable LLP partner as its new general counsel, where he will be tasked with providing legal advice to an agency that is currently undergoing leadership changes.

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Wash. Atty Loses Bid For Jury In Dispute Over Bar Sanctions

By Emily Sawicki

A Washington lawyer sanctioned and disciplined for bringing a "frivolous" election suit in 2021 against then-Gov. Jay Inslee has lost her bid to have her ethics charges heard by a jury, with a state appeals panel finding no error in a trial court's ruling that it lacked jurisdiction to take on the disciplinary matter.

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Judiciary Dems Seek DOJ Replies Before Blanche Hearing

By Courtney Bublé

Ahead of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's confirmation hearing for the permanent position, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are demanding he provide answers to their outstanding oversight inquiries.

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4 Mass. Rulings You May Have Missed In June

By Julie Manganis

An advisory firm's failure to register as a broker before diving into work on a $2.1 billion take-private deal last year has cost it, while emails and text messages took center stage in several other disputes pending in Massachusetts state court in June.

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Watchdog Says DOL Needs Better Info Sharing Controls

By Kellie Mejdrich

The U.S. Department of Labor's lack of controls over information sharing between subagencies and nongovernmental entities, including law firms and legal advocacy organizations, may have unfairly advantaged those parties with privileged investigative information, an agency watchdog reported, though use of the practice has dropped off. 

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U Of Ky. Appoints Controversial Dean Pick For Law School

By Courtney Bublé

U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove of the Eastern District of Kentucky will retire from the bench later this month to become dean of the University of Kentucky's J. David Rosenberg College of Law, a move that sparked controversy in the state.

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