Live Nation Ex-VP Must Arbitrate $35M Whistleblower Suit

By Craig Clough

A California state judge Monday ruled that a former Live Nation executive who claims the company fired him for blowing the whistle on corporate misconduct can't avoid arbitration, although he said the parties can bring him any discovery disputes, citing concerns about the arbitrator's discovery rules.

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Justices Skip Raytheon Workers' Bias Suit Over COVID Rules

By Anne Cullen

The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to take up a religious discrimination case brought by former Raytheon employees over the company's pandemic-era testing and masking requirements.

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Walmart To Pay $7.8M Over Pa. Child Labor Law Violations

By MJ Koo

Walmart agreed to pay $7.8 million to resolve a state investigation that found violations of Pennsylvania's child labor law at stores across the state, including allowing minors to work more hours than permitted and failing to provide required breaks, state officials announced Monday.

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Justices Won't Revisit Toss Of White Anchor's Race Bias Suit

By Patrick Hoff

The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to review a white former news anchor's lawsuit alleging she was fired because of her race and replaced with a Black woman, despite her argument that the Fifth Circuit used an improperly high standard when dismissing her case.

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United Airlines Escapes Ex-Pilot's Military Bias Lawsuit

By Patrick Hoff

United Airlines defeated a former pilot's lawsuit alleging it unlawfully refused to reinstate him following a lengthy furlough he took to serve in the Air Force Reserve, with an Illinois federal judge ruling he hadn't provided evidence that anti-military bias tainted the airline's decision.

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High Court Turns Away Builder's 6th Circ. NLRB Challenge

By Braden Campbell

The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to rethink how courts interpret the contours of National Labor Relations Board policies, rejecting a builder's challenge to a Sixth Circuit ruling permitting a union to withdraw from group contract negotiations.

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Justices Pass On Chance To Assess Muldrow's Effect On PIPs

By Vin Gurrieri

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a former information technology employee's invitation to clarify whether workers' placement on performance improvement plans that don't result in termination or changes in pay and benefits can sustain bias suits under a worker-friendly high court ruling from 2024.

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Justices Turn Away Mexican American Teacher's Bias Suit

By Grace Elletson

The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to review a teacher's discrimination suit claiming he was fired out of bias for his Mexican American ancestry, leaving intact a Fifth Circuit decision that concluded he hadn't shown that teachers of different races received better treatment.

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Pharmacy Tech's COVID Vax Bias Suit Falls Short At 7th Circ.

By Patrick Hoff

The Seventh Circuit refused to reopen a suit alleging an Illinois county hospital fired a pharmacy technician for requesting a religious exemption from the COVID-19 vaccine, saying it was bound by a recent ruling nixing a similar case.

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Carhartt Hit With $100M Race Bias Claim By Ex-VP

By Melanie Dorsey

A former Carhartt Inc. vice president who says she was the apparel company's highest-ranking Black executive has filed a federal lawsuit seeking at least $100 million in punitive damages, alleging she was subjected to racial discrimination, sexual harassment and retaliation before being fired for speaking out against discriminatory workplace practices.

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Geico Bars Wash. Workers From Discussing Pay, Suit Says

By MJ Koo

Geico is facing a proposed class action in Washington state court alleging that its confidentiality agreement unlawfully prevents employees in the state from discussing their wages and potentially illegal conduct at work.

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Yale Health Network Settles Workers' Time Rounding Suit

By Brian Steele

Yale New Haven Health Services Corp. and a putative class of workers have settled claims the healthcare network underpaid wages by systematically modifying and rounding time sheets, Connecticut federal court records show.

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Wash. Judge Faults DOL's Approval Of Farm Wage Survey

By MJ Koo

The U.S. Department of Labor acted unlawfully in approving a state wage survey that split farmworkers' piece-rate pay into separate categories, a Washington federal judge ruled, but he rejected a farmworkers union's other challenges to the agency's wage rules.

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Fla. Judge Finds H-2A Wage Rule Suit Moot After Replacement

By Tom Lotshaw

A Florida federal judge granted the Trump administration's push to dismiss a lawsuit challenging a Biden-era rule that increased wages for foreign farmworkers in light of a new interim rule that has been issued.

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Colleges Claim Immunity In NCAA Players' Wage Suit

By P.J. D'Annunzio

Three universities told a Pennsylvania federal judge Monday that the 11th Amendment shields them from a lawsuit by a group of college athletes fighting to be recognized as employees, arguing that as arms of the state they cannot be sued privately in federal court.

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2nd Circ. Says Connecticut Cop's Firing Claims Were Too Late

By Brian Steele

A Connecticut police sergeant who has fought discipline for excessive force since 2020 cannot proceed with federal constitutional claims against the city of Torrington, a Second Circuit panel ruled Monday in finding that the statute of limitations lapsed before he filed suit.

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Trump Allowed To Ban Federal Unions, Administration Argues

By Emily Brill

President Donald Trump was allowed to kick unions out of the federal workforce using the argument that the unions threatened national security, his administration claimed, asking a California federal judge to toss six unions' challenge to the move.

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Hospital Can't Redo Nurses Union Row, NLRB Says

By Katherine Smith

An Oregon hospital cannot win remand of its case challenging a National Labor Relations Board order requiring the hospital to bargain with a nurses union, the board has told the D.C. Circuit, claiming the hospital can't relitigate issues over the union's certification it should have raised in an underlying case.

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Aramark Says Conflict Policy Doesn't Bar Wash. Moonlighting

By Ben Adlin

Food service and facilities management provider Aramark urged a Washington federal court to toss a proposed class action over alleged limits on moonlighting by workers, contending the claims "fail out of the gate because the policy alleged in the complaint does not actually prohibit moonlighting in the first place."

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8th Circ. OKs Trade Secret Win For Wilbur-Ellis, But Axes Fees

By Elliot Weld

The Eighth Circuit on Monday backed a $198,000 jury verdict for agribusiness Wilbur-Ellis against a former employee it accused of making off with trade secrets, but wiped out a $459,000 award for the company for attorney fees and costs.

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Fintech Platform Stiffed Acting CEO On Way Out, Suit Says

By Julie Manganis

A former interim leader at financial technology platform Advisor360 said in a lawsuit filed in Massachusetts state court that he was promised a retroactive pay bump for stepping into what was effectively an interim CEO role last year, only to be ousted after he sought to enforce the deal.

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Ex-Eli Lilly Rep Fights Firing After Flagging Mounjaro Abuse

By Spencer Brewer

A former pharmaceutical sales representative on Monday told a Texas federal court that Eli Lilly and Co. wrongfully fired her after she blew the whistle on the company's practice of offering its lucrative drug Mounjaro as a weight loss drug, saying Eli Lilly asked her to breach the law.

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Texas Court Affirms Most Of $7.1M Nursing Home Injury Win

By Mike Curley

A Texas appeals court has affirmed the bulk of a $7.1 million injury verdict in favor of a nursing assistant over injuries she sustained while moving an obese patient from his bed to a wheelchair, finding that the evidence supports the negligence finding.

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Datavault AI's Ousted CEO Challenges Removal In Del.

By Jarek Rutz

Datavault AI Inc.'s chief executive officer has sued the company's chairman and directors in Delaware Chancery Court, alleging they pushed him out through unauthorized actions and improperly called board meetings while locking him out of company systems.

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DOJ's Civil Division Head Joins Agency Exits After Midterms

By Jack Karp

The leader of the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Division, Brett A. Shumate, on Monday became at least the fifth top DOJ official to step down following Republicans' defeat in last week's midterm elections.

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Calif. Sex Harassment Cases Clarify Limits On EFAA Waivers

Two recent rulings in California confirm that the plaintiff's knowledge drives waiver analysis under the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act, underscoring that employers should build a strong evidentiary record and pick their battles, says Ellen Connelly Cohen at Call & Jensen.

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High Court's H-2A Case Could Reshape Agency Adjudication

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that concerns whether the U.S. Department of Labor may fine an employer for violating employment conditions in the H-2A visa program, but its eventual decision could chart the course for in-house adjudication across a broad swath of the federal government, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

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High Court Disbars Judicial Watch Founder Larry Klayman

By David Minsky

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday disbarred Judicial Watch founder and Florida conservative activist attorney Larry Klayman following his 18-month suspension issued last year by the D.C. Court of Appeals. 

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Firms Must Face RICO Claims In Asbestos Fraud Suit

By Emily Field

An Illinois federal judge on Friday held that Simmons Hanly Conroy LLP and Sokolove Law must face racketeering claims brought by a Los Angeles industrial pipe manufacturer alleging that the firms brought baseless asbestos claims, finding that an antitrust doctrine shielding those who petition the courts does not apply.

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Trump Eyes OLC Chief For Texas Judgeship After Midterms

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump is considering the head of the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel for a federal judgeship in Texas, a process that started right after the Democrats won big in last week's midterm elections.

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Goldstein Says Gov't Conceded Key Trial Errors

By Jared Foretek

SCOTUSblog co-founder Thomas Goldstein told the Fourth Circuit that the federal prosecutors who netted 12 tax and mortgage fraud convictions effectively conceded they hid evidence by steering a key witness to new testimony mid-trial and had reversed their stance on jury instructions, two key issues in Goldstein's appeal.

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AAA Says Consumers' Monopoly Claims Lack Factual Support

By Caroline Simson

The American Arbitration Association is lashing out against consumers who accuse the institution of monopolizing the consumer arbitration services market, telling a federal judge on Monday that they should be sanctioned for including "false, misleading, and unsupported allegations" in an amended complaint.

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Wash. Panel Nixes $10K Sanctions On Monsanto PCB Attys

By Rachel Riley

A Washington Court of Appeals panel has overturned a combined $10,000 in sanctions against four attorneys who defended Monsanto from chemical poisoning claims, concluding Monday that the trial court overstepped its authority by personally punishing the lawyers for late disclosure of expert witnesses.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court last week cleared the way for Cloudflare Inc. to seek immediate review of an injunction blocking a stock restructuring designed to preserve its founders' control, while setting a January hearing in a similar dispute over Meta Platforms Inc.'s plan to create nonvoting shares.

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