Trump Picks Acting DOL Head To Serve As Labor Secretary

By Max Kutner

President Donald Trump said Monday that he plans to nominate acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling to formally serve in the role, which has been vacant since the departure of Lori Chavez-DeRemer amid an internal watchdog investigation. 

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Justices Strike Down Humphrey's Presidential Firing Limits

By Katie Buehler

The president has unlimited authority to fire members of independent agencies, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday in a major win for President Donald Trump's campaign against officials at the Federal Trade Commission and beyond.

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High Court Lets Fed's Lisa Cook Keep Job For Now

By Jon Hill

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook cannot be immediately removed from her post, a setback for President Donald Trump as he seeks to further remake the central bank's leadership.

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1st Circ. Won't Order Judge To Rule On 'Loyalty' Question

By Julie Manganis

The First Circuit declined a request by three federal worker unions to formally order a Massachusetts district judge to pick up the pace in ruling on their challenge to a Trump administration policy asking job applicants for their views on the president's agenda, something the plaintiffs are calling an unlawful "loyalty" question.

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Calif. Federal Judge Speeds Up Review Of FEMA Staffing Cuts

By Emily Brill

A California federal judge won't block staffing cuts at FEMA now, but she will quickly resolve allegations that the cuts violate the Administrative Procedure Act, she said, denying a union-led coalition's request for an injunction but granting its request for expedited resolution of the claims.

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Yellow Corp. Dodges WARN Act Liability Over 2023 Layoffs

By Emily Brill

Yellow Corp. suffered a major loss in its bankruptcy proceedings Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court preserved a finding that it owes billions in retirement payments, but the defunct trucking company notched a small win in Delaware federal court by skirting liability for a WARN Act violation.

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Justices Won't Review Yellow Corp. Ch. 11 Pension Liabilities

By Clara Geoghegan

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected defunct trucking giant Yellow Corp.'s appeal of a bankruptcy court decision that it owes billions of dollars in retirement fund withdrawal liability, despite a pandemic-era pension fund stimulus package.

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High Court Passes On UT Professor's Speech-Chilling Suit

By Spencer Brewer

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to take up a University of Texas at Austin professor's appeal alleging the university punished him for his conservative speech and criticism of university leadership.

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High Court Passes On Ex-Officer's Disability Bias Suit

By Patrick Hoff and Anne Cullen

The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to wade into a former Michigan Department of Corrections officer's lawsuit claiming he was fired for requesting lighter duties following a hip injury, leaving in place the Sixth Circuit's decision that a law barring disability bias in federally funded programs doesn't prohibit retaliation.

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Justices Skip New York Health Workers' Fight Over Vax Rule

By Anne Cullen

The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to take up religious healthcare workers' challenge to a pandemic-era New York state policy requiring healthcare providers to make their employees get vaccinated against COVID-19, drawing a dissent from Justices Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.

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Justices Turn Away NY Healthcare Workers' Vax Bias Suit

By Patrick Hoff

The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear a lawsuit accusing a New York healthcare system of unlawfully firing dozens of employees who requested religious exemptions from its COVID-19 vaccination policy, despite the workers' argument that the Second Circuit gave more credence to state law than their religious rights.

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Ye Nears Deal To End Ex-Assistant's Sexual Harassment Suit

By Craig Clough

The rapper formerly known as Kanye West has reached a settlement-in-principle with a former assistant who accused him of sexually harassing her by sending her inappropriate and profane texts and by forcing her to watch him masturbate, attorneys for the parties told a Los Angeles judge Monday. 

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Ex-NFL Linebacker's THC Suit Sent Back To Colo. Court

By Katherine Smith

A Colorado federal judge remanded a former linebacker's discrimination suit alleging that the NFL and the Denver Broncos punished him for requesting a therapeutic-use exemption for synthetic THC, finding that both failed to show the claims were preempted by the league's collective bargaining agreement.

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Brief

JCPenney Cuts $100K Deal In EEOC Cancer Bias Suit

By Grace Elletson

A Georgia federal judge has greenlighted a $99,000 deal JCPenney reached with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to wrap up a suit claiming the department store chain fired a worker for taking time off for chemotherapy sessions, the agency announced Monday.

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Baltimore, Academic Groups Drop Suit Over Trump DEI Orders

By Grace Elletson

The city of Baltimore and two academic groups have dropped their constitutional challenge to two Trump administration executive orders that sought to cancel diversity, equity and inclusion-related government grants, stating they were content with a Fourth Circuit ruling that clarified the "narrow scope" of the president's directives.

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Brief

Black Driver Says Concrete Co. Fired Him For Calling Out Slur

By Grace Elletson

A Black former driver for a concrete company alleges in a suit filed Monday in Georgia federal court that he was fired after complaining that a colleague called him a racial slur and taking leftover concrete from a job even though he got approval from management to do so. 

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Professor Hits EMU With Gender Pay Disparity Suit

By Melanie Dorsey

An Eastern Michigan University interior design professor has sued the university and its board of regents in Michigan federal court, alleging the school systematically paid female faculty less than similarly situated male professors and then refused to correct the disparity after she sought a salary adjustment.

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Wayne-Sanderson Says Wage Claims Blocked By $70M Deal

By Matthew Perlman

Wayne-Sanderson urged a Maryland federal court to enforce nearly $70 million in settlements the poultry processor reached with workers and to block dozens of individuals who are suing or threatening to sue in Alabama state court alleging wage suppression.

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NJ Panel Backs Wage Representative Suit Without Class Cert.

By MJ Koo

A New Jersey appeals court ruled Monday that workers can pursue representative wage actions under state law without meeting the requirements for a formal class action, while partly scaling back the time period for which back wages can be sought.

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FLRA Union Case Management Rule Struck Down As 'Arbitrary'

By Hailey Konnath

A Massachusetts federal judge on Monday vacated a Federal Labor Relations Authority rule changing its process for handling union representation cases, agreeing with a coalition of unions that the decision to transfer power from the FLRA's regional directors to its members was arbitrary and capricious.

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Brief

Gov't Arg. For DOGE Access Stay Is 'Red Herring,' Judge Says

By Nadia Dreid

The Trump administration can't convince a Maryland federal judge to rescind her order opening discovery into allegations the Department of Government Efficiency flouted her orders to stop accessing sensitive Social Security Administration data.

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UChicago Instructor Loses Suit Over Review, Grievance Fight

By Lauraann Wood

A former instructor's dispute over an allegedly improper performance review cannot move forward against the University of Chicago and a Service Employees International Union local because he hasn't raised viable claims over the process that led to his contract nonrenewal, an Illinois federal judge said Monday.

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Wash. Teachers Win $120M In 23-Year Retirement Dispute

By Ben Adlin

Washington's Department of Retirement Systems owes nearly $120 million to a class of more than 26,000 public school teachers after decades of wrongfully withholding interest and investment returns from their retirement accounts, according to a state judge's ruling in a long-running employee benefits case.

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Moving Organizer Disputes Poaching Claims After Fallout

By Aaron Keller

A Connecticut federal judge on Monday probed the line between two overlapping trades because a disputed noncompete contract doesn't define either one, hoping to understand a moving company's arguments that a woman it once allegedly described as a partner poached clients, employees and intellectual property before relaunching her own company.

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Epic Games, Ex-Contractor Settle 'Fortnite' Leak Claims

By Abigail Harrison

"Fortnite"-maker Epic Games Inc. and an ex-contractor have settled the former's claims that the latter leaked secrets on social media, according to a motion Epic filed seeking a court order memorializing the parties' deal barring the ex-contractor from possessing or using its confidential information and trade secrets.

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Ex-Sales Director Says Fortive Unit Used RIF To Mask Firing

By Benjamin Morse

A former employee of a Fortive medical equipment subsidiary urged a Colorado federal judge to reject the unit and its parent's bid for an early win in her retaliation suit, saying evidence shows a restructuring masked her firing after she challenged government pricing violations.

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Auto Parts Co. Faces Class Action Over Data Breach

By Susan Smiley

A Michigan woman filed a proposed class action in federal court Saturday alleging that automotive supplier Challenge Manufacturing failed to protect employees' and customers' private information, allowing cybercriminals to access it in a data breach last month.

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Paul Hastings Hires ERISA Benefits Partner In New York

By Jack Rodgers

Paul Hastings LLP has hired a former White & Case LLP partner to join the firm in New York, who focuses her practice on compensation and benefits issues and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, the firm announced Monday.

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DOL Deal Offers FMLA Lesson On Handling Intermittent Leave

The U.S. Department of Labor's recent deal with the University of Tennessee paying an employee over $30,000 for alleged violations of the Family and Medical Leave Act offers lessons about responding to intermittent leave requests, avoiding forced resignations and providing required notices, says Jason Knott at Zuckerman Spaeder.

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Takeaways From 1st Del. Ruling Applying Moelis Amendments

Delaware corporations should carefully review contractual arrangements and governance documents following the Court of Chancery's recent enforcement of a non-Delaware forum selection clause in a CEO's employment agreement under 2024 amendments to the state's General Corporation Law, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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Ill. Law Firm MSO Bill Clashes With Court Power, Ethics Rules

An Illinois bill prohibiting law firms from certain business arrangements with management service organizations, sent to the governor for signature last week, encroaches upon the courts' constitutional powers and goes beyond the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct in regulating investment in law-related services, says Matthew O’Hara at Smith Gambrell.

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Justice Jackson Tops High Court Book Earnings In 2025

By Ryan Boysen

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson made nearly $1.2 million in book royalties last year, bringing her total to $4.14 million and making her the most highly compensated author on the high court, according to financial disclosure forms released Monday.

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Judge Limits Vegas Trip For BigLaw Insider Trading Defendant

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts federal magistrate judge said Monday a defendant described by prosecutors as a "lynchpin" in the BigLaw insider trading case must limit a planned visit to Las Vegas next month to just two nights, saying she also has "concerns about the validity" of a financial statement he provided to obtain a federal defender.

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Harris Beach Murtha To Combine With Peabody & Arnold

By Christine DeRosa

Harris Beach Murtha Cullina PLLC is set to expand its footprint in the Northeast through a combination with Boston firm Peabody & Arnold LLP.

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Texas Supreme Court Weighs New Rules To Tackle AI Misuse

By Lynn LaRowe

The Texas Supreme Court has proposed rule changes intended to address the misuse of artificial intelligence, including outlining possible sanctions and requiring signatories to attest to a filing's accuracy, just as a recent state bar survey showed AI use among Lone Star State lawyers more than doubling since 2024.

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Analysis

Volatility May Follow As Justices Make Agency Firings Easier​​​​​​​

By Sarah Jarvis

The policies and enforcement priorities of federal agencies may fluctuate more rapidly based on who is president, as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court's Monday decision finding that presidents have unlimited authority to fire members of independent agencies, experts told Law360.

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Analysis

The End Of An 'Independent' FTC

By Bryan Koenig

Federal Trade Commission members, responsible for merger review, antitrust enforcement, consumer protection safeguards and rulemaking, and industry analysis, no longer serve at a remove from presidential authority, thanks to Monday's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that could dramatically remake the FTC and other independent agencies.

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Analysis

High Court Gives Fed Independence A 'Fragile' Reprieve

By Jon Hill

The U.S. Supreme Court has thrown its weight behind Federal Reserve independence by rejecting President Donald Trump's bid to immediately oust Fed Gov. Lisa Cook, but experts say the fight over central bank control may not be finished — just moving to a new phase.

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DC Ethics Counsel Conflicted In Ethics Case, DOJ Atty Says

By Emily Sawicki

A former interim U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., is urging the D.C. federal court to disqualify the District of Columbia ethics counsel from pursuing an ethics case against him, arguing that the attorney and another lawyer from his office are conflicted and that their impartiality is in question.

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McCarter & English Missed Key Docs In $20M Loans, Court Told

By Brian Steele

A McCarter & English LLP attorney botched two multimillion-dollar loan deals by failing to secure an ironclad repayment obligation from a New York town or include mandatory documents in the closing packages, a Connecticut state court heard Monday as a long-awaited malpractice trial got underway.

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Sotomayor Says 7th Circ. 'Clearly Wrong' In Immunity Ruling

By Parker Quinlan

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to take up a case over whether qualified immunity was correctly granted to two Wisconsin prison guards who left a naked man in an often freezing cold cell for 23 hours, drawing a dissent from Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

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Analysis

Justices Look To Shed Light On Jury Role In Pepsi TM Battle

By Ivan Moreno

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to hear a trademark fight over PepsiCo's "Mtn Dew Rise Energy" drink gives the justices a chance to clarify when juries, rather than judges, should decide whether a mark is inherently strong — a narrow question that attorneys say could affect how often infringement cases survive summary judgment.

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Ex-Pa. AG, Trump Defense Firm Want Malpractice Claims Axed

By James Boyle

An elections nonprofit is seeking to keep alive its malpractice claim against the former acting attorney general of Pennsylvania and his firm, van der Veen Hartshorn & Levin, filing a quick response over the weekend to a motion to dismiss its amended complaint in Pennsylvania federal court.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court this past week handled disputes involving controlling stockholders, executive compensation, take-private transactions, books and records demands and board governance, while the Delaware Supreme Court issued decisions in two corporate records cases previously decided in the Chancery.

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