Analysis

NFL's High Court Loss Is Lesson For Fair Employee Contracts

By David Steele

The NFL's failed bid at the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve a former coach's racial discrimination claims via arbitration serves as a warning to businesses seeking to draft employment contracts with few options and limited rights for workers.

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Fla. Judge Strikes Ex-Chartwell Atty's Sanctions Motion

By Carolina Bolado

An attorney who claims Chartwell Law Offices LLP fired her over social media posts about Gaza won't win sanctions against the firm after a Florida federal judge on Wednesday struck her motion as unfounded and said she would consider monetary sanctions over hallucinated AI citations in the motion.

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DC Circ. Backs Fired Employee In Salary Spreadsheet Case

By Katherine Smith

The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday partially upheld a National Labor Relations Board decision finding that a Vermont software company illegally fired an employee for creating a spreadsheet to help coworkers compare salaries, but found the board relied on protected activity unrelated to the subject of the complaint in the case to find the company illegally fired three other workers.

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Judge Suggests Calif. Law Applies In Workday AI Bias Suit

By Patrick Hoff

A California federal judge suggested Wednesday that Workday was wrong when it argued California civil rights law didn't apply in a lawsuit alleging its artificial intelligence tools discriminated against job applicants, ordering the company and workers to address her tentative conclusion at a hearing.

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3rd Circ. Asks If Denny's Must Notify Servers Of Notification

By Carla Baranauckas

The Third Circuit appeared startled Wednesday at the notion that the Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers to notify workers that they're required to notify them of various aspects of the wage law, as Denny's seeks to overturn certification of a server's suit accusing it of violating the act's disclosure requirement.

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Trump Taps Ohio Appeals Judge For Federal Bench

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday he's nominating state Judge Matthew Byrne as a U.S. district judge for the Southern District of Ohio.

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West Point Prof. Wins Speech Injunction Over Approval Rule

By Ganesh Setty

A New York federal court has blocked West Point from requiring civilian faculty to get permission before using their school affiliation in external engagements involving their area of expertise, finding a civilian professor will likely prevail in his First Amendment challenge.

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Screening Co. Calls EEOC Subpoena Bid 'Fishing Expedition'

By Benjamin Morse

A candidate screening company urged a Colorado federal judge to reject the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's bid to enforce subpoenas seeking information about preoffer assessments for sheriff's office applicants, calling the demand an overbroad "fishing expedition."

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NJ Pot Law Lets Workers Sue Over Hiring Bias, Panel Finds

By Mike Curley

A New Jersey appeals panel has found that the state's cannabis law grants a private right of action to employees who allege they were fired or denied work solely because of a positive cannabis test, reviving a woman's suit alleging she was denied a job because of her recreational cannabis use.

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Colo. Panel Questions Trial Court's Reading Of Wage Laws

By Rachel Konieczny

The Colorado Court of Appeals appeared poised Wednesday to revive the retaliation claims of a former human services caseworker against the county department she had worked for, pushing back on a lower court's interpretation of statutes meant to close gender pay gaps.

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Bumble Bee Beats Injunctive Relief Claim In Forced Labor Suit

By Gina Kim

A California federal judge nixed Indonesian villagers' requests to have Bumble Bee Foods change its practices stemming from their suit claiming it benefited from forced labor, ruling Wednesday the plaintiffs lacked standing since they don't say they're currently working as fishers or that the alleged practices prevented them from working as fishers.

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Baseball Podcaster Sued By Ex-Producer Over Pay

By Julie Manganis

Baseball podcaster Jared Carrabis and his production company were hit with a proposed class action in Massachusetts on Wednesday by a former producer who says Carrabis used the end of a sponsorship deal to stop paying him and other personnel on his podcasts at the end of February.

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American Airlines Can't Duck Flight Attendants' OT Suit

By Celeste Bott

An Illinois federal judge Tuesday refused to dismiss a putative class action brought by flight attendants alleging American Airlines failed to properly compensate them for overtime work, saying the airline's argument that their claims are preempted and require interpreting collective bargaining agreements is premature.

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DOL's Wage Rule For Immigrant Workers Gets Mixed Input

By Irene Spezzamonte

The U.S. Department of Labor's proposed rule to raise prevailing wages for certain immigrant workers drew criticism from organizations such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, calling the suggested wages unrealistic, while others said the rule is necessary to protect American workers.

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Pot Co. Urges 9th Circ. To Weigh Labor Law Constitutionality

By Sam Reisman

A cannabis retailer challenging the constitutionality of a California law that requires marijuana businesses to have labor peace agreements with unions is urging the Ninth Circuit to consider its claims against the state on the merits rather than remanding the issue to a lower court.

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Southwest Union Says Airline Shouldn't Access Member Texts

By Spencer Brewer

Southwest's union asked a Texas federal court to bar the airline from accessing every text message of two of its members at the center of a suit alleging Southwest retaliated against union activity, saying that the airline failed to show why it should get complete access.

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Seyfarth Adds Davis Wright Duo To Seattle Wage-Hour Team

By Andrea Keckley

Seyfarth Shaw LLP announced on Tuesday that it has brought on a pair of labor and employment attorneys from Davis Wright Tremaine LLP to its Seattle office, citing the growth of wage-and-hour litigation in Washington.

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Mortgage Co. Ruling Shows Risks Of Broad Noncompetes

The Federal Trade Commission and a Pennsylvania state court recently took actions against Mortgage Connect that demonstrate that overbroad noncompetes may not be worth the regulatory trouble they invite, especially amid heightened federal scrutiny, proliferating state restrictions and increasingly skeptical courts, say attorneys at A&O Shearman.

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Analysis

Meet Biden's Attys Fighting DOJ Release Of Memoir Materials

By Jeff Overley

Former President Joe Biden has selected Hecker Fink LLP lawyers well acquainted with politically charged litigation for his extraordinary new lawsuit accusing the U.S. Department of Justice of orchestrating a congressional inquiry in order to divulge "highly personal" records to the Heritage Foundation.

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Chicago US Atty Revamps Grand Jury Rules After Misconduct

By Parker Quinlan

Chicago's top federal prosecutor announced on Wednesday a new suite of rules for how grand jury investigations are handled after an Illinois federal judge accused the prosecutor's office of misconduct in a case against six immigration activists.

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Pierce Atwood Rips Billionaire's 'Absurd' Suit Over Asset Sale

By Sydney Price

Pierce Atwood and two attorneys urged a Massachusetts federal judge to reject a Ukrainian billionaire's suit blaming them for a $1.8 million damages order in investor litigation over the billionaire's failed biotech company, saying his own wrongdoing led to the judgment.

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Ex-Judges Urge Court To Scrutinize Trump-IRS Deal

By Jack McLoone

A group of 35 former federal judges pushed for a Florida federal court to reopen President Donald Trump's now-settled $10 billion tax leak case against his own Internal Revenue Service, alleging that Trump and the DOJ deceived the court.

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Perkins Coie Docs At Issue In Omani Co.'s Malpractice Case

By Sarah Jarvis

An Oman-based screw and nail manufacturer has urged a Washington state judge to force Perkins Coie LLP to hand over a trove of documents related to the firm's past work representing the Middle Eastern company in a U.S. Department of Commerce probe, saying more information is needed to assess the law firm's defenses against claims its mistakes cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars.

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ProPublica Denied Access To Ranbaxy Antitrust MDL Docs

By Gianna Ferrarin

A Massachusetts federal court denied ProPublica's bid to unseal court filings in settled multidistrict litigation alleging a subsidiary of Indian drugmaker Sun Pharmaceuticals illegally delayed market entry of generic drugs, ruling the nonprofit news organization's request came too late in the case.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Keller Rohrback's Gretchen Freeman Cappio

By Andrea Keckley

By the time Volkswagen was exposed for touting the low emissions of cars that secretly released nitrogen oxide pollutants up to 40 times the legal limit in the U.S., Keller Rohrback LLP's Gretchen Freeman Cappio knew she wasn't interested in defending corporate giants.

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