3rd Circ. Seems Open To Drexel's Bid For New Pay Bias Trial

By Vin Gurrieri

The Third Circuit seemed receptive Tuesday to Drexel University's bid for a new trial in a professor's pay discrimination suit, with the judges hinting a trial court may have gone too far by imposing Equal Pay Act liability on the school for not complying with an order to turn over salary information.

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Amazon Fumbled Employee's Rape Report, Suit Claims

By Ben Adlin

Amazon.com Services LLC failed to adequately investigate an employee's report that a senior manager raped her during a 2023 business trip, and the company then forced her to interact directly with the man after she lodged formal complaints, according to a suit filed Tuesday in Washington state court.

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No PTSD, Expert Says In Ex-SF DA Worker's Racial Slur Trial

By Bonnie Eslinger

A Stanford medical school psychiatry professor testifying in a California state trial on Tuesday refuted claims of post-traumatic stress disorder from a Black San Francisco prosecutor's office worker who says she was left debilitated when the city failed to take appropriate action after a co-worker called her a racial slur.

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11th Circ. Rejects Ex-3M Worker's COVID Vax Refusal Suit

By Gina Kim

The Eleventh Circuit on Tuesday declined to revive a Title VII religious discrimination suit by a former 3M healthcare business division employee who was terminated after refusing to get vaccinated against COVID-19 because of her beliefs, finding that her own statements show that there's no conflict between her beliefs and 3M's policy. 

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Vrdolyak Call-Recording Suit Can't Proceed As Class Action

By Celeste Bott

An Illinois federal judge has denied class certification in a lawsuit accusing the Vrdolyak Law Group of secretly recording employees' and clients' phone calls, finding that inadmissible hearsay and limited recordings couldn't establish a firmwide practice, leaving the plaintiffs to prove individually whether their conversations were recorded.

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Capital One Didn't Provide Sign Language Help, Worker Says

By Gina Kim

A former Capital One data analyst filed a $1 million suit in Virginia federal court Monday alleging the bank holding company retaliated against her for complaining that it failed to consistently provide a qualified American Sign Language interpreter during work meetings or provide other reasonable accommodations so she could do her job effectively. 

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Brokerage Can't Shake Ex-Worker's Pregnancy Bias Suit

By Benjamin Morse

An insurance brokerage must face claims that it fired a former employee because of her pregnancy and complaints about discrimination, a North Carolina federal judge ruled, finding that questions remain about whether the company's stated performance concerns were legitimate.

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Ga. Firm Aims To Keep Nearly $100K Arbitration Win Over Atty

By Madison Arnold

John Foy & Associates PC has pushed back on an attempt by one of its former attorneys to have a Georgia federal judge vacate a nearly $100,000 arbitration award in the firm's favor with respect to her retaliation and harassment claims against it.

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Ga. Law Claim Cut From Sex Harassment Suit Against Arena

By David Aaro

An Atlanta federal judge on Tuesday trimmed a lawsuit against State Farm Arena filed by a security guard who says a coworker touched her inappropriately during a concert while on the job, nixing a claim under a Peach State statute that requires businesses to provide a safe environment for workers.

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Tech Co. Must Face Ex-Worker's Discrimination Claims

By Melanie Dorsey

A former Telesoft LLC sales director can proceed with claims that she was fired because of her age, sex and disability after 21 years with the technology company, a Michigan federal judge ruled, finding that conflicting explanations for her termination and evidence that younger male employees with worse sales records kept their jobs raised questions for a jury.

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Calif. Eyes Updating Pregnancy Leave, Workplace Protections

By Benjamin Morse

Pregnant workers in California could gain expanded protections for taking leave and receiving workplace accommodations, including remote work, under proposed regulations announced by the state's Civil Rights Council.

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DOL Recovers $800K For 339 Employees Denied OT Pay

By MJ Koo

A home appliance company has agreed to pay $800,000 to 339 workers to resolve U.S. Department of Labor claims that it did not pay them overtime for all their worked hours.

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Recruiter Accused Of Dodging H-2A Ban To Exploit Workers

By Elaine Briseño

Three Mexican workers accused a North Carolina labor recruiter of skirting debarment from the H-2A temporary agricultural visa program while exploiting the migrants with exorbitant fees and forcing them to work during the 2024 harvesting season.

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Staffing App Will Pay $2.3M, Treat Drivers As Employees

By MJ Koo

A gig staffing company has agreed to pay $2.3 million and treat all its California workers as employees to end San Francisco's lawsuit in state court claiming it wrongly labeled delivery drivers as independent contractors, the city's top lawyer announced Tuesday.

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Wayne County, Mich., Workers Allege Overtime Shortfalls

By Katherine Smith

Three former Wayne County, Michigan, employees have accused the county of engaging in "systematic and widespread underpayment" of overtime pay for hundreds of workers by excluding bonuses, shift premiums and other pay when calculating overtime wages, according to a proposed federal class and collective action.

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Starbucks Seeks Full 5th Circ. Review Of NLRB Union Ruling

By Katherine Smith

Starbucks has urged the full Fifth Circuit to rehear a recent panel decision finding that the coffee chain engaged in multiple federal labor law violations to suppress a union campaign in Upstate New York, claiming the decision conflicts with U.S. Supreme Court and circuit court precedent.

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Albertsons Says It Offered $800M To Save Kroger Deal

By Jarek Rutz

Albertsons Cos. Inc.'s general counsel testified Tuesday that The Kroger Co. passed on proposed store divestitures that could have helped save their $24.6 billion merger, while Kroger's lawyers pointed to information shared with Albertsons and challenged its complaints about the process.

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Comcast Says Workers Can Avoid Tobacco Surcharge  

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

Comcast has asked a Pennsylvania federal judge to dismiss a proposed class action accusing it of violating federal benefits law by imposing a surcharge for tobacco use, saying its health and welfare benefit plan is "more generous" than required.

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Ex-Holtec CFO's Atty Asks Jury To Think Like 'Judge Judy'

By George Woolston

Counsel for the former chief financial officer of nuclear services company Holtec International told jurors Tuesday to use common sense when evaluating the credibility of witnesses who testified in the two-week trial on his client's whistleblower claim, quoting the star of TV's "Judge Judy."

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Judge OKs NASCAR Team Data Breach Deal Citing Weak Case

By Elaine Briseño

A North Carolina federal court has granted final approval to a settlement featuring $132,000 in cash payouts to a NASCAR team's employees over a data breach, with the judge casting doubt on whether the plaintiffs could have won their case.

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Snell & Wilmer Expands Mexico Presence With 7-Atty Team

By Tracey Read

Snell & Wilmer LLP has opened a Mexico City office with four new partners and three associates with expertise in corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, real estate and labor and employment matters.

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Hunton Adds Husch Blackwell Commercial Litigator In Dallas

By Nate Beck

Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP said it has added a nationally recognized litigator with nearly two decades of experience to its commercial litigation practice.

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A Nuanced Reading Of DOL's Mental Health Parity Guidance

Though a recent U.S. Department of Labor bulletin may suggest that agency enforcement pressure on group health plans with respect to mental health parity is easing, the takeaways are more complex, and plan sponsors should not relax compliance efforts, say attorneys at Proskauer.

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How Rule 45 Update May Change Remote Trial Subpoenas

The Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure's recently recommended update to Rule 45 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure would expand trial courts’ subpoena power for remote testimony, but it would not alter the standard for authorizing remote testimony and may prompt unresolved questions for foreign witnesses, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

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Kagan: High Court 'Blinded Itself' To Election Ruling Effects

By Katie Buehler

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan criticized her conservative colleagues' approach to deciding election law cases Tuesday, saying they often rule without considering the real-world consequences of their decisions. 

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Retired Judges Say DOJ's Ethics Complaint Is Meritless

By Courtney Bublé

A coalition of 61 retired federal judges has admonished the U.S. Department of Justice for filing a complaint against federal judges in Minnesota for speaking to a newspaper about the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in their state.

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Polsinelli Seeks Sanctions For 'Knowingly False' IP Suit

By Elliot Weld

Law firm Polsinelli PC has asked a Tennessee federal judge to sanction a medical device company for advancing what it says were "knowingly false and materially incomplete" positions in a suit accusing the firm of pursuing bad faith patent infringement claims on behalf of a client.

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'Petulant' Attorney Behavior Requires New Trial, 5th Circ. Says

By Cara Salvatore

The Fifth Circuit ordered a new trial Friday for a woman who was halted while speaking at a Louisiana local council meeting, saying defense lawyers for two council members threw "a skunk into the jury box" with a bevy of improper maneuvers.

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Feds Offer Up-Front Payments For Fraud Whistleblower Tips

By Lauren Berg

The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday announced the creation of a whistleblower incentive program offering up-front monetary awards for tips that lead to criminal fraud charges.

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Atty Used Legal Cred To Prop Up Ponzi Schemes, DOJ Says

By David Aaro

A Florida attorney was arrested Tuesday on charges of using his legal bona fides to help run two Ponzi schemes that swindled investors out of nearly $2 million, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

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Ex-NOLA Injury Atty Gets 32 Months For Staging Crashes

By Christine DeRosa

A former New Orleans personal injury attorney has been sentenced to 32 months in prison for his role in a scheme to fake vehicle accidents with tractor trailers and other commercial vehicles so he could pursue lawsuits and extract settlements.

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