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Mealey's Employment

  • July 26, 2024

    Judge Refuses To Toss Dispute Between Disney And Actor Over Social Media Posts

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal court judge denied Disney’s motion to dismiss a wrongful discharge case filed by an actor who was fired from the Disney+ show The Mandalorian purportedly due to the posts she made on social media platforms, including X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram, finding that Disney failed to show that it engaged in expressive association that is protected under the First Amendment.

  • July 26, 2024

    California Supreme Court Upholds Ballot Measure Concerning App-Based Drivers

    SAN FRANCISCO — California Business and Professions Code Section 7451, which was enacted by voters through Proposition 22 and dictates that app-based drivers are independent contractors and thus not covered by the state’s workers’ compensation laws does not conflict with the state’s constitution as “the latter provision does not preclude the electorate from exercising its initiative power to legislate on matters affecting workers’ compensation,” a unanimous California Supreme Court ruled July 25.

  • July 26, 2024

    Staffing Agency Settles EEOC Sex Harassment Claims For $500,000

    FRESNO, Calif. — A staffing agency that placed workers at a Sunshine Raisin Corp. (doing business as National Raisin Co.) production facility agreed to pay $500,000 to settle sexual harassment and retaliation claims by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, according to a consent decree signed by a federal judge in California; the EEOC and National Raisin reached a $2 million settlement in March.

  • July 25, 2024

    With ERISA Issue Pending, 3rd Circuit Lets Denial Stand In N.J. Temp Worker Row

    PHILADELPHIA — A Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel upheld denial of a preliminary injunction request that sought to halt New Jersey’s Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights (TWBR), saying in a July 24 ruling that that staffing industry groups “failed to show they were likely to succeed” on the merits of their initial claims.

  • July 25, 2024

    9th Circuit Denies Rehearing In Appeal Over Class Scope Ambiguity Tolling

    SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for rehearing and rehearing en banc filed by Union Pacific Railroad Co. after a panel ruled while answering a question that it stated was one of first impression that where a class definition is narrowed, any dispute or ambiguity regarding the applicability to certain plaintiffs “should be resolved in favor of tolling so that bystander members of the class need not rush to file separate actions to protect their rights.”

  • July 25, 2024

    Magistrate Judge Partially Excludes Expert Testimony, Says Case Should Be Dismissed

    DALLAS — A Texas federal magistrate judge found that an expert witness retained in a wrongful termination suit cannot offer opinions that are not based on facts in the record, partially granting a motion to exclude and in a separate order, recommended that the city be granted summary judgment and the case be dismissed with prejudice.

  • July 24, 2024

    New Injunction Bid Based On ERISA Preemption Disputed In N.J. Temp Worker Row

    CAMDEN, N.J. — Seeking a preliminary injunction to halt part of New Jersey’s Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights (TWBR) under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, staffing industry groups tell a New Jersey federal court that the case law regulators cite is distinguishable.

  • July 24, 2024

    3rd Circuit Determines Correct Analysis For Student-Athletes As Employees Dispute

    PHILADELPHIA — A trial court erred by applying the Glatt v. Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc. test rather than “an economic realities analysis ground in common-law agency principles” when determining whether Division I student-athletes were employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel majority ruled, partially vacating the trial court’s ruling in an interlocutory appeal.

  • July 24, 2024

    Federal Judge Dismisses Deceptive Trade Practices Claim In Data Breach Class Suit

    NEW YORK — Union members who in a putative class complaint accuse their union of not keeping their personal information secure failed to sufficiently allege a claim under New York’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA) as they did not allege that they “ever saw or relied upon the website’s privacy policy” and their “counsel conceded during oral argument that plaintiffs had not viewed it,” a federal judge in New York ruled, granting in part a motion to dismiss filed by UNITE HERE.

  • July 23, 2024

    Unions, State Officials Respond To State Employees’ Union Fees Joint Petition

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Union and officials from Oregon and California filed briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court on July 22 opposing a joint petition for a writ of certiorari filed by employees of those two states challenging union dues deductions and asking the justices to decide if unions “act under color of law” when they take “political campaign contributions from objecting employees’ wages.”

  • July 23, 2024

    Union, School District, Attorney General Oppose Union Dues Deduction Petition

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A union, a school district and the California attorney general separately filed oppositions on July 22 to a high school teacher’s petition for a writ of certiorari challenging the dismissal of his lawsuit over a six month delay in terminating his union membership as the request was made outside the open period and arguing that the ruling created “a conflict of authority.”

  • July 19, 2024

    Retailer Settles EEOC Suit Over Employee’s COVID-19 Vaccine Religious Beliefs

    PENSACOLA, Fla. — A furniture retailer will pay $110,000 to end a lawsuit by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that accused the employer of failing to accommodate an employee’s request for religious exemption from a COVID-19 vaccine mandate and then fired her for failure to be vaccinated, according to a consent decree signed by a federal judge in Florida on July 18.

  • July 18, 2024

    9th Circuit: Buddhist Temple Apprentice Falls Under Ministerial Exception

    PASADENA, Calif. — A former work practice apprentice (WPA) at a California Buddhist temple, San Francisco Zen Center Inc., who received room and board and a small stipend in exchange for performing work duties as well as participating in meditations and performing ceremonial tasks fell with the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution’s ministerial exception as he “had a ‘role in . . . carrying out [the Center’s] mission,’” a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled July 17, affirming a summary judgment ruling for the center in the man’s disability discrimination case.

  • July 18, 2024

    Man, CVS Settle Claims Employment Interview Included Undisclosed AI Lie Detector

    BOSTON — A man who claims that artificial intelligence tools used during a job interview constitute an unlawful lie detector test settled his individual state law claims against two CVS Health Corp. entities, according to a July 17 notice filed in Massachusetts federal court.

  • July 17, 2024

    Franchisee Seeks Rehearing After Manager’s Disability Bias Claims Reinstated

    ST. PAUL, Minn. — The operator of a number of Hardee’s restaurants in the Midwest seeks a rehearing en banc after a former manager’s disability bias and Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) claims were reinstated by a split panel and asks for the rejection of a new test employed by the panel majority for the pretext prong of the McDonnell-Douglas Corp. v. Green framework that was referred to in the dissenting opinion as an “intertwinement test.”

  • July 17, 2024

    $2.5 Million Walmart COVID-19 Screening Settlement Approved

    PHOENIX — A federal judge in Arizona granted final approval of a $2.5 million settlement to be paid by Walmart Inc. and Wal-Mart Associates Inc. (together, Walmart) to end a class complaint seeking compensation under Arizona law for time spent undergoing mandatory COVID-19 screening before each shift.

  • July 16, 2024

    Portions Of Man’s AI Employment Discrimination Case Survive Dismissal

    SAN FRANCISCO — A company that makes an artificial intelligence hiring tool available to employers can be liable under agency theory, and distinguishing between AI hiring and human decision makers could gut anti-discrimination laws and leave no one liable, a federal judge in California said in denying in part a motion to dismiss a man’s case.

  • July 16, 2024

    Washington Supreme Court: Equitable Tolling Applies To Nurse Class’s Wage Claims

    OLYMPIA, Wash. — A class lawsuit on behalf of nurses seeking unpaid wages after a complaint by their union attempting to recoup the pay was dismissed for lack of associational standing may proceed even though the statute of limitations has passed as equitable tolling applies, a divided Washington Supreme Court ruled.

  • July 16, 2024

    EEOC Supports Rehearing En Banc Request After Race Bias Ruling For Uber

    SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in considering the appeal of putative class racial bias claims by an Uber Technologies Inc. driver correctly recognized that no one framework “‘is mandatory at the pleading stage’ of a discrimination lawsuit” but then erred when it proceeded to apply “a notably higher standard to” the driver’s allegations, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission argues in a July 15 amicus curiae brief supporting the driver’s petition for rehearing en banc.

  • July 16, 2024

    Mass. Panel Reverses Board Ruling Denying Reimbursement To Workers’ Comp Insurer

    BOSTON — A Massachusetts appellate court reversed a review board’s decision upholding the denial of a now-insolvent insurer’s claim for ongoing reimbursements from the Massachusetts Workers’ Compensation Trust Fund, finding that though the insurer was in a run-off period and not assessing premiums, the exception limiting reimbursements to insurers paying assessments into the fund is inapplicable to insurers in run-off.

  • July 15, 2024

    5th Circuit Vacates NLRB Misconduct Ruling For Exceeding Scope Of Remand

    NEW ORLEANS — The National Labor Relations Board exceeded the scope of a remand and violated an employer’s due-process rights when it sought remand of a case concerning employee misconduct during activity protected by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to apply the new interpretation in General Motors LLC and instead used the proceeding to overrule that interpretation, a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled.

  • July 15, 2024

    Dollar General To Pay $12M, Make Nationwide Safety Investments Under DOL Pact

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Dollar General Corp. and its retail subsidiaries will pay $12 million in penalties and make safety changes as part of its corporate-wide settlement presented to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC).

  • July 15, 2024

    2 Disney Employees File Class Suit Over Scrapped Relocation Plans

    LOS ANGELES — The Walt Disney Corp. told certain California workers that their jobs would be relocated to a new campus in Orlando, Fla., and that they could move or lose their jobs and then later scrapped the plans after some workers moved, two of the impacted workers allege in a putative class complaint seeking damages filed in a California court.

  • July 12, 2024

    Amazon’s $7.2M Global Security Screening Pay Settlement Approved

    LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A federal judge in Kentucky granted final approval of a more than $4.3 million settlement to be paid by Amazon.com Inc. and related parties to end the second of two class complaints accusing the online retailer of failing to pay workers at its Pennsylvania warehouses for time spent undergoing mandatory security screenings; this amount brings the total global settlement to end the two cases to $7,205,837.

  • July 12, 2024

    6th Circuit Upholds Arbitration Determination In Pilots’ Vaccine Mandate Case

    CINCINNATI — Religious and disability bias claims by Kalitta Air LLC pilots who filed a putative class complaint challenging their employer’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate required interpretation of the collective bargaining agreement’s terms, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, affirming the trial court’s ruling that the claims must go through arbitration first as minor disputes pursuant to the Railway Labor Act (RLA).