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Mealey's Employment

  • October 17, 2025

    Union’s Intervention In NLRB Unfair Labor Practice Cases Denied By 5th Circuit

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a motion filed by the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) to intervene so it could petition the U.S. Supreme Court to review a panel majority’s ruling that three trial courts properly issued preliminary injunctions in three cases challenging the National Labor Relations Board’s constitutionality that halted unfair labor practice complaints against three employers, finding that the fact that the NLRB no longer represents the union’s interests by declining to appeal to the high court was not enough to warrant intervention.

  • October 17, 2025

    Unions Sue USCIS, DHS, ICE, State Department Over AI Social Media Surveillance

    NEW YORK — Three labor unions on Oct. 16 sued the U.S. Department of State, the Department of Homeland Security, Citizenship and Immigration Services and Immigration and Customs Enforcement and their leaders in New York federal court, asserting that the defendants have “targeted” U.S.-based visa holders and permanent residents by using artificial intelligence (AI) surveillance of social media to “detect disfavored viewpoints and to take adverse immigration action based on those viewpoints” in violation of the First Amendment rights of “noncitizens lawfully present” in the United States.

  • October 17, 2025

    Change Of Plans In Former Twitter Workers’ Severance Case Sparks Intervention Bid

    SAN FRANCISCO — On Oct. 16 — just under two months after the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed to postpone oral argument based on the parties’ report of an unspecified “imminent class-wide settlement agreement” in former Twitter Inc. employees’ effort to revive their putative class action for more than $500 million in severance benefits — two former employees moved to intervene as of right on the grounds that the two named plaintiffs now intend only “to proceed with individual claims on an individual basis.”

  • October 16, 2025

    Pennsylvania Federal Judge Gives Final OK To $450K Collective, Class Wage Settlement

    PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Pennsylvania on Oct. 15 granted final approval of a $450,000 settlement that resolves production workers’ claims that a manufacturer and seller of coffee and related products violated federal and state wage laws by failing to pay hourly workers for all hours worked, including failing to compensate for pre- and postshift work and miscalculating the regular rate of pay for overtime.

  • October 16, 2025

    TRO Enjoins Federal Government Shutdown RIFs Of Thousands Of Workers

    SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California on Oct. 15 granted several unions’ motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) enjoining the federal government’s reduction-in-force (RIF) of thousands of federal workers during the federal government shutdown, writing that if the unions’ allegation that impacted workers were chosen due to their perceived political affiliations is true, it “is the epitome of hasty, arbitrary and capricious decisionmaking.”

  • October 15, 2025

    5th Circuit Remands Attorney Fees Issue In City Manager’s Race Discrimination Suit

    NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ordered a trial court to consider on remand an issue of attorney fees after partially reversing a trial court’s judgment following a jury verdict for the plaintiff in a race bias and breach of contract case brought by a fired city manager.

  • October 15, 2025

    Airline Workers Fired For Refusing COVID Shot Petition High Court Over Dismissal

    WASHINGTON, D.C. —  A group of former United Airlines employees who filed suit after they were terminated or placed on unpaid leave for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine despite seeking religious exemptions are asking the U.S. Supreme Court in a petition for writ of certiorari whether a dismissed Illinois Whistleblower Act claim should have been permitted to proceed in the face of a potential violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDA) and whether their complaint should have been dismissed for “failure to exhaust administrative remedies” when “they have either obtained right-to-sue letters or are in the process of obtaining them.”

  • October 15, 2025

    Mexican Bank Ex-Employees Must Pay $186K For Breach Of Arbitration Agreements

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge granted two petitions to confirm International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) awards against two former employees of two financial entities in Mexico City for filing civil litigation against their former employers in breach of mandatory arbitration clauses, thereby requiring the employees to separately pay more than $179,000 and $7,000 in attorney fees and arbitration costs.

  • October 15, 2025

    High Court Denies Petition In Suit Challenging Unions’ Antidevelopment ‘Playbook’

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 14 denied a petition for writ of certiorari that several hotel operators filed asking whether the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals erred in dismissing most of their claims against a group of unions and union leaders that alleged violations of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and other laws by reportedly following a “playbook” targeting non-union projects by using environmental standards, land-use regulations and other arguments to oppose and halt plans to redevelop a San Diego resort property.

  • October 15, 2025

    Disney’s And Sodexo’s Wage Settlements Of Nearly $235M Granted Final Approval

    SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California judge in separate orders granted final approval of settlements totaling $234,750,000 by The Walt Disney Co. and Walt Disney Parks and Resorts US Inc. (Disney) and Sodexo Inc. and SodexoMagic LLC (together, Sodexo) in a wage class lawsuit by workers.

  • October 14, 2025

    U.S. High Court: U.S. May Participate In Arguments In Forced Labor Class Suit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 14 granted a motion by the U.S. solicitor general for leave to participate in oral argument as amicus curiae and for divided argument in an appeal by the operator of a private immigration detention facility in Colorado that seeks a ruling on whether interlocutory orders holding that a federal contractor does not meet the requirements under Yearsley v. W.A. Ross Construction Co. for a defense to liability for damages are immediately appealable under the collateral order doctrine.

  • October 14, 2025

    7th Circuit Rejects ‘Safe Harbor’ Interpretation In Withdrawal Liability Case

    CHICAGO — Affirming a ruling against an employer in a withdrawal liability dispute involving the “payment schedule” and asset sale “safe harbor” provisions of the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act (MPPAA), the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said in part that Congress “did not choose to prevent ‘double recovery’ over other policy outcomes.”

  • October 14, 2025

    9th Circuit Panel Reverses, Remands Circle K Workers’ Age Discrimination Claims

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel opined that three employee of a national convenience store and gas station chain who are all over 50 years old may have been purposely prevented from applying for promotions because of their ages in reversing and remanding a federal California judge’s summary judgment order.

  • October 14, 2025

    Same Disposition In Firm’s CFAA Suit Against Ex-Workers After 3rd Circuit Rehearing

    PHILADELPHIA — After granting a petition for rehearing of a decision affirming that two former employees of a national debt-collection firm did not commit computer fraud, steal trade secrets or violate other state and federal laws through the creation and sharing of a spreadsheet containing passwords and protected login information, the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals vacated the original opinion and issued an amended opinion but did not ultimately change the disposition of the appeal.

  • October 14, 2025

    Indiana Appeals Court Affirms Ruling Against Former Trooper In LTD Benefits Case

    INDIANAPOLIS — Affirming a ruling against the appellant, an Indiana appeals panelagreed with the Indiana State Police (ISP) that a former state trooper lost his entitlement to long-term disability (LTD) benefits upon assuming full-time elected office.

  • October 13, 2025

    Federal Government Tells U.S. High Court Trump Controls All Executive Officers

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. president controls all executive officers and has “the authority to remove at will the presidentially appointed heads of multimember administrative agencies, such as the FTC [Federal Trade Commission],” the federal government tells the U.S. Supreme Court in an Oct. 10 petitioner brief filed in a case over the president’s March 2025 purported removal of two FTC commissioners.

  • October 10, 2025

    Rehearing On 7th Circuit Majority Ruling In Transgender Student Name Case Denied

    CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals will not revisit a panel majority’s decision to reverse and remand an Indiana federal judge’s order that granted summary judgment to a school district on a religious accommodation claim brought by a teacher who objected to a policy requiring the use of transgender students’ first names.

  • October 09, 2025

    Reconsideration Denied After 2nd Circuit’s Arbitration Ruling In NFL Coach’s Suit

    NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc filed by the National Football League (NFL) and three teams after a panel ruled in August that rulings denying arbitration of a coach’s race bias claims against the Denver Broncos and NFL based on his employment agreement with the New England Patriots and denying reconsideration were proper.

  • October 09, 2025

    Health Care Workers Axed For COVID-19 Vaccine Refusal Fail In 6th Circuit Appeal

    SAN FRANCISCO — In ruling on one of “a spate of appeals related to vaccination orders spawned by COVID-19,” a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel opined that dozens of at-will, nonprofit health care workers who sued the Washington governor and their employer after they were fired for refusing the state-mandated shot did not succeed in stating “wide-ranging sources of purported rights” to support federal claims and did not provide enough evidence to reverse the lower court’s ruling dismissing and remanding state law claims.

  • October 09, 2025

    Fired Worker’s Discrimination, Retaliation Suit Dismissal Reversed By 6th Circuit

    CINCINNATI —  A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that a fired Ford manufacturing engineer brought specific enough examples of racial, national origin and religious discrimination and met the necessary burden to plausibly allege that he was retaliated against pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in reversing and remanding the dismissal of claims he filed over his termination for “poor performance.”

  • October 08, 2025

    Judge Dismisses Suit By ‘Public Face’ Of Vape Brand Who Claimed Wrongful Removal

    LAS VEGAS — A Nevada federal judge dismissed for lack of jurisdiction a complaint by the former CEO of a brand used to sell disposable vapes and other products in which he accused two former colleagues and his former companies of violating his right of publicity and deceptive trade practices after finding that the plaintiff failed to plead that personal jurisdiction exists over the defendants in Nevada based on their operation of websites and social media accessible from that state.

  • October 07, 2025

    Petitions Denied By High Court In Harassment, Retaliation And Baseball Pay Cases

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 denied multiple employment-related petitions, including ones posing questions on harassment, arbitration, disability bias, retaliation and pay for minor-league baseball players.

  • October 07, 2025

    Judicial Watch Founder To Seek Rehearing After Attorney Fees Petition Denied

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Ousted Judicial Watch Founder Larry Klayman, who has been engaged in litigation with the public interest group for more than 19 years, filed a notice in the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 that he intends to seek rehearing after his petition challenging an attorney fees award was denied that day.

  • October 07, 2025

    6th Circuit Says Truckers Proved Racial Bias, Reverses Dismissal Of Hostility Claim

    CINCINNATI — A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found that two African-American employees of a Tennessee trucking company who alleged that they were treated unfairly, called names and berated by supervisors because of their race provided evidence of “severe or pervasive” racial harassment and that the company failed to provide “an affirmative defense” to liability in reversing and remanding a federal judge’s opinion that granted summary judgment to the company on a claim that it created a hostile work environment pursuant to federal and state laws.

  • October 06, 2025

    U.S. Supreme Court Won’t Decide DOL Interaction, Travel Pay Questions

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 denied a home health agency’s petition seeking review of two questions concerning the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Portal-to-Portal Act (PPA) and a finding of a willful violation that was opposed by the secretary of Labor.