Mealey's Employment : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Employment

May 15, 2025
10th Circuit Reverses Union Interrogation Finding In Hallmark Film Production Case

DENVER — A split 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel determined that the National Labor Relations Board had “substantial evidence” to find that two Utah film corporations committed unfair labor practices in violation of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) when they threatened to retaliate against employees on the set of two Hallmark movies if they joined or supported a union and refused to call them back from layoff but unanimously reversed the board’s finding that one of the corporations “unlawfully interrogated an employee about union activity.”
May 13, 2025
2nd Of 3 Consolidated Cases Over DOGE Formation Voluntarily Dismissed

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A teachers’ union and other groups that brought a case that challenged the formation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and that was consolidated with two other similar complaints in a federal court in the District of Columbia was voluntarily dismissed by the groups on May 12; the notice was filed one month after the federal government defendants moved to dismiss.
May 13, 2025
6th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Ruling In Air, Space Force Members’ Vaccine Case

CINCINNATI — A trial court properly dismissed as moot a class complaint by members of the U.S. Air Force and Space Force who refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine for religious reasons after the U.S. Supreme Court vacated as moot the preliminary injunction previously issued in the case, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled May 12 in an unpublished opinion.
May 13, 2025
Federal Government Appeals TRO Halting Agency RIF, Reorganization Plans For 14 Days

SAN FRANCISCO — The federal government filed a notice of appeal in a federal court in California on the same day that a judge in that court issued a 14-day pause in the form of a temporary restraining order (TRO) on further approval of reduction-in-force (RIF) notice periods by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and orders by U.S. DOGE Service for federal agencies to reduce programs and staff; two days later, the federal government filed in the trial court a motion for a protective order or an immediate administrative stay related to disclosure of the Agency RIF and Reorganization Plans (ARRPs).
May 13, 2025
Vaccine Refusal Discrimination Claim Restored Based On Recent Circuit Decision

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Acknowledging that her prior dismissal of a former employee’s failure-to-accommodate claim to the extent it was based on her “body-as-a-temple” religious belief could no longer stand in view of a recent decision of the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, a South Carolina federal judge granted the employee’s motion for partial reconsideration and restored that aspect of her claim of religious discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act stemming from her refusal to become vaccinated against COVID-19 as mandated by the employer.
May 12, 2025
5th Circuit Vacates ‘Religious- Liberty Training’ In Bias Case Against Southwest

NEW ORLEANS — A contempt order requiring that Southwest Airlines Co. lawyers attend “religious-liberty training” as a sanction in a flight attendant’s case over her firing for online abortion speech was vacated by the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appels in an opinion in which the panel also reversed denial of the airline’s motion for judgment as a matter of law on two of the employee’s religious-belief based claims and affirmed judgment against the airline on the employee’s practice-based Title VII for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 claims.
May 09, 2025
Religious COVID-19 Vaccination Exemption Suit Dismissed Per Stipulation Of Parties

DETROIT — Pursuant to the stipulation of a health insurance company and a former employee who alleged that she was wrongly denied a religious exemption from the company’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy, a Michigan federal judge on May 8 dismissed with prejudice the employee’s claims.
May 08, 2025
Intelligence Agencies Appeal Preliminary Injunction Order In DEIA Positions Case

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Central Intelligence Agency and the directors of the two intelligence agencies filed a notice of appeal more than a month after a federal judge in Virginia partially granted a renewed motion for preliminary injunction filed by national security workers alleging that they were wrongly forced to choose resignation or termination because they were in temporary assignments related to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA).
May 08, 2025
5th Circuit: No Jurisdiction Over Constitutionality Of Amazon NLRB Proceedings

NEW ORLEANS — A split Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction an appeal by Amazon.com Services LLC challenging the “constructive denial” of its injunctive relief motion concerning two National Labor Relations Board proceedings that it alleged it was being subjected to in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
May 08, 2025
Split D.C. Circuit Alters Stay Of Preliminary Injunction, Reinstates CFPB RIF Ban

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In pair of orders, one by a federal judge in the District of Columbia and one by a District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel majority, issued in a case over the termination of more than 1,400 workers at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the appellate panel modified an earlier partial stay of a preliminary injunction in the case that effectively reinstated the ban on the reduction in force, and the trial court judge then denied as moot a motion to enforce the preliminary injunction sought by a workers union and other groups.
May 08, 2025
5th Circuit: Texas District Not Wrong To Fire Teacher Over Absence After COVID

NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed that a Texas school district did not violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) or the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) by firing a teacher who did not return to her classroom after the COVID-19 pandemic because of concerns about contracting the virus, citing failure to meet the burdens for proving the claims.
May 07, 2025
Preliminary Injunction Halts Function, Staff Reductions At 3 Federal Agencies

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A federal judge in Rhode Island on May 6 granted a preliminary injunction motion by nearly two dozen states restraining the federal government from implementing an executive order (EO) “attempt[ing] to dismantle congressionally sanctioned agencies” as applied to the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS).
May 07, 2025
En Banc Rehearing Denied In Case Challenging NLRB Impasse, Terms Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for rehearing en banc filed by Hood River Distillers Inc. after a split panel denied the employer’s petition for review of a National Labor Relations Board decision in a case in which the company alleged that it reached an impasse while trying to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) and accused the union of engaging in delay tactics before and during the coronavirus pandemic.
May 06, 2025
Split U.S. High Court Stays Injunction In Military Transgender Ban Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A divided U.S. Supreme Court on May 6 granted the federal government’s application to stay pending appeal a March preliminary injunction granted to servicemembers and an organization that sued in a federal court in Washington challenging President Donald J. Trump’s executive order (EO) banning transgender people from the military.
May 06, 2025
Stay Of Military Transgender Ban Injunction Sought From U.S. High Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A stay of a trial court’s March 27 preliminary injunction granted to servicemembers and an organization that sued in a federal court in Washington challenging President Donald J. Trump’s executive order (EO) banning transgender people from the military is necessary as the federal government is likely to succeed on the merits of its claims, the questions presented warrant high court review, the injunction causes irreparable harm to the government and the public and the balance of equities favors a stay, the federal government argues in its reply supporting its stay application filed in the U.S. Supreme Court.
May 06, 2025
Government Applies To U.S. High Court For Injunction Stay In SSA Records Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Social Security Administration (SSA) and other federal government agencies and officials filed an application in the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay of a trial court’s injunction and a request for an administrative stay in a case over Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) access to SSA data.
May 06, 2025
ERISA, Breach Of Contract Claims Fail In Row Over ‘Pre-Separation Programs’

CHICAGO — Dismissing a putative class action over United Airlines Inc. early retirement programs with leave to amend but expressing skepticism “that the plaintiffs can cure the problems with the complaint,” an Illinois federal judge ruled in part that a policy the airline announced in 2017 “does not constitute an . . . employee welfare benefit plan” that is governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
May 05, 2025
Stay Of Injunctive Relief Pending Appeal Denied In Collective Bargaining EO Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in the District of Columbia issued a minute order denying the federal government’s request to stay pending appeal a preliminary injunction ruling in a lawsuit by the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) seeking to halt the impact of a March executive order (EO) that the union says eliminates collective bargaining for approximately two-thirds of the federal workforce.
May 05, 2025
Judge: 3 Nonprofits Suing Over DEI, Gender EOs Largely Failed To Show Standing

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three nonprofits that sued President Donald J. Trump and other federal agencies and officials challenging the constitutionality of three executive orders (EOs) regarding diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and gender identity failed to show that they have standing related to a portion of the challenged provisions as the EOs “inflict no concrete harm on private parties—or at least not on these parties” and failed to sufficiently allege constitutional violations on their remaining claims, a federal judge in the District of Columbia ruled May 2, denying the groups’ motion for a preliminary injunction.
May 05, 2025
Class Largely Prevails On Summary Judgment In ERISA Early Retirement Row

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — An Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action is headed toward a bench trial on just a few remaining claims after a Kansas federal judge resolved exclusion and partial summary judgment motions, ruling in part that the plan at issue “does not permit Defendants to deny early retirement benefits regardless of the type of work the participants perform for Covered Employers.”
May 05, 2025
Judge: U.S. Constitution Bars President’s EO Targeting Perkins Coie

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A March executive order (EO) “stigmatiz[ing] and penalize[ing]” Perkins Coie LLP for its representation “of clients pursing claims and taking position with which the current President disagrees, as well as the Firm’s own speech” is a violation of the U.S. “Constitution and is thus null and void,” a federal judge in the District of Columbia declared May 2, granting the firm’s summary judgment motion and denying a motion to dismiss filed by the various federal government defendants.
May 02, 2025
6th Circuit Denies Agency’s Request For Rehearing On ‘Salaried’ Worker Decision

CINCINNATTI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 1 denied an employment agency’s petition for rehearing en banc of an earlier split panel decision that classified a pipe inspector who was provided guaranteed pay each week and paid his hourly amount for work performed in excess of eight hours as a “salaried” worker exempt from overtime, with the original panel finding that the issues were “fully considered” and no other judge requesting a vote to reconsider.
May 02, 2025
7th Circuit Rehearing Sought Over Back Pay, Seniority In Sheriff’s Office ADA Case

CHICAGO — An Illinois county and its sheriff say in a petition for rehearing that the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ decision to affirm seniority benefits and reinstate the possibility of back pay for a former correctional officer who sued for alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and the U.S. Constitution for requiring release of his medical records to complete a fitness-for-duty exam to return to work after he was put on leave “conflicts with other Circuit Courts of Appeals, including authority that the district court relied on” and would be “problematic” in future litigation.
May 01, 2025
4th Circuit En Banc Majority Won’t Stay Injunction In DOGE, SSA Records Case

RICHMOND, Va. — A divided en banc Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 30 denied a motion by the Social Security Administration (SSA) and other federal government agencies and officials to stay a preliminary injunction order pending appeal in a case over the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) access to SSA data.
May 01, 2025
5th Circuit Denies Rehearing For Shriners Employees Fired Over Vaccine Refusal

NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel denied a petition for panel rehearing and rehearing en banc that several Shriners Hospital for Children employees who were fired for not taking the COVID-19 vaccine filed seeking reconsideration of a ruling dismissing federal and state claims against their former employer.