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

Mealey's Employment

May 29, 2025
Register Of Copyrights Denied TRO In Suit Challenging ‘Purported’ Removal

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) filed by the register of copyrights and director of the U.S. Copyright Office seeking to enjoin her removal was denied from the bench by a federal judge in the District of Columbia on May 28.
May 29, 2025
5th Circuit: FCC Lacks Authority To Require Employment Demographics Data

NEW ORLEANS — The Federal Communications Commission lacks the statutory authority to require radio and television broadcasters to disclose employment demographics data, a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, vacating a February 2024 FCC order.
May 28, 2025
Trump’s EO Targeting WilmerHale ‘Struck Down,’ Declared ‘Unconstitutional’

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in the District of Columbia on May 27 dismissed with prejudice three counts brought by Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP in its lawsuit challenging President Donald J. Trump’s March executive order (EO) targeting the firm and partially granted WilmerHale’s summary judgment motion, declaring the EO “unconstitutional.”
May 28, 2025
Federal Judge: Jenner & Block Executive Order Violates The U.S. Constitution

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An executive order (EO) issued by President Donald J. Trump in March targeting Jenner & Block LLP “seeks to chill legal representation the administration doesn’t like” and “violates the Constitution,” a federal judge in the District of Columbia ruled, enjoining the EO’s “operation in full.”
May 28, 2025
Tyson Supervisors, Executives Still On Hook For Claims In COVID Worker Deaths Case

DES MOINES, Iowa — Claims alleging gross negligence and fraud against supervisors and executives of Tyson Foods Inc. and Tyson Fresh Meats Inc. by families of workers who died from COVID-19 can be litigated after an Iowa Supreme Court panel reversed and remanded a dismissal.
May 28, 2025
DOL Rescinds Guidance That Advised ‘Extreme Care’ On Crypto In 401(k) Plans

WASHINGTON, D.C. — March 2022 guidance that directed fiduciaries to use “extreme care before they consider adding a cryptocurrency option to a 401(k) plan's investment menu for plan participants” has been rescinded, federal regulators announced May 28.
May 28, 2025
Golden Corral, Employees Settle Data Breach Class Action For $1.85 Million

RALEIGH, N.C. — A $1.85 million settlement of class claims over a 2013 data breach experienced by Golden Corral Corp. received final approval from a North Carolina federal judge, who deemed the restaurant chain’s agreement with a class of employees whose personally identifiable information (PII) was compromised in the breach to be “fair, reasonable, adequate, and in the best interests of the” class.
May 27, 2025
Government Withdraws High Court Stay Application In Federal Worker RIF Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald J. Trump and other federal government officials notified the U.S. Supreme Court via a May 23 letter that they were withdrawing in light of a May 22 preliminary injunction order their application for a stay of a trial court’s temporary restraining order (TRO) that halted 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.
May 27, 2025
Register Of Copyrights Sues, Seeks TRO After ‘Purported’ Removal By Trump

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The register of copyrights and director of the U.S. Copyright Office filed a complaint and a motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) in a federal court in the District of Columbia challenging her “purported” removal by President Donald J. Trump “without any authorization from Congress or advice and consent from the Senate.”
May 27, 2025
Federal Government Seeks Stay Of Order Voiding Trump’s Removal Of USIP Staff

WASHINGTON, D.C.— The federal government filed an emergency motion in the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 23 for an administrative stay and for a stay pending appeal following a trial court’s summary judgment ruling for the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) and its board and staff in a case in which they challenged their removal at the direction of President Donald J. Trump and the transfer of USIP property to the General Services Administration (GSA).
May 27, 2025
2nd Circuit Finds It Has No Jurisdiction To Review State Labor Class Judgment

NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that it lacked jurisdiction to entertain an appeal of a judgment on state law wage and hour class claims because the trial court’s dismissal of the plaintiffs’ unadjudicated Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) claims to allow for intermediate appeal under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(b) was conditional.
May 27, 2025
Federal Government Argues For Stay After Department Of Education RIF Enjoined

BOSTON — A trial court’s preliminary injunction in two consolidated cases challenging the alleged dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) that halts a reduction-in-force (RIF) must be stayed pending appeal as it “mandates the continued employment of over a thousand employees” when the court lacks “Article III jurisdiction to superintend the Department’s operations based on its disagreement with politically accountable officials about appropriate staffing levels,” the secretary of Education and other government officials argue in a reply in support of an emergency motion filed May 26 in the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
May 27, 2025
Chief Justice Roberts Stays Discovery Orders In Challenge Of DOGE’s Authority

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Chief Justice of the United States John G. Roberts Jr. issued an order on May 23 staying two trial court discovery orders in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case regarding U.S. DOGE Service’s (DOGE or USDS) authority pending further order by the Supreme Court.
May 27, 2025
Federal Judge: U.S. Treasury Department Lacks Standing To Seek CBA Termination

COVINGTON, Ky. — The U.S. Department of Treasury lacks standing to bring a lawsuit against a union that represents more than 2,000 Internal Revenue Service employees seeking to rescind or repudiate a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) pursuant to a March presidential executive order (EO), a federal judge in Kentucky ruled, dismissing the complaint.
May 23, 2025
This Time, Judge Denies Preliminary Injunction In ERISA Illinois Temp Worker Row

CHICAGO — Rejecting a motion supported by nine organizations that filed a combined amicus curiae brief, an Illinois federal judge who previously issued a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of an earlier version of an Illinois temporary worker law on May 22 declined to grant a preliminary injunction for the latest version, saying that the plaintiff trade associations and staffing agencies didn’t show that their Employee Retirement Income Security Act preemption argument is likely to succeed on the merits.
May 23, 2025
OSHA, N.J. Bakery Reach $180K Settlement After Employee Finger Amputations

PATERSON, N.J. — A New Jersey commercial bakery will pay a $180,000 penalty and implement a series of health and safety measures through a settlement agreement reached with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) over the bakery’s failure to address hazards identified in a citation after an employee suffered partial finger amputations.
May 23, 2025
Judge: Administration Can’t Remove 2 From Privacy/Civil Rights Oversight Board

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge has granted summary judgment to two members of a federal board tasked with oversight of privacy and civil liberties in federal counterterrorism activities after finding that the members’ removal by the Trump administration contravened Congress’ intent to create an independent board.
May 23, 2025
U.S. Supreme Court Briefs Debate Injunction Stay Request In SSA Records Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Discretionary review by the U.S. Supreme Court of an injunction in a case over Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) access to Social Security Administration (SSA) data is not necessary as the application by the SSA and other federal government agencies and officials fails to “present a question meriting” high court review, a union and two groups argue in their opposition; however, the federal government parties write in their reply that the groups lack standing and their claims will fail on the merits.
May 23, 2025
7th Circuit Denies Rehearing Over Back Pay, Seniority In Sheriff’s Office ADA Case

CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc filed by an Illinois county and its sheriff over a 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.
May 23, 2025
Split U.S. High Court Stays Orders Enjoining Removals Of NLRB, MSPB Members

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A U.S. Supreme Court majority on May 22 granted the federal government’s request for a stay of orders by a trial court enjoining President Donald J. Trump’s removal of members of the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), pending “disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari, if such a writ is timely sought.”
May 22, 2025
SAG-AFTRA Files Charge Against Epic Games-‘Owned’ LLC Over Darth Vader AI Use

LOS ANGELES — Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) filed a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) charge against Llama Productions LLC, a company it says is owned by Epic Games Inc., accusing Llama of not bargaining in good faith by choosing “to replace the work of human performers with [artificial intelligence] A.I. technology without providing notice to the union” regarding the A.I. use of the voice of actor James Earl Jones for Star Wars character, Darth Vader, in Epic’s video game, Fortnite.
May 22, 2025
Pregnant Worker Fairness Act’s ‘Abortion Accommodation Mandate’ Vacated By Judge

LAKE CHARLES, La. — The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission exceeded its statutory authority by issuing the final rule implementing the Pregnant Worker Fairness Act (PWFA) that included an “abortion accommodation mandate,” a federal judge in Louisiana ruled May 21, vacating that portion of the rule.
May 22, 2025
Former Officials Oppose Government’s Stay Application In Federal Worker RIF Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Former government officials as amici curiae filed a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court opposing an application by President Donald J. Trump and other current federal government officials seeking to stay a trial court’s temporary restraining order halting 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.
May 22, 2025
Government Seeks Stay Of Discovery Orders In Suit Challenging DOGE’s Authority

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. DOGE Service (DOGE or USDS) and various federal government officials filed an application on May 21 in the U.S. Supreme Court seeking a stay and an immediate administrative stay of discovery orders issued by a trial court in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case regarding DOGE’s authority.
May 22, 2025
Home Health Agency Seeks Supreme Court Review Of FLSA Violation

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A home health agency filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court asking for consideration of two questions concerning the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Portal-to-Portal Act (PPA) and a finding of a willful violation in a case brought by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).