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

Mealey's Employment

November 12, 2025
Existence Of Circuit Split In ADA Interpretation Disputed In SCOTUS Back Pay Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A former correctional officer who sued the county and the sheriff that employed him for alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (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 says his former employers “are flatly incorrect” in asserting in a U.S. Supreme Court petition “that decisions from four circuits disagree” with an appellate panel’s interpretation of the ADA that reversed a lower court’s denial of back pay.
November 12, 2025
University Of Pennsylvania Alumna Files Class Suit Following Data Breach

PHILADELPHIA — The University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) failed to protect its network containing personally identifiable information (PII) of students, alumni, faculty and donors, resulting in cybercriminals obtaining access to the university’s systems and sending “‘a series of mass emails’” to more than 700,000 people that were critical of the university’s security practices and institutional culture, a UPenn alumna alleges in a putative class complaint filed against the school’s trustees in a federal court in Pennsylvania.
November 11, 2025
Education Department’s Shutdown Email Auto Replies Deemed Unconstitutional

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Education “infringed upon its employees’ First Amendment rights” when it “commandeer[ed] its employees’ e-mail accounts to broadcast partisan messages” during the federal government shutdown, a federal judge in the District of Columbia ruled, granting summary judgment to a union that sued over auto replies set up by the department on workers’ email accounts.
November 11, 2025
High Court Denies Petitions From Workers Fired Over COVID-19 Vaccines, Protocols

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 10 denied multiple petitions filed by employees who were terminated from their positions for refusing to adhere to COVID-19 vaccine mandates and safety protocols, leaving stand appellate court rulings that dismissed their claims and granted summary judgment to their employers.
November 11, 2025
FTC Commissioner Argues Removal Protections Don’t Violate Separation Of Powers

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission have at-will removal protections created by Congress and affirmed by Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, an FTC commissioner who was purportedly removed by President Donald J. Trump argues in a U.S. Supreme Court respondent brief.
November 11, 2025
Copyright Register Opposes High Court Stay Of Injunction In Court Battle Over Post

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald J. Trump and others should not be granted a stay of an interlocutory injunction by the U.S. Supreme Court in a case over the president’s ability to remove Shira Perlmutter from her position as the register of copyrights and director of the U.S. Copyright Office as the applicants have failed to show they are likely to succeed on the merits of their claims or that they will be irreparably harmed without such a stay, Perlmutter argues in a Nov. 10 opposition.
November 11, 2025
Consolidation Of 13 Data Breach Class Action Cases Granted, Interim Counsel OK’d

MILWAUKEE — A Wisconsin federal judge consolidated 13 class action lawsuits against a corporation over a 2023 data breach that exposed personal information of its employees and clients; the judge additionally granted the consolidated plaintiffs’ request to appoint interim co-lead class counsel and an executive committee to oversee the coordinated litigation.
November 11, 2025
U.S. High Court Won’t Consider Question On Pleading Standard In Defamation Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 10 denied an employer’s petition for a writ of certiorari asking the justices to consider the pleading standard in a case it brought against a union for a malicious defamation when it argued that the “speech implies false and defamatory facts about the plaintiff.”
November 10, 2025
Supreme Court Hears Arguments On Immunity Appealability In Forced Labor Class Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Federal government contractors following federal government instructions are immune from a class case alleging forced labor, and a denial of such immunity is immediately appealable, the attorney representing the for-profit company that operates a private immigration detention facility in Colorado argued Nov. 10 before the U.S. Supreme Court.
November 10, 2025
5th Circuit: NLRB Lacks Authority To Award Full Damages To Fired Striking Workers

NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, in partially granting a Houston restaurant’s petition for review and remanding the case for further proceedings, that the National Labor Relations Board “lacks statutory authority to award full compensatory damages” to a group of employees who were terminated for striking due to a series of workplace grievances.
November 10, 2025
High Court Denies Writ Challenging ‘Integral’ Activities Measurement Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 10 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a Pennsylvania battery manufacturer asking for review of the proper measurement for time spent performing “‘integral and indispensable’” activities and to consider overruling Steiner v. Mitchell, thus affirming a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel’s order requiring the company to pay its workers for the time they actually spent completing tasks rather than the time the employer determined was “reasonable.”
November 10, 2025
6th Circuit Will Not Rehear Judgment Ruling In Fired Sales Rep’s Title VII Case

CINCINNATI — Despite noting that its ruling departed from decisions of “most circuits” and the interpretation of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) of Title VII, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel will not revisit a ruling affirming a lower court’s grant of summary judgment to a cleaning products manufacturer on claims made by a terminated employee pursuant to Title VII and Michigan law alleging she was retaliated against for reporting an incident of sexual harassment and discriminated against because she is African-American.
November 10, 2025
8th Circuit Denies BNSF’s Petition For Rehearing On Reversal Of EEOC Suit Rulings

OMAHA, Neb. — An Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel denied a petition filed by BNSF Railway Co. to revisit a ruling reversing and remanding a trial court’s partial dismissal and grant of summary judgment on claims the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed alleging that the company created a hostile work environment for a female employee and a class of similarly situated female workers.
November 07, 2025
High Court Signals Interest In Petition For Review Of ERISA Releases Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 6 requested a response to a certiorari petition in which an employer and related entities seek review of a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling in a long-running class action concerning severance benefits, with the petitioners arguing that the decision “creates a roadmap for plaintiffs to evade” releases of Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims.
November 05, 2025
Seattle Granted Preliminary Injunction In Challenge Of DEI, Gender Executive Orders

SEATTLE — A federal judge in Washington enjoined various federal government officials from enforcing two executive orders (EOs) concerning diversity and inclusion and gender against Seattle and denied the federal government parties’ request for a bond and a stay.
November 05, 2025
California Court Affirms Workplace Violence Order, Wants Cite Errors Explained

LOS ANGELES — The legal system relies on the integrity of counsel and courts, a California appellate court said in issuing an order to show cause why an attorney should not be sanctioned for filing a brief with what appears to be errors generated by artificial intelligence. In the unpublished ruling itself, the court affirmed a workplace violence restraining order issued after a firefighter complained about workplace conditions and referenced a recent shooting involving a colleague.
November 04, 2025
10th Circuit Reverses Judgment In Fired Doctor’s Title VII Retaliation Suit

DENVER — A 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel concluded that a reasonable jury could find that a Kansas doctor who was fired after filing a whistleblower complaint alleging that another doctor sexually harassed nurses and provided shoddy medical care to patients could satisfy each step of the McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green framework in reversing and remanding a federal district court’s grant of summary judgment on Title VII retaliation claims.
November 03, 2025
Indicative Ruling Denied After Preliminary Injunction In DEI EO Challenge

CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois denied a motion by the federal government for an indicative ruling and partial stay following the issuance of a preliminary injunction in a case challenging President Donald J. Trump’s Jan. 20 and 21 executive orders (EOs) declaring programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) “‘illegal and immoral discrimination.’”
November 03, 2025
Parties In Workers’ Duty-Free Shops Data Breach Case Stipulate To Dismissal

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — A federal judge in New York on Oct. 31 dismissed a putative class action by two former employees against the operators of airport duty-free shops after the parties stipulated to dismissal of the individual and class claims without prejudice; the stipulation of dismissal was filed two months after the case was stayed pending mediation.
October 31, 2025
Preliminary Injunction Enjoins More Government Shutdown-Related Layoffs

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California granted a preliminary injunction “enjoin[ing] further shutdown-related layoffs” and “paus[ing] the clock on those RIF [reduction-in-force] notices that have issued during the shutdown until this lawsuit can be resolved,” explaining that the record in the case brought by several unions challenging the RIF of thousands of federal workers “paints a chaotic picture, with employees wondering what is happening and no one at the agencies able to guide them.”
October 31, 2025
Franchisee: No ‘Compelling Reasons’ To Grant Fired Employee’s High Court Petition

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Hardee’s franchisee accused by a former manager of disability bias and Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) violations says the U.S. Supreme Court should not grant the employee’s petition for a writ of certiorari asking for consideration of two questions concerning McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, pretext and motives at the summary judgment stage because there is no circuit split to address, the employee cites nonapplicable cases and the employee does not present “outcome determinative” questions, among other arguments.
October 30, 2025
12 More Amicus Briefs Filed In High Court Battle Over Federal Reserve Seat

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Florida, 21 other states and the Arizona legislature filed the final amicus curiae brief on Oct. 29 in the U.S. Supreme Court supporting an application by President Donald J. Trump and others who seek a stay after Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa D. Cook was granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) in her case challenging her purported removal in August.
October 30, 2025
5th Circuit Reverses Dismissal Of DoD Workers’ COVID Vaccine Religious Bias Claims

NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel majority ruled that religious discrimination claims filed by U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) employees over requests for exemption from a COVID-19 vaccine mandate are not moot despite recission of the mandate before their claims were addressed, reversing a Texas federal judge’s dismissal and remanding the case to the trial court.
October 29, 2025
Arbitration Participants Challenge DOL’s Deferred Compensation Advisory

NEW YORK — Arguing that a recent U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) advisory opinion concerning a deferred compensation program is “flawed” and was obtained “for impermissible purposes,” three former Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC financial advisersfiled an Oct. 28 complaint invoking the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and asking a New York federal court to vacate and set aside the advisory.
October 29, 2025
6th Circuit Affirms Breastfeeding Bias FLSA Suit Dismissal Due To Tribal Immunity

CINCINNATI — A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed dismissal of a new mother’s Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) claims that she was denied a work schedule to accommodate feeding her newborn and then forced to resign, saying the federal tribe that owns and operates the Michigan hotel and casino where she worked has sovereign immunity that it did not waive.