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Mealey's Employment

August 20, 2025
5th Circuit Reverses ‘Quorum Clause’ Ruling That Enjoined Pregnant Workers Act

NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel majority found that a constitutional “quorum clause” does not require U.S. Congress members to be physically present to make up a voting quorum, reversing and vacating a Texas federal judge’s ruling that the clause required physical presence and trumped a COVID-19-era rule that allowed voting by proxy during the passage of federal legislation that established the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA).
August 20, 2025
State Farm Says 6th Circuit Cat’s Paw Ruling Warrants Review In Fired Worker Case

CINCINNATI — A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel majority’s finding that the existence of proximate cause in a cat’s paw case supports its ruling that a fired State Farm employee who helped a disabled coworker seek an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accommodation can pursue retaliation claims pursuant to the ADA and Ohio law is grounds for panel rehearing or en banc review, State Farms claims in a petition.
August 20, 2025
Split D.C. Circuit: CFPB Firings Claims Must Go Through CSRA Review Scheme

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A divided District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated a trial court’s preliminary injunction in a case over the termination of more than 1,400 workers at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) after the majority ruled that the claims related to loss of employment “must proceed through the specialized-review scheme established in the Civil Service Reform Act.”
August 20, 2025
5th Circuit Denies Rehearing After Affirming Dismissal Of Suit Over NLRB Memo

NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals treated a petition for rehearing en banc filed by staffing companies as a petition for panel rehearing and denied it, leaving in place a panel majority ruling that a federal court in Texas properly dismissed for lack of standing the companies’ complaint alleging that a memorandum by the then-National Labor Relations Board general counsel enforced a new interpretation of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which they claimed “prohibits employers from speaking to employees about unionization.”
August 20, 2025
Split 5th Circuit Upholds Preliminary Injunctions Halting NLRB ULP Proceedings

NEW ORLEANS — Three trial courts properly issued preliminary injunctions in three cases challenging the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Board that halted unfair labor practice (ULP) complaints against three employers, a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel majority ruled Aug. 19, opining that the employers “made their case” regarding the dual for-cause removal protections for administrative law judges (ALJs) and NLRB members and “[w]hen an agency’s structure violates the separation of powers, the harm is immediate—and the remedy must be, too.”
August 20, 2025
5th Circuit Remands Louisiana Dock Operator’s Claims Over COVID-19 Vaccine Firing

NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found that a Louisiana dock operator who was fired for failing to get a COVID-19 vaccine after denial of a religious exemption request presented “sufficient evidence” to pursue claims of religious discrimination and disparate treatment, reversing and remanding the trial court’s grant of summary judgment to his former employer.
August 20, 2025
10th Circuit Affirms $62,430 Fee Award, Other Rulings Against Pro Se Appellant

DENVER — Issuing an unpublished order on two appeals that sprang from the same case, the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed dismissal and summary judgment rulings against a man who filed a pro se suit over the fallout from an externship he took part in after suffering a stroke as a law student; the panel also upheld an order requiring the man to pay one defendant $62,430 for attorney fees, which was half of what the defendant had sought.
August 19, 2025
Preliminary Injunction Granted In Suit Challenging EO Limiting Right To Organize

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three unions sufficiently established irreparable harm, a federal judge in the District of Columbia said in granting their motion for a preliminary injunction in a case challenging a March presidential executive order (EO) that removed various federal agencies and agency subdivisions from the union organizing protections of the Federal Service Labor-Management Statute and Foreign Service Labor-Management Relations Statute.
August 19, 2025
2nd Circuit Upholds Arbitration Denial In NFL Coach’s Race Bias Suit

NEW YORK — Rulings denying arbitration of a National Football League (NFL) 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 as the coach’s agreement “provides for arbitration in name only and accordingly lacks the protection of the Federal Arbitration Act (‘FAA’),” the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled, affirming the trial court’s orders in a putative class suit by three current and former NFL coaches.
August 19, 2025
Parties Seek Summary Judgment In Resort Employee’s COVID-19 Vaccine Refusal Case

CAMDEN, N.J. — In a lawsuit alleging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) stemming from the refusal of a resort employee with a history of negative reactions to vaccines and other medications to become vaccinated for COVID-19 under the resort’s mandatory vaccination policy and denial of a medical exemption, the resort moved for summary judgment and the employee moved for partial summary judgment.
August 18, 2025
Split 2nd Circuit Resolves Separation Agreement Row, Revives LTD Benefits Suit

NEW YORK — Ruling 2-1 “that any release of claims against [insurer Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada] was not knowing and voluntary,” the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals revived a suit over denial of long-term disability (LTD) benefits where Sun Life had won summary judgment because of a separation agreement the claimant signed with her former employer.
August 18, 2025
1978 Agreement That Limited Va. City’s Hiring Practices Abolished In Federal Court

NORFOLK, Va. — A consent decree lodged in 1978 to resolve a civil rights lawsuit alleging discrimination against the recruitment and hiring of Black people and women in the city of Norfolk, Va.’s police and fire departments through implementation of a series of quotas was terminated by a Virginia federal judge in granting an unopposed motion filed by the United States contending that the city has complied with the order and met the employment goals.
August 15, 2025
Fla. Federal Judge Rules On Claims In Transgender Teachers’ Pronoun Law Dispute

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A Florida federal judge opined in an order on cross-motions for summary judgment that two transgender teachers who were prohibited by a state law from using female gendered pronouns with students were discriminated against on the basis of sex in violation and preemption of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 but did not experience a hostile work environment or discrimination pursuant to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 or the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
August 15, 2025
9th Circuit Denies Rehearing After Wage Ruling For Immigration Detainee Class

SEATTLE — A split Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for panel rehearing and rehearing en banc filed by a for-profit company that runs the Northwest Immigration and Customs Enforcement Processing Center (NWIPC) after the panel majority ruled that the application of the Washington Minimum Wage Act (WMWA) to voluntary work programs (VWP) for federal immigration detainees housed at NWIPC does not violate the doctrine of intergovernmental immunity, the state law is not preempted by federal law and the NWIPC operator does not have derivative sovereign immunity.
August 15, 2025
Timeclock Seller Prevails On Employer’s Cross-Claims In Illinois Privacy Action

CHICAGO — A company facing an ongoing class action involving finger-scan timeclocks that it sold has had an employer’s cross-claims against it dismissed with prejudice in an Illinois federal court, where a judge recently found that under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), “the templates at issue in this case constitute biometric information.”
August 14, 2025
Split 4th Circuit Vacates Preliminary Injunction In Unions’ DOGE Data Access Suit

RICHMOND, Va. — A trial court abused its discretion when it found that unions and veterans were likely to prevail on each issue raised in a lawsuit opposing the sharing of individuals’ personally identifiable information (PII) with the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), split Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, vacating a preliminary injunction and remanding for further proceedings.
August 14, 2025
7th Circuit Upholds Ruling Limiting Claims Heard By Jury In IDOT Retaliation Suit

CHICAGO — A Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found that a former Illinois transportation engineer could not prove that he was not “constructively discharged” and was assigned low-value projects as a result of complaints he filed alleging gender discrimination, affirming a portion of a trial court’s summary judgment order that limited claims heard by a jury in a Title VII retaliation suit.
August 14, 2025
JMOL, New Trial Motions Denied; $21.35M Retaliatory Termination Verdict Stands

SHERMAN, Texas — A federal judge in Texas denied four motions for judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) or a new trial by officials and government found to have contributed to the firing of a former police captain in retaliation for submitting an affidavit supporting a motion to change venue filed by a jail administrator charged with permitting an inmate to escape, upholding a jury’s award of $21.35 million in compensatory and punitive damages.
August 14, 2025
9th Circuit En Banc Majority Affirms Order Backing School District Vaccine Policy

SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals en banc majority ruled that a Los Angeles school district’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate policy was subject to review and survives under scrutiny because the district “could have reasonably concluded that COVID-19 vaccines would protect the health and safety of its employees and students” in affirming the trial court’s order granting the district’s motion for judgment on the pleadings.
August 13, 2025
Split 3rd Circuit: Plumber’s Termination Of Union Workers Did Not Repudiate CBA

PHILADELPHIA — An employer that stopped employing bargaining unit employees after a construction project ended and refused to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) did not effectively repudiate the CBA and is still bound by it in light of an “evergreen provision,” a split Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled, affirming judgment by a trial court.
August 13, 2025
Freedom Foundation Seeks High Court Review Of California Post-Janus Law

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A California law that permits only public employees, the employees’ exclusive representative and any vendors providing services to have access to information about new employee orientation sessions constitutes viewpoint discrimination under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the Freedom Foundation argues in its petition seeking review of the state law by the U.S. Supreme Court.
August 12, 2025
7th Circuit Reverses Religious Accommodation Claim In Transgender Student Name Case

CHICAGO — Citing “material fact disputes,” a Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel majority reversed and remanded an Indiana federal judge’s order granting 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.
August 12, 2025
Employees Amend Complaint Alleging Vaccine Mandate Violated Constitutional Rights

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — After a Connecticut federal judge granted a university health system’s motion to dismiss, finding that former employees alleging violations of their constitutional rights to “bodily autonomy, medical privacy and equal protection” caused by the health system’s mandatory COVID-19 policy and seeking damages under Section 1983 of Title 42 of the U.S. Code had failed to demonstrate that the health system was a state actor, the employees filed a second amended complaint.
August 11, 2025
Judge OKs $100,000 EEOC Settlement With TV Network Owner Sinclair

BALTIMORE — A Maryland federal judge has approved a consent decree in which Sinclair Broadcast Group LLC agreed to pay $100,000 to a former employee set settle an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint that the broadcaster underpaid the employee based on her race.
August 11, 2025
9th Circuit Affirms Judgment For Las Vegas In Employment Discrimination Case

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court’s entry of judgment for the city of Las Vegas in a Black female firefighter’s employment discrimination suit, finding that the court did not abuse its discretion by not resubmitting an inconsistent verdict to the jury; the panel also affirmed the lower court’s denial of the firefighter’s motion for a new trial.