Newsletter RSS

Mealey's Employment

  • February 24, 2026

    High Court Won’t Hear Speech Protection Case Of Police Chief Axed For Racist Texts

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 23 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a fired California city police chief asking the court to settle “an intractable 7-5 circuit split over how courts determine whether speech addresses a matter of public concern” that was exacerbated by the dismissal of her claims of retaliation and conspiracy pursuant to the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that she alleged in a lawsuit filed against her employer after her termination for forwarding reportedly racist text messages.

  • February 24, 2026

    High Court Rejects Boeing’s Petition In RLA Preemption Dispute With Pilots Union

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 23 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by the Boeing Co. asking the court to address whether state law claims brought against third parties that are unable to be resolved without interpreting a collective bargaining agreement between an airline and its workers are preempted by the Railway Labor Act in a dispute with the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA) over statements made regarding the safety and airworthiness of the 737 MAX for inclusion in the union’s agreement.

  • February 24, 2026

    Employers To Pay $1.7M In Attorney Fees Over Invasive Application Questions

    SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge granted final approval to a settlement of $1 per class member, amounting to approximately $172,000, and granted a motion for attorney fees of $1,775,000 to the plaintiffs’ attorneys to resolve class action claims against multiple employers for requiring job applicants to answer invasive medical inquiries, including when one plaintiff’s last menstrual period was, in violation of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) and California’s unfair competition law (UCL).

  • February 24, 2026

    Cross-Petitions Denied In Supreme Court FLSA Collective Lawsuit Notices Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 23 denied cross-petitions for a writ of certiorari filed by Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. and four former food servers regarding a dispute over the standard for federal district courts to authorize and facilitate notices to nonparties on behalf of plaintiffs when joining a lawsuit as a collective pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

  • February 24, 2026

    Supreme Court Won’t Review Church Autonomy Decision In Minister Defamation Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 23 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a former director of a general mission board of a regional cooperative missions and ministry organization seeking a ruling on church autonomy decisions after a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel majority upheld dismissal of a defamation lawsuit he filed against the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention Inc. (NAMB).

  • February 23, 2026

    U.S. Supreme Court Denies Service Members’ 2 Vaccine Mandate Petitions

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 23 denied two petitions filed by members of the U.S. Air Force and Space Force that asked the justices to consider in two class cases whether the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) allows for their reinstatement following their refusal to get the COVID-19 vaccine to include awards of back pay and retirement points.

  • February 23, 2026

    City Waives Response To Officers’ Petition For Review Of COVID Shot Data Suit Toss

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The city of Chicago waived its right to respond to a petition for writ of certiorari filed by current and former police officers asking the U.S. Supreme Court to address a circuit split regarding discovery and determine if a decision in an early 20th century smallpox case “should be limited or overturned in favor of a tiers-of-scrutiny approach in assessing First Amendment religious discrimination claims” in challenging the dismissal of claims that collection of their COVID-19 testing results and vaccination statuses violated federal and state law.

  • February 23, 2026

    White Sox, MLB Seek Dismissal Of Former Prospect’s Vaccine-Related Injury Lawsuit

    CHICAGO — Contending that it is untimely and suffers from other deficiencies, the Chicago White Sox (CWS) and Major League Baseball moved to dismiss the complaint of a former pitching prospect alleging negligence and violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in requiring that he be vaccinated for COVID-19 and in treating the symptoms that resulted from the vaccination and ultimately ended his career.

  • February 20, 2026

    5 Decades And Counting: Union, EEOC Case Still Unsettled After 2nd Circuit Ruling

    NEW YORK — The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission failed to persuade the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to overrule a federal judge’s denial of a proposed consent decree reached with a New York-based union and its affiliated associations that would have settled racial discrimination claims in litigation for more than 50 years; the court instead affirmed that the agreement was not “fair and reasonable.”

  • February 20, 2026

    Judge Approves EEOC, Geisinger Consent Decree In Disability Bias Suit

    PHILADELPHIA — Certain Geisinger hospital entities accused of discriminating against employees who took medical leave by requiring them to reapply and compete for employment opportunities when returning from leave agreed to make practice and policy changes and pay $450,000 in back pay and statutory damages to six workers, according to a consent decree between the entities and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that was approved by a federal judge in Pennsylvania.

  • February 19, 2026

    11th Circuit Majority Upholds Dismissal Of Non-FLSA Claims In CBD Franchisee Suit

    ATLANTA — An 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals majority held that a federal judge in Florida was correct in dismissing a fired CBD retail franchisee’s non-Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) claims of fraudulent transfer following a settlement agreement, finding that the enforceability of the release of the claims “is a matter of state contract law, not federal FLSA law.”

  • February 18, 2026

    Hotel Urges High Court To Affirm Federal Courts Have Post-Arbitration Jurisdiction

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a Feb. 17 response brief filed in a U.S. Supreme Court case challenging whether a federal court should retain jurisdiction after ordering a stay pending arbitration when deciding post-arbitration motions, the owners and operators of a West Hollywood luxury hotel argue that there is nothing in the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) or case law that “overrides the ordinary jurisdictional rules” stating that “federal courts with preexisting jurisdiction may resolve related claims in the same pending case.”

  • February 17, 2026

    Arbitration Of NFL Coaches’ Race Bias Claims Denied As High Court Mulls Petition

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York on Feb. 13 revised a March 2023 arbitration order in a race bias and retaliation putative class case brought by three current and former National Football League (NFL) coaches and denied in full arbitration sought by the NFL and three teams based on “[t]he NFL’s unilateral control over the dispute resolution process”; the trial court ruling was filed as the U.S. Supreme Court considers a petition for a writ of certiorari filed in the same case by the NFL and three teams concerning the enforceability of those same arbitration agreements that require Commissioner Roger Goodell to preside over the proceedings.

  • February 17, 2026

    Split 3rd Circuit Revives Hospital System Workers’ Title VII COVID Shot Claims

    PHILADELPHIA — A split Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated a lower court’s dismissal of Title VII claims brought by more than 100 employees of a Pennsylvania hospital network against their employer alleging failure to provide a reasonable accommodation for exemption from a systemwide COVID-19 vaccine policy on religious grounds, finding that the employees “plausibly alleged the circumstantial unreasonableness of” an accommodation that required them to undergo testing using swabs sterilized with a carcinogen.

  • February 17, 2026

    ‘Regarded As’ ADA Claim Based On COVID Vaccination Status Stayed Pending Mediation

    PITTSBURGH — In a former employee’s lawsuit brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) claiming that her employer failed to accommodate what it perceived as the medical disability of being immunocompromised after she refused to become vaccinated for COVID-19, a Pennsylvania federal magistrate judge ordered the case stayed pending the completion of mediation.

  • February 13, 2026

    Fired Sales Rep Wants High Court To View ‘Novel’ Circuit Ruling In Title VII Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A fired employee who brought federal and state harassment, discrimination and retaliation claims against the cleaning products manufacturer that terminated her is asking the U.S. Supreme Court in a petition for writ of certiorari to determine if the negligence standard that applies to claims of Title VII workplace harassment by a co-worker also applies to harassment by a customer.

  • February 12, 2026

    Wash. High Court To Review $936K Fine Of Restaurant That Operated During Pandemic

    OLYMPIA, Wash. — The Washington Supreme Court granted the petition of a restaurant business seeking review of a state appellate court affirmance of a trial court ruling that affirmed the imposition of fines totaling $936,000 by the state Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) for violations of COVID-era emergency proclamations prohibiting restaurants from offering dine-in services, which the business said were unconstitutionally excessive.

  • February 12, 2026

    Attorney Fee Denial In Federal Workers’ Lump-Sum Payment Class Case Vacated

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated a trial court’s denial of attorney fees for former government employees who negotiated a settlement with the United States in a class case over unused leave payments and directed the lower court on remand to address in the first instance whether the United States’ conduct prior to the lawsuit was “substantially justified.”

  • February 12, 2026

    Ohio Federal Judge Won’t OK FLSA Settlement In Pizza Delivery Driver Pay Suit

    CINCINNATI —  Joining what was described as an emerging trend in the district, a federal judge in Ohio held, in denying as moot an unopposed motion to approve a settlement agreement between a class of pizza delivery drivers and their employer over cost reimbursements, that the court is not required to approve the terms of a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) negotiated settlement and that doing so “would amount to an impermissible advisory opinion.”

  • February 11, 2026

    Connecticut Supreme Court: State Law Requires Pay For Mandatory Security Screening

    HARTFORD, Conn. — The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Feb. 10 that state law requires employees to be paid for time spent undergoing mandatory security checks and that no de minimis exception exists, addressing two questions certified by the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a putative class suit against Amazon entities.

  • February 11, 2026

    1st Circuit Revives Religious Bias Claims In COVID Jab Firing, Cites Similar Cases

    BOSTON — Following decisions in two similar cases, a First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated and remanded a trial court’s dismissal of state and federal discrimination and retaliation claims brought by two former managers of a large national toy manufacturer against their employer after they said they were forced to resign as a result of refusing to get vaccinated for COVID-19 for religious reasons.

  • February 10, 2026

    2nd Circuit Affirms NLRB Subpoenas, Rejects Fee Review In Fired Tour Guide Case

    NEW YORK —  A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a New York federal judge’s order enforcing four administrative subpoenas duces tecum and awarding attorney fees and costs to the National Labor Relations Board stemming from the firing of a New York City tour guide over unionization efforts, but the panel held that it lacked jurisdiction to review the lower court’s order fixing the amount of fees and costs due to the employee not filing a timely appeal.

  • February 10, 2026

    4th Circuit: DEI Executive Orders Preliminary Injunction Is ‘Too Strong’

    RICHMOND, Va. — A Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated as “too strong” a preliminary injunction entered by a federal judge in Maryland in a case challenging two January 2025 executive orders (EOs) targeting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) policies.  The panel noted that while the ruling was sought by the federal government parties, the groups that challenged the EOs and had been granted the preliminary injunction had asked the district court to vacate the injunction shortly after the appeal in order to amend their complaint.

  • February 10, 2026

    AFGE Opposes Final Rule That Transfers Federal Worker RIF Review To OPM

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) issued a statement on Feb. 9 opposing a final rule published three days earlier that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) states will designate federal agencies’ “policy-influencing positions” as at-will positions that will be “excepted from adverse action procedures or appeals.” 

  • February 09, 2026

    Government’s Appeals Of Firms’ 4 Cases Over EOs Consolidated; Briefing To Commence

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a Feb. 6 order consolidated federal government parties’ appeals of rulings for four law firms that separately sued after each was targeted in March and April 2025 executive orders (EOs) in which President Donald J. Trump described the firms’ “risks” to the country.  The consolidation order stated that the appellants’ combined opening brief is due March 6 and directed the consolidated cases to go before the same panel considering the government’s appeal in another case in which attorney Mark S. Zaid alleges that his security clearance was revoked in retaliation for representing whistleblowers and others who have complained about the federal government.