A white Harvard University wordmark on a window

1st Circ. Rejects Harvard's Bid To Nix Union Award

The First Circuit has declined to vacate an arbitration award ordering Harvard University to include a group of doctoral psychology students in a bargaining unit for graduate student workers, rejecting the college's claims that the dispute can't be arbitrated. 

Vaccination in progress

4 Argument Sessions Bias Attys Should Watch In October

The Seventh Circuit will take on tricky employment discrimination questions in cases over vaccine requirements and recent U.S. Supreme Court precedent, while the Third Circuit will weigh in on a contentious equal pay fight and the Second Circuit will consider an attorney's fight to revive her bias case. Here's a look at four oral arguments that discrimination attorneys should keep tabs on in October.

Harvard University in Boston Massachusetts USA

EEOC Sues Harvard To Pry Loose Info On Diversity Programs

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission urged a Massachusetts federal court to force Harvard University to hand over information about its diversity and inclusion programs, calling the school's response to an agency subpoena "grossly deficient."

Expert Analysis

3rd Circ. Ruling Shows ADA Limits Amid Worker Misconduct

Jason Kaufman and Mallory Campbell

In Hileman v. West Penn Allegheny Health System, the Third Circuit recently rejected a wrongful termination claim ... (more story)

Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: September Lessons

Mitchell Engel

In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses six recent rulings involvi... (more story)

How Employers Can Navigate NLRB Rulings Ripe For Reversal

Howard Lavin

Given a recent National Labor Relations Board memo seeking to reverse several precedents — including on severance ... (more story)

Labor More

Mass. Hospital Says It Can't Arbitrate Union's Pay Claims

A Massachusetts hospital asked a federal court to declare that a Service Employees International Union local cannot arbitrate its class action grievance alleging the hospital failed to correct violations of a ... (more story)

NLRB Atty Says Evidence Doesn't Support 'Salts' Bias Case

It would be prohibitively tough to prove a fire sprinkler company violated federal labor law by rejecting several union organizers for jobs given evidence it exclusively hired workers who, unlike these "salts,... (more story)

Kroger supermarket (istock.com/JHVEPhoto)
Kroger Says NLRB's Dues Checkoff Change Was Rulemaking

The National Labor Relations Board engaged in rulemaking disguised as adjudication in a 2022 decision that held employers cannot cease withholding dues from employee paychecks after the expiration of a labor c... (more story)

Texas Biz Court Pares Southwest Union's Boeing Suit

A Texas Business Court judge pared back the scope of claims brought by the pilots union for Southwest Airlines against The Boeing Co. after regulators grounded the 737 Max aircraft, saying Monday that the pilo... (more story)

9th Circ. Rejects Worker's Bid To Revive Dues Challenge

The Ninth Circuit has upheld a ruling tossing claims that an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union forged a government employee's signature on a dues authorization form, ruling that the employ... (more story)

Greenberg Traurig Adds Employment Atty In West Palm Beach

Greenberg Traurig has hired a former Carlton Fields attorney in West Palm Beach to help lead the continued growth of the Florida office's labor and employment practice, the firm announced on Tuesday.

10th Circ. Sides With Early Retirees In Union Pension Fight

The Tenth Circuit on Tuesday backed a group of union retirees who alleged they were wrongly denied early retirement benefits from a multiemployer pension plan after they withdrew from work that was covered by ... (more story)

Discrimination More

EEOC Says Retailer Forced Older Workers To Give Up Stock

A sporting goods retailer unlawfully forced workers age 40 and older to give up vested employee stock ownership plan shares if they failed to work at least 1,000 hours in a year, the U.S. Equal Employment Oppo... (more story)

EEOC Says Grocer Fired Pregnant Workers Who Sought Help

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said in a lawsuit filed Wednesday that grocery and retail chain Fred Meyer Stores violated the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act when it terminated two employees fo... (more story)

White building with pillars
2nd Circ. Says EFAA Bars Arbitration Of Ex-Exec's Entire Suit

The Second Circuit ruled Wednesday that an ex-executive can keep her case in court after asserting sexual harassment claims against a Texas law firm, ruling the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Harassment a... (more story)

EEOC Claims UPS Yanked Deaf Applicant's Job Offer

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claimed in a Thursday lawsuit that UPS violated federal civil rights law by offering a job to a deaf applicant and then later rescinding the role after failing ... (more story)

Former NJ Transit Atty Launches Age Bias Suit Over Firing

A former New Jersey Transit assistant general counsel told a New Jersey state court that the agency fired him due to his age while also failing to abide by its own human resources policies in making its decision.

Smithfield Foods Can't Escape EEOC Age Bias Suit

Meat processor Smithfield Foods must face a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit alleging it fired a senior sales employee because she was approaching 60, after a Georgia federal judge conclude... (more story)

EEOC Sues Staffing Firm Over 'ONLY H1B' Job Notice

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued an information technology recruiting firm over alleged discriminatory practices after the company allegedly broke off contact with an American applican... (more story)

Wage & Hour More

DOJ Calls Meat Plant Workers' Wage-Fixing Deals 'Inadequate'

The U.S. Department of Justice intervened Tuesday in Colorado federal court antitrust litigation accusing the country's largest meat producers of fixing wages at their beef and pork processing plants, arguing ... (more story)

GAO Calls For DOL Fixes As Child Labor Violations Rise

The U.S. Department of Labor needs to improve how it tracks injuries and deaths among working children and targets child labor investigations as the number of violations cited by the agency has generally risen... (more story)

Front facade of a large stone courthouse building with arched windows, columns, dark double doors and engraved capital letters above the entrance.
Ex-Worker Urges 4th Circ. To Revive Wage, Retaliation Claims

A former worker at a sports bar in North Carolina urged the Fourth Circuit to revive her wage, retaliation and emotional distress claims, saying that a lower court improperly kept surviving claims from a jury ... (more story)

Detainees Urge Justices To Deny Prison Co.'s Wage Appeal

Immigrant detainees and Washington state asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reject a prison operator's bid to review a ruling on minimum wages for detention facility workers, arguing a federal agency changed the ... (more story)

Ga. Delivery Co. Wraps Up Former Driver's OT Suit

An Atlanta-area FedEx delivery contractor and a former worker have resolved a proposed collective action in Georgia federal court that accused the company of paying drivers a flat wage and withholding overtime pay.

'Bikini Barista' Owner Asks Judge To Trim $1.8M Award

The owner of Beehive Espresso, which operates Seattle-area kiosks known as bikini barista coffee stands, asked a state judge to rethink a $1.86 million judgment for baristas, arguing that the court imposed uni... (more story)

Target Accused Of Shorting Colo. Workers On Pay And Breaks

A former Target employee in Arapahoe County, Colorado, claimed in state court Monday that the company is violating state wage laws by not compensating employees for all hours worked or repaying them for busine... (more story)