Hiring signs are displayed in a grocery story window, two have yellow backgrounds and red lettering to show the pay scale and job titles available. Other signage shows the store is monitored by a camera and that masks are suggested

Wage And Hour Policy Developments To Watch This Fall

New state laws are taking effect in the coming weeks on stay-or-pay provisions, construction worker reporting time pay and pay transparency, while the U.S. Department of Labor could finalize independent contractor and home-care worker rules and potentially get a new Senate-confirmed leader. Here, Law360 explores wage and hour developments attorneys should keep an eye on in the new season.

Union Foe's Review Call Could Ease Dues Cancellations

A push to undo a decades-old National Labor Relations Board precedent letting unions restrict workers from withholding dues under lapsed contracts could deal a blow to unions, though there are reasons to doubt the board’s urgency to revisit this policy.

Starbucks Settles Fla. AG's 'Race-Based Quota' DEI Claims

Starbucks Corp. has agreed not to use race- or sex-based goals in hiring and promoting its employees and to not "participate in any organizations that require increasing the racial diversity of its board of directors" as part of a settlement with Florida's attorney general, according to an announcement made Thursday.

Expert Analysis

9th Circ. Ruling Raises Bar For Arbitration Pacts Via Email

Julia Jordan, Diane McGimsey and Ann-Elizabeth Ostrager

The Ninth Circuit's recent holding in Rickes v. Thermo Fisher that the mere delivery of an email doesn't establish... (more story)

9th Circ. Ruling Marks New Chapter In Risk Factor Tug-Of-War

Courtney Quirós, Susan Hurd and Lex Mayo

The Ninth Circuit's recent dismissal of a securities fraud class action against SunPower is the latest in a growin... (more story)

Attorneys Using AI May Have Ethical Duty To Redact Docs

Scott Diamond and Alexis Crump

The trajectory of legal ethics guidance in recent years strongly suggests that as redaction technology becomes mor... (more story)

Labor More

Patent Atty Can't Stop His USPTO Discipline Case, Judge Says

An Ohio federal court rejected a patent attorney's suit looking to stop U.S. Patent and Trademark Office disciplinary proceedings against him, saying Friday that he misread a "plain, unambiguous and easily und... (more story)

RI Judge Pulls Plug On EPA's $7B Solar Program Termination

A Rhode Island federal judge on Friday vacated the Trump administration's decision to cancel a $7 billion solar program for low-income households, ruling that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lacked au... (more story)

NLRB envelope
Hospital Says Loper Bright Backs Axing NLRB Successor Bar

The D.C. Circuit applied the U.S. Supreme Court's Loper Bright precedent correctly when it advanced an independent interpretation of labor law to conclude that employers don't need to continue recognizing unio... (more story)

Mass. Court Upholds Troopers' Firings Under Vax Order

Massachusetts' intermediate appellate court on Friday affirmed the firings of 13 state police troopers who failed to get COVID-19 vaccinations in 2021, finding that disciplinary decisions were not subject to a... (more story)

SEIU Seeks Early Win In Immigrant Worker Access Dispute

The Service Employees International Union and four Boston airport workers have asked a Massachusetts federal court to bar the Trump administration from revoking security clearances that allowed immigrants to w... (more story)

Calif. Forecast: Aramark Wage Deal Before Court

In the week ahead, attorneys should watch for a hearing on final settlement approval in a wage and hour class action against Aramark Services Inc. Here's a look at that case and other labor and employment matt... (more story)

NY Forecast: 2nd Circ. Hears PwC Arbitration Bid In Bias Case

In the week ahead, the Second Circuit will hear PwC's arguments for reversing a lower court order that kept a former partner's discrimination and retaliation suit in court instead of sending it to arbitration.... (more story)

Discrimination More

CIA Officers Urge 4th Circ. To Reject DEI Firings Rehearing

Career intelligence officers fighting their terminations following the Trump administration's anti-DEI executive orders told the Fourth Circuit Thursday that there's no point in granting an en banc rehearing o... (more story)

Wayne State Beats Doctor's Race Bias Suit Over Chair Job

A Michigan federal judge tossed a Black physician's discrimination and retaliation lawsuit against Wayne State University and several officials over his unsuccessful bid to become permanent chair of the medica... (more story)

Deck behind a home, fully furnished
Construction Co. Settles EEOC Suit Over Sex Contract

A home improvement company has settled a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission suit alleging it unlawfully fired an office manager after she refused to sign a "dominant/submissive contract" given to her... (more story)

Conn. Town Beats Firefighter's Appeal In Pot-Use Firing Suit

A Connecticut appellate panel declined Friday to reverse a firefighter's loss in a lawsuit he brought against the town of Waterbury after he was fired for using medical marijuana, holding that his challenge to... (more story)

11th Circ. Won't Revive Bias Suit Against Lockheed Martin

The Eleventh Circuit on Friday refused to revive a former employee's discrimination suit against Lockheed Martin, saying a lower court rightly tossed the case after the worker failed to comply with discovery o... (more story)

Reed Smith Defends Docs Production In Ex-Atty's Bias Suit

Reed Smith LLP urged a New Jersey court on Thursday to reject an "impulsive" motion from a former attorney suing it for gender discrimination seeking to strike its answer and affirmative defenses.

AMC To Pay $56K In EEOC Disability Bias Settlement

AMC Theatres agreed to pay $56,000 to resolve a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit alleging that a Maryland theater employee with cerebral palsy had accommodations illegally rescinded before ... (more story)

Wage & Hour More

Swift Seeks To Narrow Truckers' OT Class Over Rest Time

A trucking company has asked a Washington federal court to clarify that truck drivers certified to pursue overtime claims cannot also pursue a separate theory that rest and sleeper berth time is compensable, a... (more story)

Ex-TGI Friday's Bartender Says Tip Pool Cut Wages

A former bartender at a TGI Friday's in Atlanta's airport hit the restaurant's operators with a proposed collective action that accuses them of illegally requiring bartenders to share tips with kitchen and cle... (more story)

The name of a government agency above the entrance to its headquarters.
Dems Seek Probe Of Suspect Comments On DOL Proposal

A trio of Democratic lawmakers urged the federal government to open a probe into reports that a U.S. Department of Labor proposal to expand retirement plans' access to alternative investments was flooded with ... (more story)

Paralegal Says Fla. Injury Firm Fired Her Over OT Complaints

A Florida personal injury firm misclassified a paralegal and other workers as independent contractors, denied them overtime and fired the paralegal after she complained, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court. 

Staffing Co. Travel Time Suit Survives Challenge

A Kansas federal court has allowed hundreds of overnight travel workers to pursue a collective overtime claim against a staffing company over its policy of paying travel time only during normal business hours,... (more story)

Seyfarth Shaw Adds Veteran Employment Atty In Century City

Seyfarth Shaw announced on Wednesday it has hired the general counsel of The Mancini Foundation, a nonprofit focused on mental health awareness and advocacy, to join the firm's labor & employment practice in Los Angeles.

'Shrinking' Crew Member Says Exec Producer Groped Her

A former crew member on the Apple TV+ show "Shrinking" has sued Warner Bros. Television and one of the series' executive producers in California state court, alleging she was wrongfully terminated after raisin... (more story)