329 results for 'cat:"Employment" AND cat:"Labor"'.
J. Korman enters judgment in favor of a former chief operating officer on her breach of contract claim, finding her employer breached her employment contract by failing to pay her full salary as well as a $280,000 bonus. However, the court grants judgment to the employer on her state labor law claims for unpaid minimum wages, finding she is exempt from the law’s minimum wage provisions because she is a high-level professional.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Korman, Filed On: May 13, 2024, Case #: 1:21cv473, NOS: Fair Labor Standards Act - Labor, Categories: employment, Contract, labor
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J. Nelson issues a judgment of $141,300 against USPS for firing an employee after she reported a workplace-related injury. USPS fired the employee within 21 days of her protected activity and just 11 days before her probationary period would end, and USPS never trained the employee on how to use the boat hook that ultimately injured her.
Court: USDC Oregon, Judge: Nelson, Filed On: May 10, 2024, Case #: 3:21cv1454, NOS: Other Labor Litigation - Labor, Categories: employment, labor
J. Bredar denies a freight transport company’s motion for summary judgment in this Family Medical Leave act lawsuit stemming from 63 current and former employees’ complaints. The case has been stayed for several years until the unions pursued arbitration proceedings against the company for suspending or terminating the employees after being accused of abusing the FMLA leave. The freight firm alleges the Railway Labor Act preempts the claims and that if the claims are not preempted, then they are time-barred. The arbitrators did not find a key reason for firing the employees to be pretextual. Therefore, the company failed to meet the burden showing the preclusion issue is warranted.
Court: USDC Maryland, Judge: Bredar, Filed On: May 8, 2024, Case #: 1:18cv744, NOS: Family and Medical Leave Act - Labor, Categories: Arbitration, employment, labor / Unions
J. Conley denies the construction company's motion to dismiss claims from a class action from employees in part alleging they were not paid their full pay rate or overtime wages for time spent loading trucks and driving to and from job sites. The company's motion to dismiss the employees' state-law claims based on an argument of preemption under the Labor Management Relations Act is premature. The company's motion to stay proceedings pending resolution of a union grievance is denied, as it's not clear how intertwined the grievance and the lawsuit are such that the lawsuit needs to be stayed. The employees' motion to strike the company's reply brief is denied.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Conley, Filed On: May 8, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv461, NOS: Fair Labor Standards Act - Labor, Categories: employment, labor / Unions
J. Heytens finds the lower court improperly granted the county judgment when it found no reasonable adjudicator could view the facts in a way that would make incarcerated workers employees for the purpose of the act. A group of imprisoned people working at a recycling plant sued the county, alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and two Maryland statutes. There is no definite rule that such workers cannot be covered by the act when they work outside their detention facility’s walls and for someone other than their immediate detainer. Vacated.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Heytens , Filed On: May 8, 2024, Case #: 23-1731, Categories: employment, labor, Prisoners' Rights
J. Morrison preserves a Fair Labor Standards Act complaint against two health care staffing agencies brought by the U.S. Labor Department on behalf of two Filipino nurses. The department alleges the agencies entered into employment contracts with three-year commitments and are now seeking thousands of dollars in damages after the nurses decided to quit prior to the end of their contracts, a system that the Labor Department claims constitutes illegal kickbacks and ultimately violates federal minimum wage and overtime regulations. The court rules the agency has standing to enforce the FLSA under both Article II and Article III of the Constitution, and its claims sufficiently allege violations under federal wage laws.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Morrison, Filed On: May 8, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv2119, NOS: Fair Labor Standards Act - Labor, Categories: employment, labor
J. Kness partially grants the Illinois Department of Corrections’ motion for summary judgment on an older Black employee’s claims of age and race discrimination, and retaliation for union association. The employee, who oversees several parole officers, claims his spotty disciplinary record with the department is the result of systemic ageism and anti-Black racism and departmental retaliation for his efforts to unionize his office. The court finds most of the employee’s discrimination claims either untimely or lacking sufficient evidence, but also finds there is sufficient evidence to support his claim for union activity retaliation against several specific department personnel.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Kness, Filed On: May 8, 2024, Case #: 1:18cv282, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: employment Discrimination, employment Retaliation, labor / Unions
J. Johnson denies summary judgment to a maintenance company on its argument a black employee’s racial bias claim should be dismissed. His supervisor allegedly referred to him with racist profanity with another employee outside the litigant’s presence. The Fifth Circuit recognizes that while "a single instance of a racial epithet does not, in itself, support a claim of hostile work environment,” perhaps “no single act can more quickly alter the conditions of employment and create an abusive working environment than the use of an unambiguously racial epithet such as [the N-word] by a supervisor in the presence of his subordinates.”
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Johnson, Filed On: May 8, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv560, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Evidence, employment Discrimination, labor
J. Sessions denies a construction and excavation business, and its board members motion to dismiss in this Fair Labor Standards Act dispute brought by the Department of Labor alleging unlawful retaliation against employees that received back wages from a settlement. The employees alleges that the board members made false and retaliatory statements on the social media platform Facebook. The DoL plausibly alleged the conduct was a retaliation threat based on coercion making it plausibly unprotected. Discovery may proceed and the Labor Department’s motion to amend is also denied.
Court: USDC Vermont, Judge: Sessions, Filed On: May 7, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv560, NOS: Fair Labor Standards Act - Labor, Categories: employment Retaliation, labor
J. Shea grants the employer's motion to compel arbitration, ruling the contract at issue in this case is between two business entities and, therefore, is not covered by any exemption to the Federal Arbitration Act, including the exemption involving workers engaged in interstate commerce, such as the delivery drivers who brought the suit. Additionally, the fee-shifting provision of the arbitration clause does not render it unconscionable because the drivers have not shown arbitration costs would be prohibitive, while the bold and large type on the contract negates any argument the agreement was deceptive.
Court: USDC Connecticut, Judge: Shea, Filed On: May 2, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv1695, NOS: Other Labor Litigation - Labor, Categories: Arbitration, employment, labor
J. Pepper grants the insurance company's motion to intervene, bifurcate and stay in a lawsuit against the mechanical contractor from an employee claiming she was not paid any overtime wages. As the contractor's commercial insurer, the insurance company will be allowed to intervene in the lawsuit and bifurcate its issues of coverage from the merits of the case. Because it properly balances potential prejudices against the company and the employee, proceedings in the lawsuit are stayed until the insurance coverage issues are resolved.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Pepper, Filed On: April 30, 2024, Case #: 2:24cv38, NOS: Fair Labor Standards Act - Labor, Categories: employment, Insurance, labor
J. Walton partially grants the employer's motion to dismiss the employee's suit alleging nonpayment of wages, failures to pay correct overtime rates for overtime hours and employee misclassification. The employee's misclassification claims under the McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract Act fail because the Act does not create a private right of action for such claims, but her claims independent of that Act survive.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Walton, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv3094, NOS: Fair Labor Standards Act - Labor, Categories: employment, labor
J. McKeown grants the National Labor Relations Board’s application for enforcement of its order directing Starbucks in Seattle to cease and desist from failing and refusing to recognize and bargain with a union. The Board held that by refusing to recognize and bargain with the union, Starbucks engaged in unfair labor practices. Starbucks refused to recognize and bargain with the union, claiming that the regional director should have ordered an in-person election instead of a mail-in vote. The Board correctly applied its own law in determining that the regional director appropriately exercised its discretion to hold a mail-ballot election. The certification of the union’s representative was proper, and the Board correctly found that Starbucks committed a violation by refusing to bargain.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: McKeown, Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: 22-1969, Categories: employment, labor / Unions
J. Boasberg denies the union's former national secretary-treasurer's motions for a new trial and attorney fees in his suit against the union alleging that he was improperly disciplined for sending a campaign email to members in his run for the union's presidency. The jury's verdict, which found the union liable for the secretary-treasurer's first removal from office but not his second and awarded him no damages, does not represent an impermissible compromise since there is no inherent conflict between the liability finding and the decision not to award damages. The court also did not err in issuing an instruction requiring that he prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the union removed him from his position because of protected speech, and the court's decision not to issue a nominal-damages instruction did not preclude a finding of nominal damages. That issue was also not preserved. Evidence of reputational harm was not improperly excluded, or indeed excluded at all. Finally, attorney fees are not appropriate because, whether or not he could be counted as "successful" in this suit, members of the union were not benefited by that victory and the secretary-treasurer has repeatedly engaged in vexatious litigation behavior.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Boasberg, Filed On: April 22, 2024, Case #: 1:17cv1867, NOS: Labor/Management Relations - Labor, Categories: employment, labor / Unions
J. Seybert grants a construction worker’s motion for reconsideration, but again finds he lacks standing to bring claims for wage statement and notice violations against his employer under the Wage Theft Prevention Act. The court subsequently enters default judgment in his favor on his unpaid regular and overtime wages claims and awards him $17,217 in unpaid wages, plus that amount in liquidated damages, as well as pre- and post-judgment interest.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Seybert, Filed On: April 16, 2024, Case #: 2:21cv4959, NOS: Fair Labor Standards Act - Labor, Categories: employment, Damages, labor
J. Gillmor dismisses a complaint by a former government accusing her union of filing a grievance on her behalf when she was fired over Covid-19 vaccination requirements. The employee does not make any direct claims of religious or otherwise discrimination that led to the union not filing. The employee’s complaint is more focused on her actual employer, who is not a defendant, and barely addresses the union’s role.
Court: USDC Hawaii, Judge: Gillmor, Filed On: April 15, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv335, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Covid-19, employment Discrimination, labor / Unions