On March 31, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a decision in Badgerow v. Walters, No 20-1143, addressing when federal courts have jurisdiction to rule on motions to confirm, modify, or vacate arbitration...more
On June 15, 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled, in a 6-to-3 decision, that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from firing workers for being homosexual or transgender. Justice Neil...more
6/16/2020
/ Altitude Express Inc v Zarda ,
Bostock v Clayton County Georgia ,
Civil Rights Act ,
EEOC v RG & GR Harris Funeral Homes ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gender Identity ,
Hiring & Firing ,
LGBTQ ,
SCOTUS ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Orientation ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII ,
Transgender
The Supreme Court of the United States kicked off its 2019-2020 term on October 7, 2019, with several noteworthy cases on its docket. This term, some of the issues before the Court will likely have great historical...more
10/9/2019
/ Age Discrimination ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
LGBTQ ,
Limitation Periods ,
SCOTUS ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII ,
Transgender
On June 3, 2019, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the precondition in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requiring employees to file a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)...more
6/4/2019
/ Administrative Procedure ,
Appeals ,
Certiorari ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Exhaustion Doctrine ,
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ,
Fort Bend County Texas v Davis ,
Jurisdiction ,
SCOTUS ,
Split of Authority ,
Title VII
On November 6, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) applies to all states and political subdivisions—regardless of their size. In an opinion that...more
On July 9, 2018, President Trump announced his nominee to be the next justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, replacing Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, who, on the last day of the October 2017 term, announced that he...more
On June 27, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States announced its decision in a case that tested the constitutionality of requiring mandatory payment of “fair share” union dues to be paid by non-member public sector...more
6/27/2018
/ Collective Bargaining ,
Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Fair Share Contribution ,
First Amendment ,
Janus v AFSCME ,
Opt-Outs ,
Public Employees ,
Public Sector Unions ,
SCOTUS ,
Unions
On June 4, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States settled a controversy stemming from a bakery’s refusal to make a cake for a same-sex couple’s wedding reception. Justice Kennedy, writing for the majority, ruled that...more
6/5/2018
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
First Amendment ,
Free Exercise Clause ,
Free Speech ,
LGBTQ ,
Masterpiece Cakeshop Ltd v Colorado Civil Rights Commission ,
Private Sector ,
Religious Discrimination ,
Reversal ,
Same-Sex Marriage ,
SCOTUS
In its April 2, 2018, decision in Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Navarro, the Supreme Court of the United States issued its second opinion in this case and definitively ruled that automobile service advisors are exempt from...more
4/3/2018
/ Car Dealerships ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Navarro v Encino Motorcars ,
Over-Time ,
SCOTUS ,
Service Advisors ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
On February 21, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the anti-retaliation provision of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act does not extend to an individual who has not...more
On July 19, 2017, the Supreme Court of the United States released the October 2017 term’s calendar for oral arguments, including the date it will hear oral argument in the three consolidated class action waiver cases that are...more
On June 16, 2017, Ogletree Deakins filed an amicus brief in the class action waiver cases that are currently before the Supreme Court of the United States: National Labor Relations Board v. Murphy Oil USA, Inc., Epic Systems...more
6/19/2017
/ Amicus Briefs ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
D.R. Horton v NLRB ,
Employment Contract ,
Epic Systems Corp v Lewis ,
Ernst & Young v Morris ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Murphy Oil v NLRB ,
NLRA ,
SCOTUS
On May 30, 2017, the Supreme Court of the United States held that section 56 of the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) does not address personal jurisdiction over railroads. The two underlying lawsuits were filed in...more
On April 7, 2016, the U.S. Senate confirmed the nomination of Neil M. Gorsuch to fill the vacant seat on the Supreme Court of the United States. Gorsuch’s nomination establishes a 5-4 conservative majority on the high court,...more
On April 6, 2017, Senate Republicans invoked the nuclear option - clearing the road for the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Neil M. Gorsuch. As a result, Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States is...more
Since the death of Associate Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court of the United States, the political world has been waiting—through a failed nomination of a successor, a presidential campaign and election, and the...more
On June 23, 2016, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the race-conscious admission program that a public university used for undergraduate admissions was lawful under the Equal Protection Clause of the...more
6/24/2016
/ Affirmative Action ,
College Admissions ,
Diversity ,
Equal Protection ,
Fisher v University of Texas ,
Fourteenth Amendment ,
Race Discrimination ,
Reverse Discrimination ,
SCOTUS ,
Strict Scrutiny Standard ,
Universities ,
University of Texas
On June 20, 2016, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a ruling regarding the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) overtime exemption for “any salesman, partsman, or mechanic primarily engaged in selling or servicing...more
6/21/2016
/ Arbitrary and Capricious ,
Car Dealerships ,
Chevron Deference ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Navarro v Encino Motorcars ,
Over-Time ,
SCOTUS ,
Service Advisors ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
On May 23, 2016, the Supreme Court of the United States decided when the limitations period for filing a lawsuit begins to run for a federal employee claiming he or she resigned—or was “constructively discharged”—due to...more
5/24/2016
/ Constructive Discharge ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Federal Employees ,
Green v Brennan ,
Race Discrimination ,
Resignation ,
Retaliation ,
SCOTUS ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Title VII ,
USPS
On May 16, 2016, the Supreme Court of the United States decided a case, Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, (No. 13–1339), involving standing to maintain an action in federal court. In the Spokeo case, an individual claimed that a search...more
Regardless of one’s preferred metaphor, the Supreme Court of the United States is adept at ducking, punting, and otherwise avoiding messy and socially divisive interpretive issues. Every once in a while, the parties even help...more
5/17/2016
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Contraceptive Coverage Mandate ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Freedom of Religion ,
Nonprofits ,
Popular ,
Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) ,
Remand ,
SCOTUS ,
Vacated ,
Women's Rights ,
Young Lawyers ,
Zubik v Burwell
On March 29, 2016, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a per curiam opinion in a case on the validity of public-sector “agency shop” arrangements, which permit unions to charge a fee (in order to pay for select...more
On the first day of decisions since the unexpected passing of Justice Scalia, the Supreme Court of the United States ventured into the thorny area of preemption under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and...more
On January 20, 2016, the Supreme Court of the United States decided another case in a line of cases addressing the issue of class action mootness. Specifically, the justices ruled that an unaccepted settlement offer or offer...more
On January 20, 2016, the Supreme Court of the United States addressed the first of several ERISA-related cases on its October 2015 docket, reversing the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals and concluding that the trustees of...more