The Briefing – Late Night, Early Dismissal: The Santos-Kimmel Copyright Case
(Podcast) The Briefing – Late Night, Early Dismissal: The Santos-Kimmel Copyright Case
Fifth Circuit Affirms District Court’s Striking of Class Allegations
Eighth Circuit Reverses Dismissal of Putative Class Claims
Nota Bene Episode 98: The U.S. Supreme Court’s Mark on U.S. Antitrust Law for 2020 with Thomas Dillickrath and Bevin Newman
Class Action Suit Against Instagram for New Terms of Service Dismissed
Two of the biggest employment law fallacies we encounter relate to employees’ beliefs about the impact of their off-duty behavior on their careers. First, we see situations where the workers claim that employers have no right...more
In September 2023, federal trial courts in Wisconsin and Kentucky issued decisions dismissing plaintiffs’ claims related to employers’ COVID-19 vaccination and testing requirements....more
On May 17, the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina made a significant ruling in Phillips v. Wolfspeed, Inc., where a former employee’s claims of pregnancy discrimination and retaliation were...more
Can a social media firestorm be the basis for an employment decision? Although it may seem like a lifetime ago, in the spring of 2020, the internet’s attention turned to a viral video of a white woman in Central Park who...more
On August 26, 2022, Chief U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania dismissed a putative class action representing approximately 100 healthcare...more
Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston dismissed the appeal of a group of Whole Foods employees who were disciplined for wearing face masks with the phrase “Black Lives Matter” at work. In Frith...more
On May 20, 2022, in McVey v AtlantiCare Medical System, the New Jersey Appellate Division Panel affirmed the dismissal of an employee’s case holding that her termination was not in violation of the protections afforded to...more
In early September 2021, a group of current and former employees of St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Kentucky filed suit challenging St. Elizabeth’s vaccine mandate for its employees. In the case of Beckerich v. St. Elizabeth...more
On May 28, 2021, a group of Houston Methodist Hospital employees filed a lawsuit challenging the hospital’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employees. The lawsuit, filed by 117 employees, was the first to challenge a health...more
Since vaccines have become readily available, employers have been grappling with whether they should mandate vaccines for employees. Most companies have chosen to “strongly encourage” employees instead of mandating, and many...more
Last week, a federal district court judge in Texas dismissed a lawsuit filed by a group of Houston hospital workers who object to their employer’s requirement that all employees receive the COVID-19 vaccination. The...more
On April 1, 2021, Houston Methodist Hospital announced that all of its employees would be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by June 7, 2021, but that it would provide accommodations to any employee with disability...more
Concluding that a highly publicized lawsuit challenging Houston Methodist Hospital’s mandatory vaccination policy failed to state viable legal claims and misrepresented certain facts, federal Judge Lynn Hughes dismissed the...more
On February 5, a federal court in Massachusetts entered an order dismissing Title VII claims brought against Whole Foods by a number of employees who were disciplined for wearing masks or other items supportive of the Black...more
As the COVID-19 vaccine becomes more readily available, employers are considering mandatory vaccination for their employees and in particular, how to respond to employee requests for accommodation, whether on the basis of...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently reminded employers that they should create and maintain contemporaneous documentation for their personnel decisions and implement flexible progressive...more
A federal court in Indiana dismissed an employee’s claim that his employer did not have the right to request a medical examination after he tested positive for drugs and subsequently admitted that he was taking numerous...more
In David v. Queen of the Valley Medical Center (QVMC), 2020 WL 3529683 (certified for publication Cal. Ct. App. June 30, 2020), the employer’s legally compliant policies were crucial in getting the California Court of Appeal...more
It is no surprise to any Iowa employer that the state has one of the most complex drug testing statutes in the country. Iowa Code §730.5 places the burden specifically on the employer to show strict compliance and can be...more
Unused vacation time can represent a substantial liability on the books for many employers. Therefore, the extent to which you can control the payout of unused vacation time upon an employee’s separation from employment is an...more
In a 3-1 ruling that should be hailed by employers across the country, the National Labor Relations Board just made it harder for employees to successfully claim that their workplace gripes constitute protected concerted...more
With flu season here and reported incidents of deaths caused by diseases thought to have been eradicated by vaccines on the rise, many healthcare providers are considering mandatory vaccination of employees. The Centers for...more
“Claims of sexual harassment typically involve the behavior of fellow employees. But not always.” So begins a recent opinion from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that illustrates the dangers of failing to take an employee’s...more
Be aware! Today’s decision of the European Court of Human Rights (“ECHR”) may force companies to rethink their policies on private internet use of their employees at work (No. 61496/08). The Straßburg court held a...more
The highest court in West Virginia recently affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit in which an employee challenged the decision to terminate her employment after she refused to submit to a reasonable suspicion drug test. Layne...more