The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) has filed suit against Cornerstone Labor Services for failure to give adequate notice of a mass layoff at its West Virginia Coal Mountain Mine in violation of the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN), which requires employers to give 60 days’ advance notice of a mass layoff or plant closing. The UMWA filed the suit on behalf of Local Union 8783, Read More

On July 23, 2021, the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team (USWNT) filed an appeal with the Ninth Circuit to revive their unequal pay claim against the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) that was dismissed by a California federal judge in May 2020. The case - Alex Morgan, et al v. United States Soccer Federation - was brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Equal Pay Act. The women soccer players claimed Read More

Parties in a class action lawsuit against Lumber Liquidators have asked a New York court to approve a settlement deal of approximately $7 million to resolve any state and federal wage claims by workers who allege the flooring retailer denied them overtime pay by misclassifying them as exempt. In Ashleigh Mason et al. v. Lumber Liquidators, a group of former and current Lumber Liquidators store managers and store Read More

An Arkansas healthcare worker has sued a hospital for withdrawing its employment offer after learning that the prospective employee uses medical marijuana, which is legal in Arkansas.  In Balance Reed v. Northwest Arkansas Hospitals LLC, plaintiff Reed is seeking class action status against Northwest Arkansas Hospitals, LLC (NWAH), which operates several hospitals in the state, including Northwest Medical Read More

The Georgia Court of Appeals has ruled that an employee injured in a slip-and-fall accident on the way to her employer’s parking lot during her lunch break qualifies for Georgia workers’ compensation benefits. The decision reverses the court’s prior rulings due to a June 2020 Georgia Supreme Court holding that injuries suffered during lunch or bathroom breaks are considered to have occurred in the course of Read More

One of the first lawsuits to be filed over vaccine mandates was dismissed in June by a Texas district court that found limits on employee behavior is “part of the bargain” of employment. The suit challenged Houston Methodist Hospital’s vaccine mandate after the hospital suspended 178 employees for failing to meet the vaccination deadline.  In their claim, Houston Methodist employees argued that taking the vaccine Read More

On June 25, 2021, President Biden issued an Executive Order on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce, stating that the federal government “must be a model for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, where all employees are treated with dignity and respect.” The Order charges the Office of Personnel Management and the Office of Management and Budget with leading efforts to Read More

Once again, the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a case concerning whether wedding vendors can refuse to provide services to same-sex wedding ceremonies based on their First Amendment religious beliefs. The case - Arlene's Flowers Inc. v. Washington - came on appeal from the Washington Supreme Court, which had affirmed a lower court ruling that a florist’s refusal to provide flowers for a same-sex wedding Read More

A former Dollar Tree employee in Illinois has filed a proposed class action against the company and its subsidiary, Family Dollar Inc., for violating the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by requiring employees to scan their fingerprints every day to clock in and out of work. BIPA prohibits private entities from collecting, storing, buying, or selling an individual’s biometric information without Read More

Three federal appellate courts are set to address whether COVID-19-related injury and wrongful death litigation belong in state courts where the cases originated or in federal courts under the Federal Officer Removal Statute. Third Circuit In June, a Third Circuit panel heard arguments in a pair of cases where two New Jersey nursing homes accused of failing to protect patients from COVID-19 are seeking to have the Read More