The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and Ranew’s Management Co. Inc., a Georgia industrial company, reached a consent decree in Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Ranew's Management Co. Inc. et al., case number 5:21-cv-00443, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. The decree provides that the company will pay J. Bryant Beeland, a former chief financial officer, $250,000, Read More

Based on a lack of standing, a California federal district court dismissed a former Taco Bell recruiter's suit against the popular chain restaurant and its parent company, Yum Brands. The former recruiter had alleged that the companies had violated ERISA by intentionally misclassifying him as an independent contractor to deny him access to employee benefits, including the employee pension plan. U.S. District Judge Read More

A panel of the Fifth Circuit affirmed a Texas federal court decision to dismiss a Texas personal injury law firm’s $2.1 million referral fee lawsuit against an Ohio law firm. The Fifth Circuit agreed with Ohio law firm Morgan Verkamp that its reply to one unsolicited email from the Texas law firm of Danziger & De Llano did not create sufficient connections to subject it to Texas law. The case is Danziger & De Read More

A D.C. federal district court judge has dismissed the claims of Louisiana crawfish peelers who filed suit over a wage determination rule concerning the H-2B guest worker program. They claim that they have experienced decreases in their pay rates because the rule allows employers to submit their prevailing wage data instead of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). However, the judge did permit the Read More

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld a lower court ruling that C&S Wholesaler Grocers, Inc. (C&S) was not responsible for a $58 million payment to a Teamsters pension fund. A unanimous three-judge panel of the court noted that an ERISA provision could make a successor liable for pension payments in some circumstances. However, the panel concluded that the provision did not apply in the case Read More

The U.S. House of Representatives Oversight and Reform Committee held a two-hour roundtable discussion on February 3, 2022, with six former Washington Football Team (WTF) employees concerning sexual harassment and workplace misconduct claims under the team's owner Dan Snyder. An attorney for Snyder has categorically denied the accusations by former employees, some of which arose for the first time during the Read More

A U.S. magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey granted the defendant’s request that Superior Court Judge Deborah M. Gross-Quatrone undergo an independent medical exam (IME) in her workplace discrimination claims against Bergen County Superior Court officials. The case is Deborah Gross-Quatrone v. Bonnie Mizdol et al., case number 2:17-cv-13111, U.S. District Court for the District Read More

An outdoor guide company and a trade association representing several such companies have filed suit challenging the authority of President Joe Biden through the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to implement a federal minimum wage hike for federal contractors. This wage increase would extend to guides and outfitters on federal lands. Duke Bradford, owner of Arkansas Valley Adventure LLC d/b/a AVA Rafting and Read More

In See's Candies Inc. et al. v. Superior Court of California for the County of Los Angeles, filed in the Court of Appeal of the State of California, Second Appellate District, a California appeals court in early January 2022 refused to grant See's Candies Inc.’s demurrer in a case involving the death of an employee’s husband from the coronavirus. The lawsuit alleges that See’s insufficient safety protocols led to a Read More

In Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Ranew's Management Co. Inc. et al., filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) has alleged that a Georgia-based fabrication, coating, and assembly company illegally discriminated against its chief financial officer by firing him after he sought treatment for severe Read More