James Williams, an animation technician who had worked at Universal Studios Hollywood since 2022, has sued NBCUniversal under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act. Williams claims that after his employer reprimanded him for missing work due to illness, he was fired two days after submitting paperwork for intermittent leave under California’s Family Rights Act based on his HIV status. The case is Williams v. Read More

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the summary judgment dismissal of a former worker’s FMLA retaliation and interference case in favor of Baltimore Gas & Electric Co., parent company Exelon Corp., and several individual employees. The Court ruled that the gas company’s suspicions of dishonesty concerning the former mechanic’s request for medical leave based on Read More

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently ruled that whether an employee failed to follow her employer’s procedures for requesting leave was due to “unusual circumstances” was a factual matter for the jury to decide. That factual question would determine whether the employee could sue the employer for violating the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The case is Crispell v. FCA, No. 23-1114 (June 18, Read More

Although the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas has blocked the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) new overtime rule for Texas state employees, the initial salary threshold increases under the new rule went into full force and effect for the rest of the United States on July 1, 2024. The overtime rule raises the minimum salary threshold for employees classified as “exempt” under the Fair Labor Read More

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned a 40-year-old precedent in striking down the so-called “Chevron” test, which instructed courts when they should defer to federal agencies’ interpretations of law in rulemaking. In its 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court discarded the analysis first adopted in its 1984 decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, holding that the test improperly elevated the executive branch’s Read More

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the lower Court's grant of summary of judgment in favor of a radiology practice in a lawsuit brought by a former doctor at the practice. Jason Browning alleged that he was fired after requesting medical leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). However, the Eleventh Circuit ruled that the district court did not err when it failed to allow the Read More

The U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has filed a response to an Illinois hog farm’s motion to dismiss its Title VII sexual harassment suit on behalf of a transgender former employee. The EEOC filed suit against Sis-Bro in Illinois federal court in March. The company’s president insisted on calling the unidentified former employee by her former name and criticized her for seeking gender-affirming care when Read More

The U.S. Supreme Court has granted the certiorari petition of a retired Florida firefighter, who has asked the high Court to consider whether the anti-discrimination provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) apply to post-employment benefits for retirees. Karyn Stanley is challenging a decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, which dismissed her discrimination suit against the Read More

The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) final rule that makes most noncompete agreements unenforceable, with a few exceptions, has been the target of significant litigation in recent months. The prohibition on noncompetes is inapplicable to certain industries, such as airlines, financial services, and non-profits, and to existing agreements with "senior executives." The final rule defines senior executives as people Read More

According to Quest Diagnostics, one of the nation’s leading drug-testing laboratories, positive marijuana tests among the U.S. workforce increased to 4.5% in 2023. The percentage of positive tests was 4.3% in 2022 and 3.1% in 2019. In 2023, Quest conducted about 8.4 million urine drug tests for employers, plus 1.3 million oral fluid tests and 73,000 hair tests. Meanwhile, the overall percentage of workers testing Read More