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More BigLaw firms bend the knee in Trump DEI crackdown
Four BigLaw firms with offices in Boston have agreed to settlements obliging them to provide pro bono services worth a combined total of $600 million to end federal investigations into whether the firms’ diversity, equity and inclusion policies ran afoul of employment discrimination law.
Employment – Discrimination – Hostile work environment
Where a plaintiff has claimed discrimination, a hostile work environment, and retaliation, the defendants are not entitled to summary judgment, as (1) a reasonable jury could find that the stated basis for termination was false, (2) the plaintiff has identified sufficient evidence from which a jury could conclude he was subjected to severe or pervasive conduct that was objectively hostile, and (3)[...]
Employment – Data breach – Standing
Where two plaintiffs who were required as a condition of their employment to provide the defendant with personally identifiable information have filed a complaint following a data breach, the plaintiffs lack standing for either damages or injunctive relief in the absence of any plausible allegation of actual misuse traceable to the data breach.
Employment – Timeclock rounding – Wage Act
Where a complaint was filed alleging that the defendants engaged in improper “time shaving” that resulted in employees not receiving their full earned wages and working uncompensated overtime, the defendants’ motion for summary judgment should be allowed because the defendants’ timekeeping system did not result over a reasonable period of time in failure to compensate employees properly fo[...]
Employment – Retaliation – Wage Act
Where a plaintiff has filed a Massachusetts Wage Act suit claiming to be owed a $155,000 commission, a count for the unpaid commission claim under the Wage Act must be dismissed the parties’ employment agreement expressly stipulates that the decision on payment is left solely to “the employer's discretion,” but a retaliation count should not be dismissed, as the plaintiff has pleaded plausib[...]
Employment – Title VII – Exhaustion requirement
Where a plaintiff alleging that the defendant discriminated and retaliated against her has moved to amend her complaint to assert only Title VII claims, the plaintiff did not exhaust her administrative remedies, so any attempt to amend her complaint to allege violations of Title VII would be futile.
Employment – Whistleblower – Dodd-Frank
Where a plaintiff has alleged that he was fired in retaliation for reporting the defendant’s actions to the Securities and Exchange Commission in violation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the defendant’s motion to dismiss should be denied, as it is plausible that the plaintiff qualifies as a whistleblower.
State employee’s survivors can’t get accidental death benefits
Survivors of a state employee who was killed in a car accident while returning to her office from an offsite meeting were not entitled to accidental death benefits, the Contributory Retirement Appeal Board has ruled.
Employment – Tip sharing
Where petitioners that operate two restaurants have filed an appeal challenging citations for wage and hour violations, the citations must be vacated in part, as the petitioners were not wrong to include a non-managerial employee in a tip sharing pool.
Attorneys: EEOC’s DEI focus doesn’t change law
Amid the flurry of executive orders President Donald Trump signed immediately upon returning to office was one titled: “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.” It was a declaration of war against the amorphous concept of “DEI” and what the order described as an “unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoils system.”
Employment – PPE – Donning and doffing
Where plaintiffs have alleged that the defendant willfully violated the Fair Labor Standards Act and other laws by requiring them to perform unpaid work before and after their scheduled shifts, a class should be conditionally certified consisting of all current and former hourly employees who worked for defendant at any of its manufacturing facilities and who were required to don and doff personal[...]
Remote exec can bring bias claim against California employer in Massachusetts
The Massachusetts-based general counsel of a Silicon Valley company can sue her California-based supervisor in Massachusetts for wrongful discharge under Chapter 151B, a U.S. District Court judge has held.
Verdicts & Settlements
- Injury during baby’s adenoidectomy leads to stroke
- Construction worker’s hand caught in cement mixer
- Worker trapped in freezer, dies during steam cleaning
- Pedestrian, 69, hit by motor vehicle while in crosswalk
- Four-vehicle pileup leaves driver with spinal cord injury
- Nursing home staff blamed for kidney-failure death
- Pharmacy’s late delivery blamed for patient’s death
- Man, 25, drowns after swimming lesson at fitness club
Opinion Digests
- Jurisdiction – Forum selection clause – Non-signatory
- Criminal – Responsibility
- Attorneys – Lien
- Landlord and tenant – Default judgment
- Zoning – Constructive grant – Comprehensive permit
- Fraud – False Claims Act – Settlement share
- Civil practice – Discovery – Cybersecurity
