Tag: U.S. Supreme Court

NLRB nominees face opposition during Senate committee hearing

On May 16, President Barack Obama’s nominees to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) went before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and the two nominees who were selected as recess appointees in 2012 failed to impress the committee’s ranking member, Senator Lamar Alexander. Alexander (R-Tennessee) said he would oppose the nominations of […]

NLRB wants Supreme Court review of recess appointments decision

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced on March 12 it will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review an appeals court decision that says the appointment of two Board members is invalid. In consultation with the Justice Department, the NLRB said it intends to file a petition by the April 25 deadline for Supreme […]

Supreme Court ruling bolsters use of mandatory arbitration

by Charles S. Plumb Employers requiring employees to submit disputes to mandatory arbitration rather than filing a lawsuit got a boost from a November 26 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in an Oklahoma case. In the case, two employees of Nitro-Lift, a provider of services to oil and gas well operators, left their jobs to work […]

Health Care Reform Law Moves One Step Closer to Supreme Court

The Obama administration surprised many yesterday when the U.S. Department of Justice asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its appeal of a decision by the Eleventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta that the health insurance mandate provision found in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the comprehensive health care reform […]

Arizona Petitions U.S. Supreme Court to Review S.B. 1070

By Dinita L. James Following through on the strategy announced in April, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer filed a petition yesterday asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the lower court decisions blocking implementation of key provisions of S.B. 1070, Arizona’s tough immigration law. A federal district judge in Arizona blocked four provisions of the law, […]

U.S. Supreme Court Building

Supreme Court Sets High Bar for Class Certification

by Brad Williams, Holland & Hart LLP The U.S. Supreme Court’s Dukes v. Wal-Mart decision is enormously consequential for employers, particularly those facing “bet-the-company” class actions involving allegations of widespread discrimination. In essence, the Court answered a number of outstanding procedural and interpretive questions involving the federal class-action device in such a way as to […]

U.S. Supreme Court Building

Supreme Court Provides Win for Employers in Wal-Mart Discrimination Lawsuit

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest private employer, in a massive lawsuit that has been called the largest employment class action in U.S. history. The class of plaintiffs in Wal-Mart Stores v. Dukes included approximately 1.5 million former and current female Wal-Mart employees seeking injunctive, declaratory, and monetary […]

U.S. Supreme Court Building

Supreme Court: Arizona Immigration Law That Targets Businesses Is Valid

Thursday, May 26, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Legal Arizona Workers Act (Act), an Arizona employment law that allows the state to sanction employers that knowingly or intentionally employ “unauthorized aliens.” The first provision of the Act punishes certain employers that hire unauthorized aliens by suspending or revoking their business licenses. The second provision […]

Supreme Court Sends ERISA Case Back to Lower Court for Second Look

Yesterday, May 16, 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a district court must take another look at a case that will determine whether approximately 25,000 employees are entitled to have their pension benefits recalculated under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). Although the Supreme Court indicated that the employees may be eligible for […]

Supreme Court Issues Employee-Friendly Decision in USERRA Case

Today, in Staub v. Proctor Hospital, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that an employer may be liable under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) when the discriminatory actions of an employee who doesn’t make employment decisions influence the employment decisionmaker. More specifically, the Court noted, “if a supervisor performs an act […]