The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently joined the Fourth, Sixth, Eighth, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits, in ruling that class or collective arbitrability is a gateway question that is presumptively for the court to decide, rather than the arbitrator. In so ruling, the Court vacated the trial court’s order enforcing a $10 million federal “wage and hour” Fair Labor Standards Act arbitration award against the defendant. A copy of the opinion in Herrington v. Waterstone Mortgage Corporation is available at: Link to Opinion. The plaintiff filed a putative class and collective action against her former employer. She alleged…
Posts published in “Employment Law”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit recently affirmed summary judgment in favor of a bank that was sued by a putative class alleging discriminatory employment practices that supposedly violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Iowa Civil Rights Act. In so ruling, the Court held that the plaintiffs failed to establish a prima facie case of disparate impact because even if the bank’s policy of summarily terminating applicants or employees with a criminal conviction involving dishonesty or breach of trust had a disparate impact, the bank’s decision to comply with the applicable…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently held that mortgage underwriters were not exempt under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and were therefore entitled to overtime compensation for hours worked in excess of 40 per week. After analyzing the specific details of the underwriters’ responsibilities, the Ninth Circuit panel concluded that, because the underwriters’ primary job duty did not relate to their employer bank’s management or general business operations, the administrative employee exemption to the FLSA’s overtime requirements did not apply. Recognizing that there was a split between the Second Circuit and Sixth Circuit as…
In a case involving allegations that a bank employer violated state and federal laws by not allowing an employee to work remotely from home when she became pregnant, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently vacated in part the trial court’s judgment adopting the jury’s verdict in the bank’s favor and the trial court’s disqualification order in the bank’s favor, and dismissed the appeal in part as to the employee’s claim under the New York State Human Rights Law (NYSHRL), remanding for further proceedings. A copy of the opinion in Sheng v. M&TBank Corporation is available at:…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit recently denied a mortgage company’s petition for review and granted the National Labor Relations Board’s cross-petition for enforcement, holding that the NLRB correctly determined that the mortgage company’s workplace rules unreasonably burdened its employees’ ability to discuss legitimate employment matters, protest employer practices and organize in violation of section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act. A copy of the opinion in Quicken Loans, Inc. v. NLRB is available at: Link to Opinion. A loan officer began working in the mortgage company’s Scottsdale, Arizona office and signed an employment agreement…