Contract ~ Noncompete ~ Trade Secret ~ Wrongful Termination Kennedy v. Bremerton School District (U.S., June 27, 2022) (reversing summary judgment in favor of the school district on Kennedy’s first-amendment religious-freedom claim: the free-exercise and free-speech clauses of the first amendment protect an individual engaging in a personal religious observance (prayer)from government reprisal; the Constitution […]
Discrimination ~ Retaliation *Avant v. Doke (10th Cir., June 23, 2022) (recognizing a First-Amendment right against retaliation for perceived, rather than actual, speech in the context of a claim for retaliatory discharge) Workers Compensation ~ Occupational Safety and Disease U.S. v. Washington (U.S., June 21, 2022) (reversing determination that Washington State law was constitutional that […]
Discrimination~Retaliation *Alabi v. Vilsack (10th Cir., June 21, 2021) (affirming summary judgment in favor of the USDA on Alabi’s claims of retaliation, hostile work environment, and discrimination: Alabi failed to exhaust his administrative remedies on most of his claims, there was no evidence of material disadvantage from the USDA’s letter of warning, and the minor […]
Contract ~ Noncompete ~ Trade Secret ~ Wrongful Termination *Williams v. United States (10th Cir., April 22, 2021) (dismissing Williams’ appeal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction: Williams raised no nonfrivolous argument for reversal of the the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the United States on his claims for tortious interference […]
Public Employer ~ Employees Brownback v. King (U.S., February 25, 2021) (reversing the Sixth Circuit’s determination that the district court’s dismissal of King’s Federal Tort Claims Act claims did not trigger the 28 USC §1346(b) judgment bar to block his Bivens claims: The District Court’s order was a judgment on the merits of the FTCA […]
Workers’ Compensation ~ Occupational Safety and Disease *Tesone v. Empire Marketing Strategies (10th Cir., February 5, 2021) (affirming summary judgment in favor of Empire Marketing on Tesone’s disability discrimination claim: Tesone had no evidence from which to establish disability under the ADA) Salinas v. United States Railroad Retirement Board (U.S. Supreme Court, Februay 3, 2021) […]
Contract~Noncompete~Trade Secret~Wrongful Termination Alfaro-Huitron v. Cervantes Agribusiness (10th Cir., December 11, 2020) (reversing summary judgment in favor of Cervantes on Plaintiff’s claims for breach of contract and violation of the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act: the evidence suffices for a finding that the hiring contractor was acting as Cervantes’s agent when it […]
Discrimination~Retaliation Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia (U.S., June 15, 2020) (reversing 11th Circuit decision that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act does not prohibit the termination of employees for being gay: In Title VII, Congress adopted broad language making it illegal for an employer to rely on an employee’s sex when deciding to fire […]
Discrimination ~ Retaliation Bussey v. Esper (10th Cir., June 5, 2020) (affirming dismissal of Bussey’s retaliation claim: He waived this argument because he raised it for the first time on appeal; moreover, substantial evidence indicated that his supervisors knew nothing of his complaints before firing him) ERISA Thole v. U.S. Bank (U.S., June 1, 2020) […]
Discrimination ~ Retaliation *Smith v. U.S. Department of Labor (10th Cir., June 12, 2019) (dismissing, as untimely, Smith’s petition for judicial review of his unsuccessful complaint under the Surface Transportation Assistance Act) Wages Parker Drilling Management Services, Ltd., v. Newton (U.S., June 10, 2019) (holding that, where federal law addresses a relevant issue—in this case, […]
