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Cases — January 30th through February 5th, 2022

Scott Ellsworth - February 4, 2022February 5, 2022 - Employee Status, Independent Contractors, Labor Commission, Occupational Disease, Utah Court of Appeals, Utah Labor Commission, Utah Supreme Court, Workers Compensation

Contract~Noncompete~Trade Secret~Wrongful Termination Jensen Tech Services v. Labor Commission (Utah Ct. App., February 3, 2022) (setting aside Commission decision identifying respondent Herrera as Jensen’s employee for workers’ compensation purposes: the Commission failed to properly and completely apply the legal standards that govern employee-vs.-independent-contractor determinations; its right-to-control analysis, moreover, was faulty) Workers Compensation ~ Occupational Safety […]

Cases — January 23rd through 29th, 2022

Scott Ellsworth - January 28, 2022 - 10th Circuit, Black Lung Benefits, Discrimination, ERISA, Investment, Medical Opinion, Procedure, Retaliation, Tenth Circuit, Workers Compensation

Discrimination ~ Retaliation *Barker v. Utah Department of Environmental Quality (10th Cir., January 28, 2022) (affirming dismissal Barker’s complaint for retaliation against her because of her earlier, settled lawsuit from 2015: Barker failed to name the DEQ as the defendant in her amended complaint, did not timely file her discrimination charge with the EEOC, and […]

Cases — January 16th through 22nd, 2022

Scott Ellsworth - January 23, 2022 - Contract, Procedure, Utah Court of Appeals, Wrongful Termination

Contract ~ Noncompete ~ Trade Secret ~ Wrongful Termination Ostler v. Department of Public Safety (Utah Ct. App., January 21, 2022) (reversing denial of Ostler’s motion to amend his complaint after dismissal: Because both sides put forth reasonable interpretations of the contact provision at issue, the provision was, by definition, ambiguous. Thus, Ostler’s amended complaint […]

Cases — January 9th through 15th, 2022

Scott Ellsworth - January 15, 2022January 24, 2022 - 10th Circuit, Employee Pension Plans, ERISA, Occupational Disease, Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), Retirement, Tenth Circuit, US Supreme Court, Wages, Workers Compensation

ERISA and Employee Pension Plans Babcock v. Kijakazi (U.S., January 13, 2022) (affirming determination that Babcock’s retirement benefits should be reduced (a “windfall elimination”) to reflect his receipt of both a civil-service pension and military pension payments for his work as a dual-status National Guard technician: Civil-service pension payments based on employment as a dual-status […]

Cases — January 2nd through 8th, 2022

Scott Ellsworth - January 10, 2022 - Jurisdiction, Miscellaneous, Procedure, Utah Court of Appeals

Miscellaneous Schvaneveldt v. South Davis Metro Fire Service Area (Utah Ct. App., January 6, 2022) (granting South Davis’s motion for summary disposition and dismissing for lack of jurisdiction: astonishingly, no statute in the Utah Code confers jurisdiction on the courts over South Davis’s final decision to terminate Schvaneveldt—a serious gap in Utah statutory law: employees […]

Cases — December 26th, 2021, through January 1st, 2022

Scott Ellsworth - January 1, 2022January 1, 2022 - Uncategorized

No Cases

Cases — December 19th through 25th, 2021

Scott Ellsworth - December 27, 2021January 25, 2022 - 10th Circuit, Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), Discrimination, Retaliation, Tenth Circuit

Discrimination~Retaliation *Harper v. Arrow Electronics (10th Cir., December 21, 2021) (affirming summary judgement in favor of Arrow Electronics on Harper’s race- and age-discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims: Harper did not establish a prima-facie case for any of her claims, nor did she suffer any adverse employment action) Workers Compensation~Occupational Safety & Disease Herrmann v. Salt […]

Cases — December 12th through 18th, 2021

Scott Ellsworth - December 20, 2021December 20, 2021 - 10th Circuit, Discrimination, First Amendment, Labor Commission, Miscellaneous, Procedure, Religious Discrimination, Retaliation, Salary, Severance, Tenth Circuit, Wages

Discrimination~Retaliation *Flores v. City of Farmington (10th Cir., December 13, 2021) (affirming judgment on the pleadings and summary judgment in favor of Farmington on the plaintiffs’ claims of First-Amendment free-speech retaliation and religious discrimination: because the first defendant’s speech was made pursuant to his official duties, it did not enjoy First-Amendment protection; the second defendant’s […]

Cases — December 5th through 11th, 2021

Scott Ellsworth - December 11, 2021 - 10th Circuit, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Discrimination, FMLA, Franchise, Retaliation, Sexual Harassment, Tenth Circuit, Workers Compensation

Workers’ Compensation ~ Occupational Safety and Disease *Mares v. Colorado Coalition for the Homeless (10th Cir., December 7, 2021) (affirming summary judgment for the CCH on Mares’s claim that she was fired in violation of the ADA: Mares did have approval for intermittent FMLA leave, but she she was still required to give CCH notice, […]

Cases — November 28th through December 4th, 2021

Scott Ellsworth - December 6, 2021 - 10th Circuit, Arbitration, Discrimination, Employee Status, Public Employees, Retaliation, Tenth Circuit, Wages

Discrimination~Retaliation *Benaissa v. Salina Regional Health Center, Inc. (10th Cir., December 2, 2021) (affirming summary judgment in favor of Salina on Benaissa’s Title VII discrimination and retaliation claims: The EEOC and, later, the District Court, correctly concluded that, since Benaissa was not an employee of Salina, all of his Title VII discrimination and retaliation claims […]