U S Supreme Court Employment Law Cases

Status	Case Name Link to summary and briefs	Issue
Decided December 10, 2012	Kloeckner v. Solis	HELD: MSPB "mixed case" appeals are filed in district court, not in the Federal Circuit
Oral argument November 26, 2012	Vance v. Ball State University	Issue: Scope of the "supervisor" liability rule under Title VII
Oral argument December 3, 2012	Genesis HealthCare Corp v. Symczyk	Issue: Mootness of FLSA Section 216(b) collective action
Oral argument March 27, 2013	United States v. Windsor	Issue: Constitutional ity of Defense of Marriage Act; jurisdiction; standing
Oral argument March 25, 2013	Oxford Health Plans v. Sutter	Issue: Authority of arbitrator to order class action arbitration
Oral argument to be scheduled	University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center v. Nassar	ISSUE: Standard of proof in Title VII retaliation cases
Oral argument to be scheduled	Sandifer v. United States Steel	ISSUE: What constitutes “changing clothes” within the meaning of Section 203(o) of the Fair Labor Standards Act?

Decided January 11, 2012	Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School	Held: Ministerial exception bars minister's termination suit against church
Decided June 21, 2012	Knox v. Service Employees Int’l Union	Held: Mid-year union dues increase requires Hudson notice (7-2); nonmembers must affirmatively consent (5-4)
Decided March 20, 2012	Coleman v. Maryland Court of Appeals	Held: FMLA self-care leave provision is not enforceable against states (5-4)
Decided April 17, 2012	Filarsky v. Delia	Held: Private lawyer retained by government is entitled to seek qualified immunity
Decided June 11, 2012	Elgin v. Department of the Treasury	Held: No district court jurisdiction for federal employee challenging adverse employment action (6-3)
Decided June 18, 2012	Christopher v. SmithKline Beecham Corp	Held: Pharmaceutical sales representatives are FLSA exempt as outside salesmen (5-4); DOL's interpretation given no deference
Decided June 25, 2012	Arizona v. United States	Held: State statute criminalizing unauthorized aliens who work is preempted (5-3)

Decided January 11, 2011	Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research v. United States	Held: Court upholds IRS's categorical exclusion of medical residents from the student exemption from Social Security tax
Decided January 19, 2011	National Aeronautics and Space Administration v. Nelson	Held: NASA's background investigations did not violate federal contract employees' constitutional right to informational privacy
Decided January 24, 2011	Thompson v. North American Stainless, LP	Held: Title VII creates a cause of action for third-party retaliation for persons who did not themselves engage in protected activity
Decided March 22, 2011	Kasten v. Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corp	Held: Oral complaint is protected conduct under FLSA's anti-retaliation provision
Decided March 1, 2011	Staub v. Proctor Hospital	Held: If a supervisor performs an act motivated by antimilitary animus that is intended by the supervisor to cause an adverse employment action, and if that act is a proximate cause of the ultimate employment action, then the employer is liable under USERRA
Decided April 27, 2011	AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion	Held: Federal Arbitration Act preempts state law that made class action waiver unconscionable (5-4).
Decided May 16, 2011	CIGNA Corporation v. Amara	Held: ERISA relief is possible without showing detrimental reliance
Decided May 26, 2011	Chamber of Commerce of the United States v. Whiting	Held: Arizona statute that imposes sanctions on employers who hire unauthorized aliens is not preempted (5-3)
Decided June 20, 2011	Borough of Duryea v. Guarnieri	Held: First amendment retaliation liability under the Petition Clause is limited to matters of public concern
Decided June 23, 2011	CSX Transportation v. McBride	Held: FELA plaintiff need not prove proximate cause; "played any part" instruction is approved
Decided June 20, 2011	Wal-Mart Stores v. Dukes	Held: 1.5 million member class cannot be certified

Certiorari denied February 28, 2011	Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp v. Lopes	Whether highly-paid pharmaceutical sales representatives are covered by the FLSA

Decided December 8, 2009	Union Pacific Railroad Company v. Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen General Committee of Adjustment, Central Region	Held: Pre-arbitration conference is not a jurisdictional prerequisite to National Railway Adjustment Board arbitration
Decided April 27, 2010	Stolt-Nielsen S.A., et al. v. AnimalFeeds International Corp.	Held: Imposing class arbitration on parties who have not agreed to it violates Federal Arbitration Act (5-3) [Not an employment law case.]
Decided March 30, 2010	Graham County Soil & Water v. US ex rel Wilson	Held: Qui tam suit is barred by prior disclosure in county and state reports (7-2).
Decided April 21, 2010	Conkright v. Frommert	Held: ERISA Plan administrator's interpretation is entitled to deference even after reversal for violating ERISA (5-3).
Decided June 21, 2010	Granite Rock Company v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters	Held: Court, not arbitrator, decides CBA's ratification date; new cause of action for tortious interference rejected
Decided May 24, 2010	Lewis v. City of Chicago	Held: In disparate impact case, the use of an earlier unlawful employment practice states a claim.
Decided June 17, 2010	New Process Steel v. National Labor Relations Board	Held: NLRB cannot act when only two of its five positions are filled (5-4)
Decided June 17, 2010	City of Ontario v. Quon	Held: Search of police pager text messages was reasonable, so no 4th amendment violation
Decided June 21, 2010	Rent-A-Center West v. Jackson	Held: Arbitrator, not court, decides whether arbitration agreement is unconscionable (5-4)
Decided May 24, 2010	Hardt v. Reliance Standard Life Insurance Company	Held: ERISA claimant can get attorney fees if there is "some degree of success on the merits."

Certiorari DENIED 06/28/2010	Golden Gate Restaurant Assoc v. City and County of San Francisco	Whether ERISA preempts local laws mandating employer contributions for employee health-benefits
Case settled, removed from docket February 24, 2010.	Health Care Service Corporation v. Pollitt, et al.	Whether Federal Employees Health Benefits Act preempts state law claims


Decided January 21, 2009	Locke v. Karass	Held: Supreme Court allows local union to charge non-members for national litigation expenses
Decided March 9, 2009	Vaden v. Discover Bank	Held: Arbitration: Federal court may “look through” a §4 petition to determine whether it is predicated on a controversy that “arises under” federal law; however, a federal court may not entertain a §4 petition based on the contents of a counterclaim when the whole controversy between the parties does not qualify for federal-court adjudication. [Not an employment law case.]
Decided January 26, 2009	Crawford v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee	Held: Answering questions during employer's internal investigation is protected against retaliation
Decided January 26, 2009	Kennedy v. Plan Administrator for Dupont Savings and Investment Plan	Held: ERISA plan administrator must pay according to plan documents
Decided February 24, 2009	Ysursa, Idaho Secretary of State v. Pocatello Education Association	Held: State ban on political payroll deductions, as applied to local governmental units, does not infringe unions' 1st amendment rights.
Decided April 1, 2009	14 Penn Plaza LLC v. Pyett	Held: A provision in a collective-bargaining agreement that clearly and unmistakably requires union members to arbitrate ADEA claims is enforceable as a matter of federal law.
Decided May 15, 2009	AT&T Corporation v. Hulteen	Held: Seniority system insulates retirement calculations based on pre-PDA rules that differentiated on the basis of pregnancy (7-2)
Decided June 18, 2009	Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc.	Held: Burden-shifting "mixed motives" instruction is never proper in an ADEA case
Decided June 29, 2009	Ricci v. DeStefano	Held: City violated Title VII by discarding racially disproportionate test results (5-4)

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