[WEBINAR] Preparing for Changes in the “Vested Rights Doctrine” - Understanding Plan Design Options
[VIDEO] Legal Update: Is the California Rule in Flux?
[VIDEO] Pension Liability by the Numbers
[VIDEO] Perspectives: The Practical Effects of Today's Pension Programs
On July 8, 2025, the Supreme Court of the United States granted the Trump administration’s request to stay a lower-court judge’s order blocking President Donald Trump’s plan to reduce and restructure the federal workforce,...more
Deivert v. Zartman and Borough of Northumberland, 2025 WL 83747 (M.D.Pa. 2025) - (Neither a municipality nor a municipal manager had immunity under the Pennsylvania Political Subdivision Tort Claims Act (“PPSTCA”) for the...more
The line between protected political speech and workplace disruption depends largely on who signs your paycheck. Public employees enjoy First Amendment protections that private sector workers lack, but even government...more
A public-school teacher wears a MAGA hat at a training session on cultural sensitivity (Dodge v. Evergreen School District #114, 56 F.4th 767 (9th Cir. 2022)), an actress in a mega-million-dollar film posts controversial...more
The Wyoming Legislature has wrapped up its 2025 session, but not before adopting several new laws governing public employers. Three of these laws were not specifically drafted as employment laws, but will have significant...more
Detschelt v. Norwin School District 23-cv-1402 (W.D. Pa. Dec. 20, 2024). The District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania dismisses complaint filed by school director which alleged that statement issued by the...more
Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, 597 U.S. __ (2022) (The United States Supreme Court concludes that a coach praying at mid-field following a high school football game was engaged in private religious expression...more
The Supreme Court addressed the intersection of the First Amendment’s Establishment and Free Speech clauses as they relate to a public employee’s personal religious expression when done in the public eye. In a 6-to-3...more
The widely reported Supreme Court case Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, No. 21-418 (S. Ct. June 27, 2022) warrants all the attention it has been getting. The Court’s penalty flag against the local Washington school...more
On Monday June 27, the Supreme Court issued their ruling in the case Kennedy v. Bremerton School District. (We previously reported on this case.) In a 6-3 decision penned by Justice Neil Gorsuch, the conservative majority...more
On April 25, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, which we previously reported on. As you may recall, the case involves a high school football coach, Joseph Kennedy, who was...more
Alfred Siegel v. John Fitzgerald, III, No. 21-441: This case, involving the Bankruptcy Judgeship Act of 2017 (“BJA”) applicable to Chapter 11 bankruptcies, presents the following question: Whether the BJA violates the...more
On September 23, 2020, the California Supreme Court issued orders in each of the four cases it had accepted for review but deferred pending its resolution of Alameda County Deputy Sheriff's Association, et al. v. Alameda...more
On April 15, 2020, the California Supreme Court scheduled oral argument in the much-anticipated California Supreme Court public retirement case, Alameda County Deputy Sheriff's Association, et al. v. Alameda County Employees'...more
Press and Journal, Inc. v. Borough of Middletown, Civil Action No. 1:18-CV-2064 (M.D. Pa. 2018) (Borough faces a civil rights claim for retaliation against newspaper for unfavorable press coverage). BACKGROUND - The...more
In Janus v. AFSCME, Counsel 31, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional for a State or labor union to require public-sector employees who are not union members to pay fees to the union....more
Public employee unions differ from those representing private sector employees due to constitutional protections afforded to their members and potential members. For example, the U.S. Supreme Court held in 1977 that the First...more
On June 27, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Janus v. American Federal of State, County, and Municipal Employees, holding that the First Amendment does not permit states to require public-sector employees to contribute...more
The decades-long battle over union security faces two important pivot points during the summer of 2018. On June 27, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States handed unions a major defeat in the season’s first major fight. ...more
On June 27, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States announced its decision in a case that tested the constitutionality of requiring mandatory payment of “fair share” union dues to be paid by non-member public sector...more
It appears that a number of labor unions are planning for the potential negative impact of a big decision regarding fair share fees. We have heard from several public sector clients who have been contacted directly, or who...more
In the latest state appellate decision addressing the constitutionality of the California Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act of 2013 (“PEPRA”) and other recent pension reform legislation, Division One of the First District...more
As we previously reported, in July 2015, the United States Supreme Court decided to hear an appeal of a case from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit regarding the legality of “fair share” fees for public...more
The U.S. Supreme Court has granted certiorari in Janus v. Am. Fed'n of State, Cty. & Mun. Employees, Council 31 to decide whether it is constitutional to require public employees to pay agency fees (also known as "fair share"...more
On Aug. 17, 2016, Division Two of the First District Court of Appeal issued a unanimous published decision in MAPE et al. v. MarinCERA, et al. (Aug.17, 2016, A139610) upholding the constitutionality of certain aspects of the...more