This decision has largely been cast as a win for Starbucks and a blow for labor. However, as other courts had already recognized, there is no language in the National Labor Relations Act that grants the NLRB special access to the powerful tool of preliminary injunctions. SCOTUS’s decision merely standardized that recognition across the federal circuits.
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Last year, the Minnesota Legislature enacted sweeping changes to the employment law landscape through the Jobs and Economic Development and Labor Omnibus Budget Bill. Now, Governor Tim Walz has signed the 2024 Omnibus Labor and Industry Policy Bill and the 2024 Transportation, Housing, and Labor Omnibus Budget Bill, which bring about several notable changes to Minnesota law covering pregnancy accommodations, restrictive covenants in service contracts, minimum wage, information required in job postings, and oral fluid drug, cannabis, and alcohol testing. The bills also contain provisions enacting changes to Minnesota’s earned sick and safe time law, paid family and medical leave, and worker misclassification, and changes to the Minnesota Human Rights Act have also been enacted.
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Honeyfund is part of a broader reconsideration of the limitations of DEI-related activity in the wake of Fair Admissions, which held race-conscious admissions policies violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. As current legislation and litigation trends illustrate, DEI-related legal battles do not seem to be abating anytime soon.
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The America First Legal Foundation, which filed suit on behalf of the plaintiff, included this action on its website as one of its “featured actions” in the “DEI” space. This case is similar to many other challenges to DEI programs in that the lawsuit was being brought by a plaintiff who has not applied to the program at issue. All told, the court found that the plaintiff did not have standing to bring a claim derived from an allegedly discriminatory policy from which she had yet to be subjected. The plaintiff has appealed to the Fifth Circuit. As these cases continue to unfold — at the trial level and on appeal — organizations should be prepared to assert standing defenses when it becomes clear that a plaintiff did not take these affirmative steps.
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Although the ruling has been appealed, plaintiffs bringing challenges to organizational DEI programs face standing concerns when they do not apply for or otherwise attempt to participate in those programs. As these cases continue to unfold, organizations should be prepared to assert standing defenses when it becomes clear that a plaintiff did not take these affirmative steps.
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A recent trade secret case from New York highlights the importance of how damages are calculated and emphasizes the need to conform those damages calculations to the applicable standards in your jurisdiction.
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