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Employment Rulings in the D.C. Circuit

The D.C. Circuit covers the federal courts in the District of Columbia. The rulings below come from the circuit's court of appeals and the federal trial courts within it.

Of the 1,453 published rulings we track here (19732026), the breakdowns below show how they were decided. They describe published opinions only — not the odds of any particular situation.

How These Rulings Ended

Of the 1,453 published rulings we track in the D.C. Circuit.

Defendant Win
711 (49%)
Mixed Result
267 (18%)
Plaintiff Win
195 (13%)
Dismissed
147 (10%)
Remanded
128 (9%)
Settlement
5 (0%)

What Happens at Each Stage

A workplace lawsuit moves through stages, and a ruling can end it at any of them. Here is where the 1,447 rulings we could classify by stage were decided.

Appeal
848 (59%)

A higher court reviewing an earlier decision. Many published opinions come from this stage, after a lot has already happened in the case.

Summary judgment
196 (14%)

A ruling where the judge decides the case — or part of it — without a trial, because one side argues the key facts are not in dispute. For workers, getting past this step is often the biggest hurdle.

Of the 196 summary-judgment rulings here, 102 ended the case in the employer’s favor and 94 let the worker’s claims continue.

Motion to dismiss
357 (25%)

An early request — usually by the employer — to throw the case out before any evidence is gathered.

Trial verdict
5 (0%)

A judge or jury heard the evidence and reached a decision. Relatively few disputes get this far.

Settlement / consent decree
2 (0%)

The two sides resolved the dispute by agreement, sometimes with court approval. Most settlements are private and never show up in published opinions.

Default judgment
29 (2%)

A decision entered because one side did not respond to the case at all.

Other rulings
10 (1%)

Procedural decisions and orders that do not fit the main stages above.

States in This Circuit

Browse rulings from courts in each state the D.C. Circuit covers.

Recent Rulings in the D.C. Circuit

MSHR

May 7, 2019D.C. CircuitDefendant Win

Hall

Apr 15, 2019D.D.C.Defendant Win

Parada Torres v. Unite Here Local 25

Apr 3, 2019D.D.C.Defendant Win

Bettencourt

Mar 30, 2019D.D.C.Mixed Result

Service Employees International Union National Industry Pension Fund v. Ltp Generations, LLC

Mar 29, 2019D.D.C.Plaintiff Win

New York v. U.S. Dept. Of Labor

Mar 28, 2019D.C. CircuitPlaintiff Win

Wheeler

Mar 27, 2019D.D.C.Defendant Win

Univ. of S. Cal. v. Nat'l Labor Relations Bd.

Mar 12, 2019D.C. CircuitMixed Result

University of Southern CA v. NLRB

Mar 12, 2019D.C. CircuitMixed Result

Novato Healthcare Ctr. v. Nat'l Labor Relations Bd.

Mar 5, 2019D.C. CircuitPlaintiff Win

SERVICE EMPLOYEES v. Jersey City Healthcare Providers, LLC

Feb 13, 2019D.C. CircuitPlaintiff Win

Service Employees International Union National Industry Pension Fund v. Jersey City Healthcare Providers, LLC

Feb 13, 2019D.D.C.Plaintiff Win

Hillman

Jan 28, 2019D.D.C.Mixed Result

Lozada

Jan 23, 2019D.D.C.Defendant Win

National Treasury Employees Union v. United States of America

Jan 18, 2019D.D.C.Defendant Win

Service Employees International Union National Industry Pension Fund v. Palisades Operations, LLC

Jan 16, 2019D.D.C.Plaintiff Win

Browning-Ferris Indus. of Cal., Inc. v. Nat'l Labor Relations Bd.

Dec 28, 2018D.C. CircuitMixed Result

Salls

Nov 8, 2018D.D.C.Mixed Result

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority v. Local 689, Amalgamated Transit Union

Oct 26, 2018D.D.C.Mixed Result

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Wal-Mart Stores East, Lp

Oct 25, 2018D.D.C.Dismissed

Service Employees International Union National Industry Pension Fund v. Parkway Healthcare, LLC

Sep 30, 2018D.D.C.Plaintiff Win

Azar

Sep 21, 2018D.D.C.Dismissed

Preeminent Protective Servs., Inc. v. Serv. Emps. Int'l Union

Sep 10, 2018D.C. CircuitDefendant Win

Preeminent Protective Services Inc. v. Service Employees International Union Local 32bj

Sep 10, 2018D.D.C.Plaintiff Win

Teachers Coll. v. Nat'l Labor Relations Bd.

Sep 4, 2018D.C. CircuitDefendant Win

Teachers College, Columbia University v. NLRB

Sep 4, 2018D.C. CircuitDefendant Win

Am. Fed'n of Gov't Emps. v. Trump

Aug 25, 2018D.C. CircuitDismissed

Trump

Aug 25, 2018D.D.C.Mixed Result

Trump

Aug 25, 2018D.D.C.Plaintiff Win

Trump

Aug 25, 2018D.D.C.Plaintiff Win

Rd. Sprinkler Fitters Local Union No. 669 v. Nat'l Labor Relations Bd.

Aug 24, 2018D.C. CircuitDefendant Win

Road Sprinkler Fitters Local Union 669 v. National Labor Relations Board

Aug 24, 2018D.D.C.Defendant Win

Service Employees International Union National Industry Pension Fund v. Tnuzeg Holdings, LLC

Aug 17, 2018D.D.C.Plaintiff Win

Young

Aug 16, 2018D.D.C.Defendant Win

Capital Med. Ctr. v. Nat'l Labor Relations Bd.

Aug 10, 2018D.C. CircuitDefendant Win

Capital Medical Center v. NLRB

Aug 10, 2018D.C. CircuitPlaintiff Win

Advanced Life Sys. Inc. v. Nat'l Labor Relations Bd.

Aug 3, 2018D.C. CircuitMixed Result

CC1 Ltd. P'ship v. Nat'l Labor Relations Bd.

Aug 3, 2018D.C. CircuitRemanded

CC1 Limited Partnership v. NLRB

Aug 3, 2018D.C. CircuitRemanded

Hosp. of Barstow, Inc. v. Nat'l Labor Relations Bd.

Jul 31, 2018D.C. CircuitDefendant Win

Butler v. U.S. Dep't of Labor

Jul 26, 2018D.C. CircuitDefendant Win

Middleton

Jul 10, 2018D.C. CircuitDismissed

Veritas Health Servs., Inc. v. Nat'l Labor Relations Bd.

Jul 10, 2018D.C. CircuitPlaintiff Win

Secretary of Labor v. Consolidation Coal Company

Jul 10, 2018D.C. CircuitRemanded

Pa. State Corr. Officers Ass'n v. Nat'l Labor Relations Bd.

Jul 6, 2018D.C. CircuitMixed Result

Pennsylvania State Corrections v. NLRB

Jul 6, 2018D.C. CircuitMixed Result

Hudson, Jr. v. American Federation of Government Employees

Jun 25, 2018D.D.C.Mixed Result

Wood

Jun 22, 2018D.D.C.Defendant Win

Wash. Metro. Area Transit Auth. v. Local 689, Amalgamated Transit Union

Jun 20, 2018D.C. CircuitMixed Result

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority v. Local 689, Amalgamated Transit Union

Jun 20, 2018D.D.C.Mixed Result

Browse Other Circuits

Explore employment rulings from the other federal circuits.

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These figures summarize publicly available published court opinions only. Published opinions over-represent summary-judgment rulings (decisions made without a trial) and appeals, because those are the stages where judges most often write formal opinions. Most workplace disputes settle privately and never appear here at all. A ruling’s outcome reflects many case-specific factors and is not a prediction for any other situation. Read more about how we source and classify rulings.

Data sourced from public federal court records via CourtListener.com. Case outcomes extracted using AI analysis. This information is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. The classification of outcomes and case stages is based on automated analysis and may not reflect the full scope of each case.