The Seventh Circuit covers the federal courts in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. The rulings below come from the circuit's court of appeals and the federal trial courts within it.
Of the 2,136 published rulings we track here (1973–2026), the breakdowns below show how they were decided. They describe published opinions only — not the odds of any particular situation.
Of the 2,136 published rulings we track in the Seventh Circuit.
A workplace lawsuit moves through stages, and a ruling can end it at any of them. Here is where the 2,124 rulings we could classify by stage were decided.
A higher court reviewing an earlier decision. Many published opinions come from this stage, after a lot has already happened in the case.
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 556 summary-judgment rulings here, 357 ended the case in the employer’s favor and 198 let the worker’s claims continue; the rest resolved in other ways.
An early request — usually by the employer — to throw the case out before any evidence is gathered.
A judge or jury heard the evidence and reached a decision. Relatively few disputes get this far.
The two sides resolved the dispute by agreement, sometimes with court approval. Most settlements are private and never show up in published opinions.
A decision entered because one side did not respond to the case at all.
Procedural decisions and orders that do not fit the main stages above.
Browse rulings from courts in each state the Seventh Circuit covers.
Roger Alswager v. Rocky Mountain Instr
Stanley Smith v. Union Pacific Rail
Blue
Ruan Transport Corp. v. National Labor Relations Board
Mudgett
Roundy's Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board
Rochelle Waste Disposal, LLC v. National Labor Relations Board
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. United Airlines, Inc.
Myla Nauman v. Abbott Laboratories
Cannaday
Zepperi-Lomanto
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Management Hospitality of Racine, Inc.
Cigna
Jackson v. Illinois Laborers' & Contracting Training Trust Fund
United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Autozone, Inc.
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers & Trainmen v. Union Pacific Railroad
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Loyola University Medical Center
Burns
International Union v. ZF BOGE ELASTMETALL LLC
International Union of Elevator Constructors Local 2 v. U.S. Deparment of Labor
Tindell
Sheehy Enterprizes, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board
Sheehy Enterprizes v. NLRB
Newpage Wisconsin System Inc. v. United Steel, Paper & Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy Allied Industrial & Service Workers International Union
Biglands
Barker ex rel. National Labor Relations Board v. A.D. Conner Inc.
Spurlino Materials, LLC v. National Labor Relations Board
Thompson
Alalade
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
Oakley
Chicago Teachers Union, Local No. 1, American Federation of Teachers v. Board of Education
Mitchell v. JCG INDUSTRIES
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Management Hospitality of Racine, Inc.
Dominguez
National Labor Relations Board v. E.A. Sween Co.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc.
Mathews
United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Aaron's, Inc.
Smith v. Union Pacific Railroad
Chicago Teachers Union v. BOARD OF EDUC.
Chicago Teachers Union Local v. Chicago Board of Education
Massaro
Merryman Excavation, Inc. v. International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150
Allscripts-Misys
Nokes
Hine
Rose Acre Farms, Inc. v. Columbia Casualty Co.
Bayless
Park
Showing 1,301–1,350 of 2,136 rulings · Page 27 of 43
Explore employment rulings from the other federal circuits.
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.