Nelson v. NASA, 512 F.3d 1134 (9th Cir. 2008)

NASA began requiring plaintiffs (long-time, “low-risk” contract employees of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory) to undergo a National Agency Check with Inquiries (“NACI”), which includes, among other things, a request for background information, the names of three references and disclosure of any illegal drug use within the past year, along with any treatment or counseling received for such use. Plaintiffs also were asked to sign a general waiver for release of additional information. The questionnaire and wavier were adopted to implement Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 for the purpose of obtaining “secure and reliable forms of identification.” The district court denied plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction, but the Ninth Circuit granted the injunction and prohibited NASA from obtaining the requested information because plaintiffs were scheduled to lose their jobs if they failed to provide the information NASA had requested. In this subsequent opinion on the merits, the Ninth Circuit reviewed and reversed the district court’s denial of preliminary injunctive relief and held plaintiffs have “demonstrated serious questions as to certain of their claims on which they are likely to succeed on the merits, and the balance of hardships tips sharply in their favor.” Cf. Lanier v. City of Woodburn, 518 F.3d 1147 (9th Cir. 2008) (city’s policy requiring job applicants to pass a pre-employment drug test violated the Fourth Amendment); CashCall, Inc. v. Superior Court, 159 Cal. App. 4th 273 (2008) (precertification discovery appropriate for purpose of identifying class members who may become substitute plaintiffs in place of named plaintiffs who were not members of the purported class in case involving alleged violation of privacy rights).

Print:
Email this postTweet this postLike this postShare this post on LinkedIn
Photo of Tony Oncidi Tony Oncidi

Anthony J. Oncidi is the co-chair of the Labor & Employment Law Department and heads the West Coast Labor & Employment group in the firm’s Los Angeles office.

Tony represents employers and management in all aspects of labor relations and employment law, including…

Anthony J. Oncidi is the co-chair of the Labor & Employment Law Department and heads the West Coast Labor & Employment group in the firm’s Los Angeles office.

Tony represents employers and management in all aspects of labor relations and employment law, including litigation and preventive counseling, wage and hour matters, including class actions, wrongful termination, employee discipline, Title VII and the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, executive employment contract disputes, sexual harassment training and investigations, workplace violence, drug testing and privacy issues, Sarbanes-Oxley claims and employee raiding and trade secret protection. A substantial portion of Tony’s practice involves the defense of employers in large class actions, employment discrimination, harassment and wrongful termination litigation in state and federal court as well as arbitration proceedings, including FINRA matters.

Tony is recognized as a leading lawyer by such highly respected publications and organizations as the Los Angeles Daily JournalThe Hollywood Reporter, and Chambers USA, which gives him the highest possible rating (“Band 1”) for Labor & Employment.  According to Chambers USA, clients say Tony is “brilliant at what he does… He is even keeled, has a high emotional IQ, is a great legal writer and orator, and never gives up.” Other clients report:  “Tony has an outstanding reputation” and he is “smart, cost effective and appropriately aggressive.” Tony is hailed as “outstanding,” particularly for his “ability to merge top-shelf lawyerly advice with pragmatic business acumen.” He is highly respected in the industry, with other commentators lauding him as a “phenomenal strategist” and “one of the top employment litigators in the country.”

“Tony is the author of the treatise titled Employment Discrimination Depositions (Juris Pub’g 2020; www.jurispub.com), co-author of Proskauer on Privacy (PLI 2020), and, since 1990, has been a regular columnist for the official publication of the Labor and Employment Law Section of the State Bar of California and the Los Angeles Daily Journal.

Tony has been a featured guest on Fox 11 News and CBS News in Los Angeles. He has been interviewed and quoted by leading national media outlets such as The National Law JournalBloomberg News, The New York Times, and Newsweek and Time magazines. Tony is a frequent speaker on employment law topics for large and small groups of employers and their counsel, including the Society for Human Resource Management (“SHRM”), PIHRA, the National CLE Conference, National Business Institute, the Employment Round Table of Southern California (Board Member), the Council on Education in Management, the Institute for Corporate Counsel, the State Bar of California, the California Continuing Education of the Bar Program and the Los Angeles and Beverly Hills Bar Associations. He has testified as an expert witness regarding wage and hour issues as well as the California Fair Employment and Housing Act and has served as a faculty member of the National Employment Law Institute. He has served as an arbitrator in an employment discrimination matter.

Tony is an appointed Hearing Examiner for the Los Angeles Police Commission Board of Rights and has served as an Adjunct Professor of Law and a guest lecturer at USC Law School and a guest lecturer at UCLA Law School.