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In this image illustration, a Johnson and Johnson baby powder container is on display on April 5, 2023 in San Anselmo, California.

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A federal bankruptcy judge on Thursday halted around 40,000 lawsuits that claimed Johnson&Johnson‘s baby powder and other talc products caused cancer.

The decision is part of J&J’s second attempt to settle thousands of Talk cases in bankruptcy.

J&J spun off its subsidiary LTL Management in 2021 to carry its talk-related liabilities and file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Judge Michael Kaplan temporarily stayed the lawsuits, which will last until mid-June, during a hearing Thursday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Trenton, New Jersey, the Wall Street Journal reported.

J&J does not have to go to court over other talc claims during the hiatus, but new lawsuits may still be filed against the company, The Journal reported.

Kaplan said during the hearing that J&J had a “uphill battle” ahead, according to the newspaper.

The hiatus will give J&J time to reach a permanent settlement with plaintiffs in the Talk cases. The company recently proposed an $8.9 million settlement for current and future claims related to Talk and said it expects to take that plan to bankruptcy court in mid-May.

In a statement, J&J called Kaplan’s decision “a victory for plaintiffs” because it brings them “one step closer” to being able to vote on the proposed settlement.

The New Brunswick, NJ-based company also said it believes applicants would overwhelmingly support the proposal.

J&J previously said more than 60,000 applicants have already pledged to vote for the plan.

“We strongly believe that plaintiffs will approve the plan if they are given a clear and full explanation and an opportunity to make an informed decision,” said Erik Haas, J&J’s global vice president of litigation.

Kaplan’s decision is narrower than the one he made after LTL management first filed for Chapter 11 in 2021.

The judge ruled in February 2022 that J&J can use the bankruptcy system to resolve Talk allegations, allowing the company to avoid fighting thousands of individual lawsuits.

Kaplan essentially validated J&J’s use of a strategy known as the “Texas Two-Step,” which allows companies to separate valuable assets from liabilities through what is known as a divisive merger.

But in January, the US Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit overturned that decision. The appeals court said that neither LTL nor J&J had a legitimate need for bankruptcy protection as they were not in “financial distress”.

Amid ongoing litigation, J&J has continued to deny claims that its talc products cause cancer.

Chief Financial Officer Joseph Wolk said on Tuesday on a earnings call that it was “regrettable” that J&J “has to throw dollars at frankly unsubstantiated scientific claims.”

The lawsuits allege that J&J’s talc products are contaminated with the cancer-causing asbestos that has caused ovarian cancer in thousands of people.

Some lawsuits link multiple deaths to J&J talc products.

The United States is the only advanced economy that does not guarantee paid time off.

“You have entire cultures like France … where pretty much everyone takes August off, and it’s just part of the culture there,” said Shawn Fremstad, director of law and political economy at the Center for Economic and Policy Research. “You don’t really see that here in the US.”

The Working Time Directive of the European Union, passed in the early 1990s, prescribes at least 20 working days of paid vacation in all EU countries.

France requires at least 30 paid vacation days per year. In addition, many European countries also have paid holidays, giving workers there even more paid days off.

“When I came to France, I realized that vacations are a way of life,” said Fatima Cadet-Diaby, an American who has lived in Paris for almost seven years. “People talk about their vacations all the time.”

More vacation time could also lead to macroeconomic gains in the US

“I think people have a stereotype in their mind of France as this kind of lazy culture,” Fremstad said. “But if you look at the employment rate there for prime-age workers, basically 25 to 54, it’s higher than in the US. So you have more people working and they are a lot more productive per hour.”

Although the majority of Americans have some form of paid time off, nearly half of workers say they don’t use those days. About half worry that taking time off could put them behind at work, with nearly 20% believing it could hurt their career development and 16% saying they fear losing their job, according to the Data from the Pew Research Center.

“There is some concern that we don’t have legal protections and people have been fired for taking vacation time,” said John de Graaf, author of Take Back Your Time.

Watch them Video above to learn more about why Americans don’t take vacations when they’re free, and what we can learn from our colleagues in France.

Johnson&Johnson Shares fell on Tuesday after the company reported adjusted earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street expectations but lowered its sales guidance for its pharmaceuticals business.

J&J, whose financial results are a guide for many healthcare companies, said its sales for the quarter rose 5.6% from the year-ago quarter.

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The consumer goods giant reported a net loss of $68 million, or 3 cents a share, related to its talc baby powder debt and costs related to the upcoming spin-off of its consumer health business. This compares to net income of $5.2 billion, or $1.93 per share, for the same period a year ago. Excluding certain items, adjusted earnings per share were $2.68 for the period.

Here’s how J&J’s results compare to Wall Street expectations, based on a poll of analysts by Refinitiv:

• Earnings per share: Adjusted $2.68 versus $2.50 expected
• Revenue: $24.75 billion versus $23.67 billion expected

J&J slightly lowered its pharmaceutical sales target for 2025 to $57 million, down from the $60 million the company forecast two years ago. J&J executives cited currency dynamics in an earnings call, noting that currency headwinds had a negative impact of about $3 billion on the pharmaceutical business in 2022.

The stock closed nearly 3% lower on Tuesday. Shares are down more than 9% for the year to close, putting the company’s market value at about $420 billion.

J&J is now forecasting 2023 sales of $97.9 billion to $98.9 billion, about $1 billion more than the guidance given in January. The company raised its full-year adjusted earnings outlook to $10.60-$10.70 per share from a previous guidance of $10.45-$10.65.

CFO Joseph Wolk told CNBC on Tuesday that J&J raised its guidance due to strong growth in all three businesses — consumer health, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices.

“If you think about how we started the year and forecast in January, we were responsibly cautious,” he said on Squawk Box. “First quarter growth was much stronger than fourth quarter growth for all three businesses and our positions are changing to responsibly optimistic at this time. We feel very good for 2023.”

He added that data on J&J’s cancer drug was being produced Multiple myeloma and procedural data in its medical devices division gives the company “a very, very good sense of what lies beyond 2023.”

J&J reported pharmaceutical sales of $13.4 billion, up more than 4% from the year-ago quarter. The company said the surge was driven by sales of Darzalex, a biologic used to treat multiple myeloma, and blockbuster drug Stelara, used to treat a range of immune-mediated inflammatory diseases.

J&J will lose patent protection for Stelara later this year. During a conference call, Wolk said the company is “committed to growing through the loss.”

Revenue from the company’s medical device business rose to nearly $7.5 billion, up 7.3% from the first quarter of 2022. J&J said its December last year acquisition of Abiomed, a cardiovascular medical technology company, did that rise fueled.

J&J’s consumer health business, which will be spun off into a separate public company this year, reported sales of about $3.8 billion. That unit grew 7.4% compared to the prior-year period, driven primarily by over-the-counter products like Tylenol and skin health products under brands like Neutrogena and Aveeno.

Wolk told CNBC the company is making “great strides” in separating from its consumer health business. But J&J hasn’t been clear on exactly when the split will happen.

J&J also announced that its board of directors approved a 5.3% quarterly dividend increase to $1.19 per share based on the company’s strong performance in 2022.

The New Brunswick, NJ-based company entered this earnings season with rising shares after offering more clarity on the long-running legal battle surrounding its talc-based baby powder products. Earlier this month, J&J proposed paying nearly $9 billion over the next 25 years to settle thousands of allegations that its baby powder and other talc products caused cancer.

J&J’s subsidiary, LTL Management, also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this month after its first attempt was thwarted.

Wolk said during a conference call the company will take the proposed reorganization plan to bankruptcy court in mid-May. He expressed confidence that applicants will vote to approve the plan, noting that 60,000 applicants have already committed to it.

The company expects to win a small but “vocal minority” of plaintiff attorneys opposed to the plan, added J&J’s assistant general counsel Andrew White.

Wolk continued to deny the Talk allegations, calling it “regrettable” that J&J “has to invest dollars in quite frankly unsubstantiated scientific claims.”

Lawsuits allege that the company’s talc products were contaminated with the carcinogen asbestos, which caused ovarian cancer in thousands of people. Some suits link multiple deaths to J&J talc products.

Read J&J’s full earnings report.