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Dec 11
Earlier this year, security contractors filed their class and collective action lawsuit against Cobra Energy and Espada Security seeking unpaid overtime in the Western District of Texas. In this lawsuit, the contractors were paid a day-rate regardless of the hours they worked during the severe devastation caused by Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
Continue ReadingDec 5
A distinguished regional catering group, Mazzone, has tentatively settled a class action lawsuit for unpaid wages for $4 million. The lawsuit, which was filed in 2016, alleged that tips and overtime wages were not paid properly. Specifically, it claimed that tips from wine purchases were illegally withheld from employees and Mazzone failed to pay time and a half to hourly workers when working over 40 hours per week. These alleged practices violate both the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the New York Labor Law (NYLL). Affected employees include all catering employees for Mazzone such as servers, bartenders, bussers, runners and others that were paid hourly and were employed between April 10, 2010 and June 20, 2019.
Continue ReadingNov 27
McDonald’s has agreed to resolve a class action lawsuit that alleged the fast food giant failed to properly pay its workers at corporate California locations. The lawsuit claimed McDonald’s systematically underpaid its hourly employees by requiring them to work off-the-clock, failing to provide them overtime pay, and adjusting time records to show fewer hours worked. A settlement of $26 million was reached to resolve several wage claims and will benefit thousands of employees.
Continue ReadingNov 19
Call center employees for JPMorgan Chase & Co. have settled claims that alleged the bank failed to pay them all owed wages. Specifically, the lawsuit claimed JPMorgan had call center employees work off the clock and in turn did not pay them the correct overtime rates. The nearly $3.8 million settlement will resolve state law claims and federal claims brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Continue ReadingNov 15
The telecommunications giant, T-Mobile, recently settled a class action lawsuit for unpaid wages totaling $8 million. In the lawsuit that was brought against the company two years ago, retail workers claimed that T-Mobile failed to pay them the correct overtime and proper rest breaks. Specifically, the California Labor Code violations included failing to pay for work completed off-the -clock as well as providing the proper meal and rest breaks that resulted in unpaid overtime and minimum wages.
Continue ReadingNov 6
Over the last year the Department of Labor (“DOL”) has done its fair share in recovering unpaid wages. Workers that had been shorted on things like minimum wages, overtime pay and other compensation benefited from the $322 million recovery that spanned from October 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019.
Continue ReadingOct 30
Alaska Airlines has been ordered to pay $25,010,158 in penalties to flight attendants who claimed their pay stubs were not up to code. The Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) in California allows affected employees to file lawsuits to recover penalties for themselves and other similarly situated employees when there are Labor Code violations. Specifically, this lawsuit alleged that Alaska Airlines failed to provide employees with information on their pay stubs that explained the source of all wages earned which is required by Labor Code Section 226, or more commonly known as the California pay stub law.
Continue ReadingOct 23
Loan officers from an Illinois Bank, the American Bank and Trust, are looking to obtain final approval of a $5 million settlement to resolve wage claims. The mortgage division loan officers had alleged that the bank knowingly and willfully did not pay their wages in accordance with federal and state labor laws.
Continue ReadingOct 17
After a long-standing battle against Missouri state’s Department of Corrections, prison guards of these facilities get to keep their $114 million verdict for owed wages. A three-judge panel for the Missouri Court of Appeals upheld a jury verdict and judgment in favor of the prison guards that claimed they went unpaid for tasks they performed before and after shifts commenced and ended.
Continue ReadingOct 9
A little-known regulation in Philadelphia has been gaining attention recently. The amendment to the Chapter 9-600 of the Philadelphia Code was passed to protect tips of hardworking restaurant servers. Up until then, it had been the norm for restaurants in the Philadelphia area to deduct part of the 2-4% credit card convenience fees from their employee’s tips or gratuities. Now, restaurants have to absorb those costs completely. The law also requires that affected servers have their tips and gratuities paid out by the “next regular payday” after the credit card payment was authorized.
Continue ReadingOct 2
The collective action lawsuit for wage and hour violations that was filed late last year against nationwide labor contractor Berry Bros. continues to move forward successfully. Berry Bros. is a nationwide construction contractor with offices located in Pecos, Texas; Berwick, Louisiana; Shreveport, Louisiana; and Meeker, Colorado. The company has projects in various states, such as Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, North Carolina, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas.
Continue ReadingSep 16
Are you currently working in the oil, construction or ship building industry as a welder or other ironworker position? If you are paid a day rate, hourly, per diem or any combination of these methods, you may not be receiving all the wages you are entitled to. Many welders in the energy or construction industry work way over 40 hours per week and often do not have all of their wages factored into the calculation of their overtime rates.
Continue ReadingSep 6
A class action wage lawsuit against a nurse staffing company, Rise Medical Staffing, has had their $2 million settlement approved by the court. California based travel nurses employed by Rise Medical Staffing were allegedly incorrectly paid their overtime rates when working over 40 hours per work week which prompted the age lawsuit. Rise Medical is health care staffing company that employs hourly health care professionals for short-term travel assignments at health care providers throughout California.
Continue ReadingAug 28
Former truck drivers for a moving company that closed up shop in 2017, Graebel Van Lines, Inc., are set to receive $2.7 million to resolve an unpaid wages lawsuit. Graebel, at the time, was in the business of providing local, intrastate, and interstate moving, storage, and relocation services for professionals throughout the United States. The moving truck drivers for the company alleged that Graebel misclassified them as independent contractors denying them the appropriate overtime pay when working over 40 hours per week. Additionally, the truck drivers claimed that Graebel stopped paying them altogether 6 months before they closed down promising them payment would eventually come.
Continue ReadingAug 22
Hourly employees of an energy industry leader, Dominion Energy, have recently been notified that their class action lawsuit for unpaid wages has been settled for $3.8 million. The class action lawsuit was brought against Dominion Energy under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for not paying its hourly employees overtime at the time and a half rate when working over 40 hours per week. The international producer and transporter of energy was accused of paying its employees the same rate for all hours worked. This method of paying “straight time for overtime” is in direct violation of the FLSA and denied its employees who averaged more than 50 hours per week their hard-earned pay.
Continue ReadingAug 16
The proposed and revised New York State work place harassment laws were just signed into law this week by Governor Andrew Cuomo. These provisions focused on increased protections for protected classes regarding anti-harassment and anti-discrimination measures that must now be taken by all employers in this state. Several revisions of these laws fixated on employees who have been sexually harassed. These various amendments to the New York Labor Law (NYLL), the New York State Human Rights Law (NYSHRL), the Civil Practice Law and Rules (CPLR), and the General Obligations Law have started to take effect and all provisions will be fully implemented within a year.
Continue ReadingAug 14
Oilfield layoffs are picking up steam once again as energy companies try to recover from a deep industry downturn. The oil and gas industry, providing a myriad of services such as drilling and fracking, is now being tested by the recent plummeting prices of oil as well as a slow down in drilling due to pipeline shortages. This, along with the remaining effects of the 2014 oil bust has caused customers to tighten their belts when it comes to spending.
Continue ReadingAug 7
The overtime case against Air Methods Corporation, the air medical helicopter operator that provides emergency air transport to over 100,000 patients every year, has been settled pending the courts approval. The class action lawsuit had accused the company of denying its clinical employees, such as flight nurses and flight paramedics, overtime when they worked over forty hours per week. According to the complaint, the company’s clinical employees worked well over 48 hours per week and their overtime wages were not properly calculated. The clinical employees were able to reach a $5 million deal with Air Methods Corp. to settle the dispute for unpaid wages.
Continue ReadingJul 31
An operator for Panera Bread in Ohio is on the hook for millions in unpaid wages. The Panera Bread chain, owned by Covelli Enterprises Inc., operated more than 300 locations throughout Ohio and allegedly improperly classified more than 600 assistant managers as exempt from receiving overtime pay. The class and collective action lawsuit that was brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and Ohio labor laws last year, was recently settled and approved by a federal judge for $4.6 million.
Continue ReadingJul 25
DoorDash, the on-demand food delivery service, will soon be changing its tipping method after facing much backlash with regard to drivers not receiving all of their tips from customers. Even though the company alleges that their drivers or “dashers” preferred working for a flat fee in case people did not tip at all, many were shocked to find that tips were not going to them in full. DoorDash had structured their pay model to pay drivers a set rate minimum per delivery, with customer tips not being paid out full on top of that.
Continue ReadingJul 16
On May 26, 2019 Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP filed arbitration demands for unpaid wages on behalf of individuals who worked as tipped employees at Blue Note Jazz Club. In these matters, the company forced its employees to sign arbitration agreements, contracts that prohibit workers from filing claims for unpaid wages in court, and prohibit workers from coming together as a class to reclaim their unpaid wages. Once an arbitration agreement is signed claims that arise, even if they affect all employees, cannot be brought together as a class and must be handled individually. Arbitration agreements are a common tactic used by employers to dissuade employees from coming forward and banding together against the company to recover unpaid wages.
Continue ReadingJul 10
Delivery drivers for Amazon filed a class action lawsuit under the Fair Labor Standards Act ( FLSA ) in Florida for unpaid wages this past summer. Drivers had accused the e-commerce giant of not paying them the correct rate for all hours worked.
Continue ReadingJul 3
JPMorgan ’s bank employees in California started a class action wage lawsuit two-and-a-half years ago that claimed the bank denied them the proper overtime wages and violated a number of labor laws. Relationship managers had accused JPMorgan of misclassifying their job titles as exempt from receiving overtime pay when working over 40 hours a week as well as not being given the proper meal and rest breaks.
Continue ReadingJun 21
The New York State Legislature has significantly revised the state’s work place harassment laws this week. These provisions, pledged to be signed into law soon, focus on anti-harassment and anti-discrimination measures to be taken by all employers with any employees in New York State.
Continue ReadingMay 22
Managers at Steak ‘N Shake recently won a $7.7 million judgement awarded by a jury for unpaid wages, liquidated damages and attorney’s fees. The case focused on the lengthy weekly hours the managers were completing without receiving any overtime compensation.
Continue ReadingMay 16
Two brokers and former employees of Credit Suisse had a big win last week when a three-person panel of FINRA arbitrators awarded them at least $6.7 million for owed deferred wages and liquidated damages. Specifically, the amount ordered to be paid by Credit Suisse represents unvested deferred stock the brokers claimed they lost out on when Credit Suisse closed down its U.S doors in late 2015. The original individual amount of $2.8 million requested by each broker was more than doubled by the arbitrators under a liquidated damages provision of New York State labor law. They also tacked on attorneys’ fees, arbitration forum costs and additional interest that will accrue until the award is paid.
Continue ReadingMay 14
Tipped workers employed by Restaurant Forgione, located at 134 Reade Street, New York, NY 10013, have sued the company as a class action for unpaid wages. The filed complaint notes that the lawsuit is looking to recover minimum wages, misappropriated tips, call-in pay, and other damages owed to tipped workers. Affected job titles at Forgione may include servers, bussers, food runners, bartenders, and other tipped employees who work or have worked at Forgione in the last couple of years.
Continue ReadingMay 8
On April 30, 2019, in the case of Melito v. American Eagle Outfitters, Inc et al. Circuit Judges Hall and Lynch as well as District Judge Englemayer of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit dismissed Experian Marketing Solutions, Inc.’s (“Experian”) appeal and otherwise affirmed the judgment of the district court to settle the American Eagle Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) lawsuit for $14.5 million.
Continue ReadingApr 22
A New York City woman alleges she was physically accosted at an Upper West Side yoga class she attended at Pure Yoga. Melissa Hurley, a longtime member of Pure Yoga, claims she was groped and inappropriately touched several times by Pure Yoga’s instructor, Isaac Peña, during a yoga class. What’s worse is that other women had already complained about Isaac Peña to Pure Yoga prior to this incident.
Continue ReadingApr 3
MBI Energy Services, Inc., a leading provider for completion, well intervention, water management and logistics in the United States, has recently been sued for failing to pay its employees the appropriate wages. A significant number of potentially affected employees work or have worked for MBI Energy in the Williston Basin in North Dakota and the Rocky Mountain region, as well as the Eagle Ford play in Texas, the Marcellus play in Pennsylvania, and the Niobrara play in Wyoming. Affected workers include Wireline Engineers and other employees with similar job descriptions.
Continue ReadingMar 28
Back in May of 2018 Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP along with Terrell Marshall Law Group PLLC filed a class action lawsuit against New York Sports Club (“NYSC”) for allegedly violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by sending text messages to recipients’ cellular phones without their prior written consent. NYSC owns and operates health and fitness facilities in New York, Boston, Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia and claim to have “the largest gym network in the Northeast.” The TCPA makes it unlawful to make calls, send text messages, or send faxes to a person or business, for commercial reasons, without that person’s express written consent. Each person receiving an unlawful call, text message, or fax, may be entitled to receive a statutory penalty between $500 and $1,500 for each violation.
Continue ReadingMar 14
After an almost decade long legal battle, Swift Transportation, a truckload motor shipping carrier, has reached a monumental class action settlement agreement. Swift has agreed to pay up to $100 million to more than 19,000 of its drivers. According to the 2009 class action filed by its drivers, Swift misclassified them as independent contractors instead of employees of the company. By doing so, Swift denied its drivers from significant pay and company benefits under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
Continue ReadingMar 11
After holding numerous listening sessions for public feedback, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) has issued a revised increase to the minimum salary threshold for white-collar exemptions. The DOL’s proposal included raising the minimum salary requirement for being considered an exempt employee from an annual salary of $23,660 to $35,308. This could cause over a million workers to become eligible to receive overtime pay when working over 40 hours in a work week.
Continue ReadingMar 7
Patriot Well Solutions , one of the leading providers of wireline and coiled tubing service in the United States, has just been sued over failing to pay its employees the proper wages. There are a significant number of potentially affected employees throughout the nation working on projects for Patriot in Wyoming, Colorado, North Dakota and Texas. The affected job titles include Wireline Operators, equipment operators, and other similarly situated workers.
Continue ReadingMar 5
The restaurant industry is notorious for cheating workers from receiving their pay in accordance with the law. Often times tipped workers in restaurants are paid less than the minimum wage, not paid overtime at time and one half, forced to complete hours of prepping and cleaning without the correct pay or paid a set salary instead of an hourly rate. In this specific matter, it was made clear to a Washington Heights restaurant that it would not make a mockery of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by arresting those at fault for the unpaid wages.
Continue ReadingFeb 12
River Palm Terrace which was recently voted one of “America’s 50 Best Steakhouses” allegedly owes its tipped employees hard earned cash. A lawsuit filed this past Friday alleges that the steakhouse owes its tipped workers minimum wages, overtime pay, and misappropriated tips. Tipped employees that could be affected by this lawsuit include servers, bussers, runners, bartenders and other tipped employees that work or have worked at the steakhouse located at 1416 River Road, Edgewater, New Jersey 07020. The class action lawsuit filed by Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP was brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the New Jersey Wage and Hour Law (NJWL).
Continue ReadingJan 25
Chipotle is now crying for mercy after forcing its current and former employees to enter into arbitrations to argue their wage claims against the company. The fast-food goliath had instituted a company-wide tactic of requiring its employees into arbitration agreements in 2014 forcing almost 3,000 plaintiffs into individualized reviews of their claims by arbitrators as opposed to class action lawsuits in court. When you sign an arbitration agreement, you promise to pursue any legal claims against your employer through arbitration as opposed to a lawsuit. Arbitrations, more often than not, benefit and favor the company as opposed to the employee. Forgoing a jury of your peers is often viewed as a disadvantage for the plaintiff since juries tend to be more sympathetic towards employees.
Continue ReadingJan 24
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. has agreed to resolve two federal and state lawsuits under The False Claims Act for $269 million. The False Claims Act (FCA) was enacted by Congress long ago to effectively combat fraud against the federal government. In these two cases, Walgreens had been accused of overbilling federal health-care programs. The settlements were approved last week and made public this past Tuesday.
Continue ReadingJan 22
The wage and hour class action lawsuit filed against Berry Bros Construction for failing to pay its laborers overtime pay will continue to move forward. Filed in November of 2018, this case seeks to recover unpaid overtime for a proposed class of laborers including mechanics, welders and electricians. Recently, the Texan based construction company asked the court to dismiss the case based on grounds that the plaintiff did not plead sufficient facts in order to establish a claim under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). More specifically, they claimed the plaintiff did not provide a definite claim to alleged overtime owed as well as not having “similarly situated” proposed class members. However, Berry Bros failed to get the case dismissed and their motion was denied.
Continue ReadingJan 18
A recent Supreme Court ruling found that federal courts cannot force interstate transportation workers into having an arbitration hearing to resolve workplace disputes. Employees are often forced to sign arbitration agreements with their employer, which usually forces them to pursue any legal claims such as discrimination, wrongful termination, and breach of contracts, through arbitration instead of a lawsuit. Arbitration claims are presented to and decided by an arbitrator as opposed to a jury which is often viewed as a disadvantage for the plaintiff since juries tend to be more sympathetic towards employees.
Continue ReadingJan 17
Almost 100,000 au pairs nationwide may soon be awarded with potentially the largest settlement ever for minimum wage workers. More than 15 companies employing these child care professionals agreed to tentatively pay $65.5 million in owed wages. The lawsuit, which was filed back in 2014, proposed the settlement last Wednesday in Denver federal court just before going to trial. The settlement agreement is currently pending the courts approval.
Continue ReadingJan 17
Currently, about 500,000 federal employees are being required to report to work each day without pay or guarantee of immediate back pay once the government reopens. Although government shutdowns are nothing new, this year’s shutdown has become the longest in history standing in at 27 days. However, federal employees are making a stand. Two of the nation’s largest federal employee unions, the National Treasury Employees Union and the American Federation of Government Employees, have filed separate wage lawsuits against the Trump Administration.
Continue ReadingJan 2
As of December 31, 2018, the hourly minimum wage for New Yorkers has increased yet again. New York City employers with 11 employees or more must pay their hourly workers $15.00 per hour and the appropriate overtime rate at time and a half when working over 40 hours per week. For hard working employees, the wage boost is much needed especially in a city where the cost of living is so high. Governor Andrew Cuomo proudly commented on the historic increase, “New York continues to set a national example in the fight for economic justice.” Bigger paychecks will affect NY employees in the following manner:
Continue ReadingDec 7
When signing an arbitration agreement with your employer, you are promising to pursue any legal claims against them such as wrongful termination, discrimination, and breach of contracts, through arbitration as opposed to a lawsuit. In an arbitration, your claims are presented to, and decided by an arbitrator as opposed to a jury. Forgoing a jury of your peers is often viewed as a disadvantage for the plaintiff since juries tend to be more sympathetic towards employees. Recently, the Appellate Court Division of New Jersey reversed a trial court’s order to compel arbitration in a wrongful termination case against Jenny Craig, Inc. In the Flanzman v. Jenny Craig, Inc. matter, an 82-year-old employee claimed that that the fitness company harassed and discriminated against them resulting in a wrongful termination.
Continue ReadingNov 8
The Wine Group, one of the world’s largest winemakers producing about 53 million cases of wine annually, recently settled a wage and hour case for $6.8 million. A former employee, Eliazar Gonzalez, sued the wine company for unpaid wages and this past week a California Judge approved the settlement. The Wine Group currently has almost 1,000 employees, however the employees eligible for this class-action settlement include current and former hourly, non-exempt employees that worked with Wine Group during August 2011 through March 2018.
Continue ReadingNov 7
Berry Bros General Contractors, one of the largest construction service providers in the United States, has just been sued over failing to pay its employees the proper wages. There are a significant number of potentially affected employees throughout the nation working on projects for Berry Bros in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and North Dakota. Affected job titles include mechanics, electricians, welders and other laborers with similar job titles.
Continue ReadingNov 2
Delivery drivers for TFI International that were allegedly misclassified as independent contractors have arrived at a $4.75 million settlement to resolve claims of unpaid wages pending court approval. TFI, formerly known as Dynamex or Velocity Express, is a Canadian based transport and logistics company that services the United States, Mexico and Canada. Delivery Drivers for the company claimed in a lawsuit filed back in 2012 that they were improperly classified by TFI as independent contractors instead of employees of the company.
Continue ReadingOct 15
Through their dedication and commitment to their hard-working clients, Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP has helped recover over 100 million dollars and has once again been featured in Super Lawyers. The firm specializes exclusively on employee rights and has consistently achieved significant results when dealing with unpaid wages, overtime, commissions and tips, as well as wrongful termination due to discrimination and whistleblower claims. Learn more about the firm’s success by clicking below.
Continue ReadingOct 2
In this past year alone after hurricane Irma and Maria wreaked havoc in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. To date $14,337,657 has been recovered in unpaid wages for recovery workers by the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the Department of Labor (DOL). Almost 8,000 recovery workers have benefitted from this recovery process. Nevertheless, many thousands more may still be owed significant overtime pay.
Continue ReadingSep 26
Now that Hurricane Florence is over, many companies are hiring disaster relief workers and emergency service workers to help with the clean up and recovery process after the devastation. As is common with most hurricanes, a couple of weeks after they are over, the hard work begins. Billions of dollars’ worth of remediation and restoration take place and these hired relief workers have a wide array of job duties that range from filing and processing insurance claims to digging ditches to installing power lines. These emergency service workers are usually paid a day rate for their services and are often treated as independent contractors.
Continue Reading
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