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Sep 25

Tipped Workers Win “20% Rule” at 9th Circuit

There has been an important development for tipped workers at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Tipped workers are currently allowed to be paid the reduced minimum wage rate under the tip-credit provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The tip-credit provisions of the FLSA permit an employer, under certain circumstances, to pay tipped employees less than the full minimum hourly wage and take a “tip credit” against its minimum wage obligations. However, an employer is not permitted to take a tip credit against its minimum wage if they require its tipped employees to perform non-tipped work that is unrelated to their tipped occupation or if they require them to perform non-tipped work that, although related to the employees’ tipped occupation, exceeds 20 percent of the employees’ time worked. The dual jobs regulation on this “20% Rule” established by the Department of Labor (DOL) states that an employee is entitled to the full minimum wage for any time spent in a non-tipped occupation. Last September, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected this guidance established by the DOL, finding that it was not entitled to interpret the tip-credit provision this way. Just last week, the full Ninth Circuit reversed the earlier three-judge panel decision, and held that the guidance was rightfully interpreted and clarified by the DOL ultimately reinforcing the validity of the “20% Rule” in the Ninth Circuit.

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Sep 13

Nordstrom Owned Trunk Club to Pay $1.75M In OT Suit

Trunk Club, a Nordstrom subsidiary, which offers clients personal styling with mid to high end clothing brands recently agreed to pay its employees $1.75 million in a wage lawsuit. The hourly non-exempt workers alleged that they were required to perform work off-the-clock that went unpaid. Nordstrom’s Trunk Club offered their services nationwide with affected employees working in several states including California, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Illinois, Texas, Washington, D.C., and New York.

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Sep 12

Oilfield Overtime Lawsuits for Independent Contractors

In the last couple of years, numerous oilfield overtime lawsuits exposed companies in the oil and gas industry for misclassifying workers as independent contractors. These energy companies have recently turned to using this misclassification tactic as a means to reduce payroll costs at the employees’ expense. The misclassified employees often work well over 40 hours per week and receive no overtime pay. This is especially true when employees work for several weeks straight and anywhere from 10 to 12 hours per day. Under federal law, the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), employees must be paid the minimum wage and overtime pay when working over 40 hours in a week.

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Aug 29

Production Assistants to get $10M from CBS for OT Settlement

To get their foot in the door, production assistants have been putting up with crazy work schedules on set for decades now in hopes of climbing the ranks in their field. However, there is nothing glamorous about working 12+ hour days and earning less than minimum wage. Most production assistants earn a day rate starting work hours before “call time” and working way after the crews on set wrap up. Positions such as production assistants and other entry level positions at publishing houses, glossy magazines, and consulting groups are most often affected.

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Aug 28

Day Rate Employees for EnSite USA Sue for Unpaid Overtime

Unfortunately, there are many job industries that frequently pay their workers a day rate or weekly salary without any regard to all the hours actually worked. This often denies a worker from being compensated correctly. They are left earning less than the hourly minimum wage and/or kept from receiving overtime pay at time and a half of what their regular hourly rates should be when working over 40 hours in a work week. The oil and gas industry, for example, has many of these wage related issues. They frequently misclassify individuals as exempt from receiving overtime pay. Instead, employees will be paid a flat rate, or a day rate for all hours worked. This is especially true when employees work for several weeks straight and anywhere from 10 to 12 hours per day. Under federal law, employees cannot be paid a day rate and have to be paid overtime pay when they work over 40 hours in a week.

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Aug 20

Autobody Shop Owes Employees $400K in Wages & Damages

An autobody shop in Smithtown, Long Island was sued last summer by the United States Department of Labor (USDOL) and has recently agreed to pay affected employees $400,000 in owed wages and damages. Almost 50 current and former employees were denied the proper overtime wages and experienced several labor violations. The autobody , Bi-County, is one of several Central Islip auto repair shops that have settled federal wage violations charged just this year alone.

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Jul 26

High End Sushi Seki in NYC Sued for Unpaid Wages

Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP has filed a class and collective action lawsuit against Sushi Seki, a high-end NYC sushi restaurant with three locations, alleging wage and hour violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the New York Labor Law (NYLL). The lawsuit seeks to recover unpaid minimum wages, overtime compensation, misappropriated tips, call-in pay, and other damages for current and former tipped employees, such as servers, bartenders, bussers, and food runners.

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Jul 18

Assistant Store Managers Sue Kohl’s for OT Pay

Assistant store managers in a variety of industries are stepping forward to demand their overtime pay. In the last five years, more than 25 settlements were reached totaling almost $150 million for assistant store managers who alleged they were misclassified as exempt from receiving overtime wages. Adding themselves to this list most recently are three assistant store managers from three different Kohl’s locations across the United States. The three former employees are proposing a collective action lawsuit that claims the company shorted all assistant store managers pay by willfully classifying them as ineligible for overtime when working over 40 hours per week.

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Jun 21

Bloomberg to Settle for $54.5M for Unpaid OT

Computer help desk representatives for Bloomberg , the equity trading platform, analytics and data services provider, have moved to settle a class action wage lawsuit for whopping $54.5 million. The affected analytics team members alleged that Bloomberg misclassified them as exempt and wrongfully denied them their overtime pay even when regularly working more than 40 hours per week violating the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) . Representatives were told they would work five eight-hour work shifts and be paid a salary intended to cover a forty hour work week. However, they were then required to arrive earlier than their shift times, work through lunch, and stay late to complete jobs without any additional compensation.

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Jun 20

Buffalo Wild Wings Owes Wages to Its Tipped Workers

Three Buffalo Wild Wings locations in New York have just been hit with a class action lawsuit seeking to recover minimum wages and overtime pay along with other owed wages. The popular sports bar and casual dining restaurant franchise, owned and operated by Banta Management Services, Inc., paid their tipped workers the reduced minimum wage rate or tip credit, however, failed to meet the strict statutory requirements that would permit them to apply the reduced minimum wage to their workers.

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Jun 20

Rock Chevy Gets Hit with Class Action Wage Lawsuit

Rock Chevy, a prominent car dealership in Illinois, has just been hit with a class action wage lawsuit. Two former sales representatives at the company have brought a lawsuit on behalf of other similarly situated commissioned workers against the company to try and remedy wage and hour violations. Plaintiffs allege Rock Chevy failed to pay minimum wages, agreed upon wages, unlawfully retained Plaintiffs’ wages, and made unlawful deduction from commissions.

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Jun 14

Subcontracted Janitorial workers of Cheesecake Factory Owed $4.6 M

California’s Department of Industrial Relations has just dropped the hammer on Cheesecake Factory. The state agency is enforcing a recent law that holds businesses jointly liable for workplace violations experienced by contracted and subcontracted workers such as unpaid wages. The famed chain restaurant had used a cleaning services contractor that subcontracted out the work for overnight janitorial staff but an investigation launched by the state agency found that those workers were not paid properly as well as not allowed the appropriate break times.

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May 17

Almost $10M in Prevailing Wages Denied by NYC Contractor

A Queen’s contractor has recently been charged with stealing nearly $10 million from city prevailing wage contracts. The company, Parkside, kept almost $2 million in wages from its workers and almost $8 million from the state by manipulating how the workers were compensated. Even though Parkside brought in $100 million in contracts for Manhattan projects in 2016 to 2017, they altered worker’s timesheets and falsified payroll numbers instead of fairly paying its employees.

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May 15

Spam Text Lawsuit against NY Sports Club

A spam text is nothing new, but did you know that if you receive one of these unsolicited messages you have protection and the right to monetary damages under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)? The TCPA provides protection against text messages sent to your mobile phone through the use of an auto-dialer when made without prior written consent. You do not even need to sign up for the Do-Not-Call list to be entitled to these protections. The TCPA provides monetary damages from $500.00 to $1,500.00 per each individual text message received.

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Apr 20

Sexual Harassment Laws in NY Just Got A Lot Tougher

The state of New York has put out tough new legislation aiming to combat sexual harassment in the workplace. The new laws, approved by the New York State Legislature this past March and signed into law last week, cover a wide angle of issues from training and prevention to appropriate claim forms and investigation policies for when a sexual harassment complaint arises at work. After a sordid year of employees and individuals nationwide stepping forward to report unwanted sexual advances and abuses of power by their superiors, New York State and NYC lawmakers have stepped up to increase sexual harassment protections statewide.

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Mar 19

Unpaid Overtime Lawsuit for Customer Service Employees

Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP filed a lawsuit against ASM USA, Inc., a company which provides outsourced customer service solutions for luxury brands worldwide. The collective action lawsuit seeks to recover overtime compensation and other damages on behalf of Brand Ambassadors, Ecommerce Specialists and Customer Service Representatives (“Covered Employees”) who worked for the Company. The Complaint alleges that these employees were required to work more than 40 hours a week, but were not properly compensated for overtime pay.

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Mar 15

Discrimination Case against Biglaw Firm Settles for Over $3M

This gender discrimination case, filed in 2016, alleged that the former prominent law firm of Chadbourne & Parke LLP willfully discriminated against the firm’s female partners by paying them less than their similarly situated male counterparts. The plaintiffs, Kerrie Campbell, Jaroslawa Johnson, and Mary Yelenick, brought this case under the Equal Pay Act and gender discrimination claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Law.

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Mar 1

FLSA Collective Action Lawsuit Against Bar Louie Conditionally Certified

On Feb 27, 2018, the District Judge accepted the Magistrate Judge’s decision to conditionally certify a collective action against Bar Louie. This will allow Plaintiffs to send notice of the lawsuit with an opportunity to opt-in to all current or former servers or bartenders employed by Bar Louie from August 26, 2013 to the present. Affected workers will have the option of participating in this lawsuit with the possibility of recovering potential owed wages.

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Jan 10

Beatrice Inn Restaurant Sued for Unpaid Wages

The Beatrice Inn , a critically acclaimed high end “chop house” restaurant located in New York City, has just been hit with a class action lawsuit in order to help recover owed wages. The lawsuit alleges that the Beatrice Inn owes its employees minimum wages, overtime compensation, misappropriated tips, and other damages. Affected workers include captains, bartenders, barbacks, and other similarly situated non-managerial employees, commonly referred to as “tipped workers”. Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP, the employment law firm handling the case, understands that the restaurant industry has an unfortunate history of short changing its tipped workers and has had many successes recovering money for its clients.

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Dec 7

Haru Sushi Locations Hit with Wage Lawsuit

The acclaimed chain Haru restaurants of New York have landed themselves in a bit of hot water after a recent wage lawsuit claims they have been paying tipped workers less than the full minimum wage in conjunction with other pay issues. These wage claims violate the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and the New York Labor Law (“NYLL”), federal and state laws, designed to protect worker rights. Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP filed this class action lawsuit yesterday which intends to help recover minimum wages, overtime wages, misappropriated tips, call-in pay and other damages for tipped employees. Affected workers include servers, bussers, runners, and bartenders who work or have worked at the Haru restaurants located at 220 Park Ave. South, New York, NY 10003 (“Gramercy Haru”) and 1329 3rd Ave., New York, NY 10011 (“Third Ave. Haru”).

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Dec 6

NY Construction Workers to Receive $1.2 M in Unpaid Wages

Nearly 400 hard working New Yorkers in the construction industry are set to receive unpaid wages totaling over $1.2 million discovered through investigations started on January 1st of this year. Through a partnered effort between the District attorneys of all NYC, Westchester and Nassau Counties, this investigation has resulted in numerous indictments across several jurisdictions with nearly $700,000 already returned to affected workers. Governor Andrew Cuomo’s call for a crackdown in the industry was in response to the widespread reports of worker exploitation.

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Nov 22

Disability Discrimination Lawsuit against Prominent Airlines Settles for $9.8 M

After being hit with a disability discrimination lawsuit, American Airlines and Envoy Air, its largest regional carrier, have just agreed to settle the nationwide class action lawsuit. The airlines will pay $9.8 million in stock to hundreds of its employees who claimed they were victims of disability discrimination. If cashed out now, the stock would be worth over $14 million.

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Oct 24

Oil and Gas Workers Awarded $1.8M for Overtime Claims

Oil and gas workers of a major Canadian based energy company have settled a lawsuit for overtime claims in Colorado. The Canadian company, Ensign Energy service, was accused of wrongfully classifying these oil and gas workers as salaried employees. Even though the company can pay these types of workers a salary, their job duties must keep them exempt them from receiving overtime pay. In this situation, the oil and gas workers were being paid a salary, but their job duties were argued as not meeting the exemption under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Their duties during the fracking process was to measure while drilling on wells north and east of Denver and were allegedly eligible to receive overtime wages when working over 40 hours per week .

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Oct 18

Navigating Sexual Harassment Claims in the Workplace

In light of the recent outpouring of sexual harassment claims within the entertainment industry, many might be left wondering what steps can be taken if they have or are currently dealing with this kind of abuse in the workplace. When deciding whether or not to report the sexual harassment many may not feel safe reporting their claim. Your place of employment may have a human resources department which can address your complaints but many smaller companies may not. Either way, there are a few things that can be done to help protect your rights.

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Oct 17

Hollywood Scrambling after Weinstein Demise Triggers Outpouring of Victims of the Industry

The way Hollywood treats females within the industry may be shifting. At the very least, many high profile names within the business claim they will no longer be complicit by turning a blind eye and not speaking out against claims of sexual harassment. With the fall of Harvey Weinstein, keeping quiet about alleged abuses of power, once deemed the norm within the industry, is no longer an option. The floodgates have been opened now that the media mogul has been brought down. The support amongst actors, musicians and celebrities has been overwhelming to such an extent that victims across all industries are finally feeling comfortable enough to speak out publicly about their heinous experiences at hands of those taking advantage of their positions of power.

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Oct 16

Amazon Studio Head Suspended for Sexual Harassment

Roy Price, a movie executive at Amazon Movie Studios has been suspended over claims of sexual harassment. The interesting bit is that these allegations were not made recently but over two years ago by a producer on the Amazon shows, Isa Hackett. In light of the recent Harvey Weinstein scandal, Mrs. Hackett decided to go public with the fact that she was sexually harassed by Mr. Price two years ago at an event promoting one of her shows for the company. Even though she formally complained to Amazon executives, Mrs. Hackett claims that Amazon never informed her of the outcome of their investigation, leaving her in a state of limbo. She did not know if Amazon had taken her complaint seriously and if any steps were taken to keep the harassment from happening again.

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Oct 12

Gender Pay Discrimination Lawsuit Settles Against ‘Fearless Girl’ Firm for $5M

It is funny to think that gender pay equality would ever be an issue for State Street Corporation, the company responsible for installing the ‘Fearless Girl” statue. The statue, which has quickly become an iconic symbol of female equality, is now a bit a sore spot for the company after having to settle a gender pay discrimination lawsuit for $5 million. The company was investigated by the Department of Labor (DOL) and the governments findings conclude that there was pay disparity dating back to at least December 2010.

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Oct 11

Sexual Harassment and the Harvey Weinstein Scandal

Sexual harassment and gender discrimination has long been hinted at within the movie industry but only in recent years have investigations been launched shedding some light onto these accusations. Movie moguls have been known to use their power to coerce female actors into compromising situations that would often lead to unwanted sexual harassment and advances. Often, these film producers would go as far as to threaten their victims to stay silent about the abuse or risk putting their careers in danger. This all seems to be the case in the recent Harvey Weinstein scandal.

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Oct 5

Prova Pizzabar, Owned by Donatella Arpaia and Mark Geragos, Sued for Sexual Harassment and Retaliation

On Thursday, October 5, 2017, Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against Prova Pizzabar, a restaurant located inside Grand Central Station. This popular pizza spot is owned by television personality and restaurateur Donatella Arpaia and celebrity criminal defense attorney Mark Geragos. A female ex-employee of Prova Pizzabar claims she was severely harassed and sexually accosted by a coworker and was then terminated when complaining about it to a supervisor. The lawsuit alleges discrimination based on her sex at the hands of her co-worker, creating an extremely hostile and intimidating work environment.

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Oct 2

Salary Inquiries to be Prohibited by Prospective Employers in NYC

Salary inquiries of prospective employees are set to become a thing of the past. A new legislation that was signed into law earlier this year by Mayor De Blasio will soon go into effect on October 31, 2017. The legislation will prohibit employers from questioning its job applicants about their salary history in an attempt to curb gender pay issues by lowering the possibility of women being negatively impacted by their previous salary levels. The New York City Commission on Human Rights has released fact sheets to help employers and job applicants better understand this law.

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Sep 29

Trump Administration Thinks Companies Can Terminate Employees for Being Gay

The Trump Administration is making it abundantly clear that it is set on reversing the government’s position on LGBTQ rights, more specifically, LGBTQ employee rights. Just this week, during an appeal for a work place sexual orientation discrimination case, a lawyer from the Justice Department under the Trump Administration argued against the former employee who filed the lawsuit. The ex-employee, Donald Zarda, worked for a company called Altitude Express and claims he was fired for being gay.

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Sep 27

Gender Discrimination Alleged by Female Attorney at Top Tier Law Firm

Winston & Strawn, a well established top tier law firm, has been sued by a former female income partner. They have joined the list of the latest biglaw firms, such as Proskauer Rose and Steptoe & Johnson LLP, to be hit with gender discrimination lawsuits. The complaint alleges that the highly qualified ex employee was continually denied the same opportunities as her male counterparts even when she was outperforming them.

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Sep 25

Facebook Sued for Age Discrimination by Former Employee

Gary Glouner, a 52 year old former Facebook employee, has filed an age discrimination lawsuit against the social networking firm. Mr. Glouner alleges that that he was terminated after complaining about Facebook’s treatment of older employees. Although a spokesperson for Facebook has denied the allegations, the lawsuit claims the company has a track record of firing employees over the age of 50.

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Sep 22

Chipotle is Sued Once Again for Alleged Sexual Harassment of its Employees

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has sued Chipotle Mexican Grill accusing them of sexually harassing one of their employees and then retaliating against them. This is not the first time Chipotle has been sued for sexual harassment. Last year, a former teen employee of Chipotle in Texas was awarded $7.6 million. In this instance, a 22-year old male shift manager had to endure verbal and physical sexual harassment by his female general manager.

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Sep 21

Macy’s is Allegedly Discriminating Against Asian Shoppers

Four former Macy’s employees of the flagship Herald Square location in New York City are alleging that the company was pushing to have its workers racially profile Asian shoppers. They claim that they were instructed to not sell or avoid selling Macy’s merchandise to customers of Asian descent. The ex employees, who identify as Asian-American, also claim that they were wrongfully terminated after they spoke out against the alleged policy. Their terminations followed soon after they spoke to managers and filed grievances with Macy’s union about the supposed discrimination.

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Sep 20

“Live-in” Nurses Should Be Paid For All 24 Hours of Their Shift

The Appellate Division, First Department recently ruled that “live-in” nurses working 24-hour shifts should be paid for all 24 hours regardless of their allotted sleep and meal breaks. This ruling came in stark contrast to what had been the New York State Department of Labor’s (DOL) longstanding view that “live-in” nurses’ payment should follow the 13-Hour Rule. It required that they only be paid for 13 hours of their shift if they were allotted at least 8 hours of sleep and 3 hours for meal time.

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Sep 19

Discrimination Lawsuit Based On Gender Pay Equality Hits Google

Three former female employees of Alphabet, the parent company of Google, have filed a class action discrimination lawsuit in San Francisco. The lawsuit alleges that the tech giant discriminated against women in regards to their pay and promotions. Unfortunately for Google, the lawsuit hit shortly after an employee’s10-page manifesto went viral, which stated women employees were far less present within the company because of their inherent psychological differences than men, giving the lawsuit a platform to stand on.

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Sep 18

Delivery Drivers to Receive Approved Pay Out of $8.75M

Gig economy workers, such as the delivery drivers for Postmates, have begun challenging their employers for potentially misclassifying them as independent contractors instead of employees. Many of these workers argue that due to this alleged misclassification they were paid less than the minimum wage. Following the footsteps of the Lyft and Uber misclassification cases, these delivery drivers filed a class action lawsuit and argued that by being labeled as independent contractors instead of employees, Postmates violated the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

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Sep 15

Minimum Wage Violations Cause Hertz and Thrifty to Pay $2M

Hertz and Thrifty employees in Washington State filed a class action lawsuit for minimum wage violations against Hertz and Thrifty. More than 150 employees of the car rental behemoths filed claims with the Department of Labor (DOL) under the SeaTac minimum wage ordinance.

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Sep 13

Pregnancy Discrimination: Making the Case for Male Employees

It is not uncommon for a pregnant woman’s spouse or partner to accompany them to doctor’s appointments or spend time assisting them pre or post pregnancy especially if there are complications. However, an issue arises when the father of an expectant mother is denied their request for a more flexible schedule or a leave by their employer to accommodate their needs and is subjected to adverse employment actions. To this date, there have not been many cases that involve males bringing a discrimination claim under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, so, how can an expecting father or partner bring a claim, or know if they have a case at all?

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Sep 12

An Update on DOL Overtime Regulations

In May of last year the Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it would increase the threshold salary requirements in determining whether an employee is exempt from receiving overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The DOL’s final rule affected professional, administrative and executive employees by dramatically increasing the threshold salary from $455per week to $913 per week. It also bumped the salary threshold for exempt highly compensated individuals from $100,000 to $122,148.

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Sep 7

Boca Juniors Steakhouse Sued for Unpaid Wages

Boca Juniors, the well known Argentine restaurant in Queens, New York which caters to soccer fanatics and steakhouse enthusiasts, has been sued by a former employee. A lawsuit was filed on August 31, 2017, by Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP on behalf of a former back of the house employee. The former kitchen worker is seeking unpaid overtime compensation, unpaid spread of hours pay, and other damages.

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Sep 6

LPNs Sue Healthcare Facility for Unpaid Wages

Employees in the healthcare industry, such as licensed nurse practitioners (“LPNs”), are often subject to workplace violations. LPNs often face issues such as unpaid wages, unpaid overtime, or may witness Medicare or Medicaid fraud. Recently, the employment lawyers at Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP filed a class and collective action lawsuit against a healthcare facility, Atrium Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing formerly known as River Manor Care Center for unpaid wages and unpaid overtime. The lawsuit is on behalf of all current and former LPNs who worked at Atrium Center f/k/a River Manor within the last six years.

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Aug 17

Bar Louie Faces Yet Another Wage Lawsuit

It seems as though the restaurant industry just does not want to clean up its act when it comes to paying its workers correctly. This is at least the case for BL Restaurant Operations LLC, also known as Bar Louie, that has been hit with yet another wage lawsuit. Back on April 20, 2017 Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP along with Shellist Lazarz Slobin LLP, filed an amended class action complaint against the upscale nationwide bar/restaurant on behalf of tipped employees. Bar Louie has allegedly failed to pay its tipped workers the appropriate minimum wage pay as required under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) as well as unlawfully requiring its tipped workers to share their gratuities with non-tipped staff. Recently, a motion was filed with the court requesting that notice of the lawsuit and an opportunity to join be sent to tipped employees who have been affected by Bar Louie’s policies. Affected employees include any current or former tipped employees such as bussers, servers, bartenders, barbacks and other similarly situated employees at Bar Louie nationwide within the last three years.

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Aug 14

Oilfield Workers Sue Hess for Unpaid Overtime

The oilfield giant, Hess Corporation, has been hit with yet another lawsuit seeking to recover unpaid wages for its oilfield workers. The wage lawsuit alleges that Hess Corporation failed to pay certain oilfield workers overtime pay as required by state and federal law. The lawsuit seeks to recover damages for unpaid overtime for worked in excess of forty hours per workweek. Affected employees include any current or former oilfield workers such as Rig Clerks or other similarly situated employees who were paid a day rate while working for Hess nationwide within the last three years.

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Jul 31

Incinia Contracting Sued for Unpaid Overtime

On Friday, July 28, 2017 Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP along with Pechman Law Group PLLC filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of two asbestos handlers and their similarly situated co-workers who worked at Incinia Contracting. This full service environmental company with over a decade of servicing the public and private sectors has allegedly failed to pay its hourly employees overtime at time and a half their regular hourly rate for hours worked over 40 in a work week.

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Jun 23

Notice to be Sent for Nick’s Pizzabar Class Action

In March 2017, Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP filed a class and collective action lawsuit against Nick’s Pizzabar located at 365 3rd Avenue, New York, New York 10016. The lawsuit seeks to recover minimum wages, uniform maintenance pay, unlawful deductions, and other wages for all current and former delivery workers. Among other claims, the lawsuit alleges that Defendants failed to provide proper notice to delivery workers that would enable the company to take a “tip credit” towards the hourly rates paid to delivery workers. The lawsuit also alleges that Defendants required delivery workers to spend a substantial amount of time, 2 hours or more than 20% of their work time, performing non-tip producing side work. Some of this side work included, but was not limited to, general cleaning, sweeping floors, washing dishes, making to-go condiment and utensil bags, and making pizza boxes.

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Jun 22

Court Denies Raymour & Flanigan’s Motion to Compel Arbitration in TCPA Class Action Case

On February 16, 2017, a class action lawsuit was filed by Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP and Terrell Marshall Law Group PLLC against Raymour & Flanigan (“Raymour”) for allegedly violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by sending text messages to recipients’ cellular phones without their prior written consent. The TCPA makes it unlawful to make any calls, send any text messages, and/or send any faxes to a person or business, for commercial reasons, without that person’s express written consent. Each recipient of an unlawful call, text message, and/or fax, may receive a statutory penalty of at least $500 (up to $1,500) for each violation.

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Jun 20

Plaintiffs Granted Conditional Certification in P.F. Chang’s Case

On May 15, 2017, in the case of Black et al. v. P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Inc., No. 16 Civ. 03968, Judge Robert M. Dow Jr. of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division granted Plaintiffs’ motion for conditional certification of a collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

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Jun 14

Verizon to Lay Off Thousands of Workers During AOL-Yahoo Merger

As Verizon’s AOL unit merger over Yahoo takes effect, thousands are expected to be laid off. The communications behemoth will be merging departments like human resources, finance, marketing and general administration and would have obvious overlap. They estimate that about 2,100 people in both the New York and California offices would be in redundant positions as the union finishes taking shape.

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