Misclassification of Workers as Independent Contractors to Avoid Paying Overtime

The minimum wage and overtime must be paid to all "employees" pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Employers often argue to the court that overtime is not due because the persons bringing the claims are independent contractors and not employees. Therefore, in raising the independent c...

New York City Police Department Canine Handlers File Suit to Claim Overtime Pay

New York City Police Department Canine Handlers have filed a suit against the city for overtime pay they should have received for time spent caring for their dogs. In a series of decisions in a previous lawsuit entitled Arbitrator Finds Unwarranted Personnel Actions Can Be Rectified Through Back Pay

The Arbitrator found that administrative errors negatively affecting an employee's pay can be corrected through retroactive pay if the errors did not result from any fault of the employee. Three Naval Shipyard e...

Court Allows Geico Investigators' Overtime Pay Case to Proceed

A former Senior Security Investigator working for Geico General Insurance Company is suing the company for allegedly violating the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"). He claims Investigators, including Senior Security, Lead Secur...

Labor Board to File Complaint against Reuters for Employee Reprimand over Twitter Post

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has announced its plans to file a civil complaint against Thomson Reuters, accusing the News Service of illegally reprimanding a reporter who criticized management through Twitter. The Bo...

Over One Hundred Food Processing Employees to Receive Overtime Damages

Food processing employees at Stahlbush Island Farms will receive backpay for overtime worked without compensation pursuant to a settlement. Over one hundred production line workers, as well as office workers and truck driver...

Dick's Sporting Goods to Pay $15 Million to Employees in Settlement of Claims for Overtime Pay

A class action lawsuit against Dick's Sporting Goods has settled, awarding $15 million in backpay to current and former workers. According to the suit, these workers were not provided with an uninterrupted meal period, and we...

Supreme Court Protects Workers' Rights to Complain Verbally About Employers Failure to Pay Overtime

In a 6-2 decision, the Supreme Court has ruled that employees' verbal complaints regarding an employer's failure to properly pay overtime is protected by the anti-retaliation provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). In Transportation Security Administration Employees to Vote on Whether to Unionize

Posted: Monday, March 14, 2011

After ten years of fighting for the right to unionize and collectively bargain, employees at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) are finally being given an opportunity to do so. The head of the Transpor...

Court Rejects Employer's "Ready to Work" Defense to Unpaid Pre-Shift and Meal Period Overtime Case

Posted: Monday, February 28, 2011

Forklift operators working for UTi Worldwide, Inc. and UTi Integrated Logistics, Inc. (collectively "UTi") brought suit against their employers, arguing they regularly had to perform work activities, without compensation, prior to...

Supreme Court Extends Employer Retaliation to Third Parties

Posted: Thursday, January 27, 2011

The Supreme Court recently ruled that illegal retaliation as defined by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 extends to third parties. In 2003, North American Stainless fired Eric Thompson shortly after his fiancee filed...

Report Details Requirements for Federal Whistleblowers

Posted: Tuesday, January 25, 2011

The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) recently released a report detailing the requirements for Federal employee whistleblowers to receive protection under the Whistleblower Protection Act. The report was issued as a respons...

Court's Decision Facilitates Victories in Age Discrimination Claims for Federal Employees

Posted: Wednesday, January 12, 2011

In determining the legitimacy of a claim under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, federal employees now only have to show age was a factor in the decision.  Previously the employees were required to show that age was the determini...

Wage Theft Prevention Act Passes in New York

Posted: Monday, December 6, 2010

On November 30, 2010, the New York State Assembly passed the Wage Theft Prevention Act, a bill that was previously approved by the state Senate in June and now will be presented to Gov. David Paterson for his signature. The Act, when signed, would increase penalties for violations of wage req...

Middle Class Task Force Meeting at the White House

Posted: Friday, December 3, 2010

On November 19, 2010, the White House announced the launching of a new partnership between the Department of Labor (DOL) and the American Bar Association (ABA) to help workers resolve complaints received by DOL's Wage and Hour Divi...

Firefighter Wins 1st Amendment Case

Posted: Monday, November 15, 2010

County spends $1,000,000 fighting fire fighter in First Amendment case- and loses. The case, Vroman v. Volusia County, et al., Case No. 6:06-cv-229, (M.D. Fla.), handled by Woodley & McGillivary partner Molly Elkin resulted in a jury verdict in fav...

Hooters Employees Move Forward with Weight Discrimination Claim

Posted: Friday, September 24, 2010

Two former Hooters employees have brought suit against the restaurant citing weight-based discrimination. One server claims that during her performance evaluation, a manager put her on "weight probation" for 30 days, during whic...

Court Rules on Union's Right to Peacefully Picket

Posted: Monday, September 13, 2010

The National Labor Relations Board has determined that a Union does not violate Section 8(b)(4)(ii)(B) of the National Labor Relations Act when its agents display a large stationary banner at a secondary employer's business announcing a "labo...

CareGroup, Inc. to Pay 8.5 Million to Employees in Back Pay for Overtime

Posted: Thursday, September 9, 2010

The hospital chain CareGroup, Inc. has agreed to settle a class-action suit brought on behalf of employees who claim they were not paid for working through their lunch breaks or after scheduled shifts ended. 

The plaintiffs alleg...

Library of Congress Settles Sexual Harassment Suit for $250K

Posted: Tuesday, September 7, 2010

A former employee at the Library of Congress ("Library") has settled a lawsuit alleging sexua...

Misclassified Salaried Employees Entitled to Overtime Pay Under Federal Law

Posted: Friday, August 27, 2010

Employers often misclassify workers as "exempt," from the overtime requirements of the law on the bogus basis that workers are salaried.  Merely because an employee is salaried, does not mean that the employee has to work without receivi...

Department of Labor Awards Smartsoft International Employees $1 Million in Back Wages

Posted: Tuesday, August 24, 2010

The Georgia computer consulting company Smartsoft International, Inc., will pay back wages and interest totaling $1 million to 135 employees working under the H-1B visa program. The agreement resulted from an investigation by the Department o...

Department of Labor Investigates Pay Practices in the Health Care Industry

Posted: Monday, August 16, 2010

The Department of Labor ("DOL") is investigating pay practices throughout the health care industry after finding that many hospitals and nursing homes do not pay proper overtime to nurses and other employees who work more than 40 hours a week...

Richmond Hill Food Store Employees Receive $840,000 in Back Pay

Posted: Wednesday, August 11, 2010

The owner of four Richmond Hill food stores entered into an agreement with the Department of Labor ("DOL") to pay 42 employees $840,000 in back pay and overtime compensation. In 2008, the DOL brought a lawsuit against the Queens, New York bus...

City of Charlotte, North Carolina Agrees to Settle Police Overtime Suit

Posted: Monday, August 9, 2010

The City of Charlotte, North Carolina has agreed to pay 32 current and former police sergeants a total of $71,025 as well as 1,530 hours of compensatory time to settle a Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") lawsuit.  For more information on...

Prominent Tobacco Company Settles with Employees in Overtime Suit Alleging Electronic Timekeeping System Prevented Overtime Pay

Posted: Wednesday, August 4, 2010

The cigarette maker R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. has settled an overtime class action suit, brought by 394 employees, for an undisclosed amount. The class action suit claimed that as a company policy R. J. Reynolds refused to pay overtime, and ...

Nurses Able To Proceed With Wage-Fixing Claims Under Anti-Trust Laws

Posted: Monday, August 2, 2010

A group of registered nurses in the Albany, New York area have won two key victories, allowing them to proceed with a class action lawsuit against two hospitals, Ellis Hospital and Albany Medical Center, who they have alleged were...

Bethpage Catering Employees to Receive $93K in Labor Suit

Posted: Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Fourteen employees at Sterling Caterers & Restaurant, a Bethpage, New York based company, have accepted a settlement in a federal lawsuit filed on their behalf, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, b...

FedEx to Pay $3 Million to Massachusetts for Misclassifying Drivers

Posted: Friday, July 23, 2010

Federal Express is reimbursing the state of Massachusetts $3 million dollars as a result of i...

Federal Court: Pharmaceutical Sales Representatives Entitled to Overtime Pay

Posted: Wednesday, July 21, 2010

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit unanimously ruled on July 6, 2010, that a ...

Female Employees Awarded over $250 Million in Sex Discrimination Class Action Against Pharmaceutical Company

Posted: Wednesday, June 9, 2010

In one of the largest class action discrimination cases, a jury found that the pharmaceutical company Novartis had discriminated against thousands of female sales representatives over promotion, pay, and p...

The DOL Finds Mortgage Loan Officers Entitled to FLSA Overtime.

Posted: Wednesday, June 9, 2010

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced that mortgage loan officers do not qualify as administrative ...

Maryland Retail Employees Entitled to a Shift Break Beginning in March, 2011

Posted: Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Effective March 1, 2011, employees who work in retail in Maryland are entitled to a mandatory shift break. The new law (Healthy Retail Employee Act) requires retailer...

AFGE Local 1637 Settles FLSA Grievances with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, FCI Seagoville (TX)

Posted: Wednesday, June 9, 2010

AFGE Local 1639 settled its Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") overtime pay grievances against the Federal Bureau of Prisons ("BOP"), FCI Seagoville for $1,000,000. In the grievances, the Union asserted that the BOP did not properly...

Charter Communications Settles Overtime Case for $18 Million

Posted: Monday, July 19, 2010

A group of technicians from nine states recently reached an $18 million settlement with their employer, a large national cable company, for unpaid overtime. The field technicians are current or former employees of Charter Communica...