The dawning of a new year means it is time to look back at the number of cases filed in federal courts during the past year under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Every year seemingly without fail, that number goes up. 2014 was no exception.
According to figures from PACER, litigants filed a total
Recently, I read about a construction contractor in Los Angeles caught in the middle of litigation between its subcontractors and the city, on behalf of the subcontractor’s former employees. According to the employees, the subcontractors had allegedly promised to pay them the prevailing wage for that area of $49.00 per hour, but had only paid
In October, we profiled Integrity Staffing Solutions, Inc. v. Busk, a case asking whether time spent in security screenings is compensable under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Warehouse workers sued Integrity Staffing under the FLSA for uncompensated time they were required to spend in lengthy security screenings (lasting up to 25 minutes) at
As we discussed recently, this month marked the opening of the Supreme Court’s new term. For employment law practitioners, this session will be particularly busy with seven cases analyzing a range of employment questions, from the scope of the EEOC’s duty to conciliate discrimination claims to the applicability of whistleblower protection laws and the Pregnancy
This month marked the opening of the Supreme Court’s new term. For employment law practitioners, this session will be particularly busy with seven cases analyzing a range of employment questions, from the scope of the EEOC’s duty to conciliate discrimination claims (Mach Mining v. EEOC, oral argument set for January 2015 or later)
In case there was any question, an Indiana staffing company, Access Therapies, learned late last month that the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) does not absolve employers of their responsibilities under state wage and hour laws. The Southern District of Indiana denied Access Therapies’ motion to dismiss a counterclaims filed by a Philippine citizen who
Apologies to John Steinbeck, but in some ways, both 2013 and 2014 have been the winters of FLSA plaintiffs’ discontent on the East Coast. Last summer, the Second Circuit (which covers New York, Connecticut, and Vermont) issued a number of decisions tightening pleading standards under the Supreme Court’s decisions in Iqbal and Twombly. In
One of the many songs written by Shel Silverstin became a hit for Bobby Bare back in 1976, and the title of Bare’s album that appears in the headline of this post. “The Winner” tells the story about a man who “won” every fight he had ever fought—with the broken bones, glass eye, arthritis, dislocated knees and more to show for it. Just as in the world of Shel Silverstein’s lyrics, being “The Winner” in a wage and hour lawsuit isn’t always that great.
Before the Labor Day holiday, I read on Twitter (by the way—are you following @WageHourInsight yet?) about the supposed “success” a restaurant had in defending its wage and hour practices at trial. I did a double-take. After reading the Southern District of New York’s opinion in Mendez v. International Food House, I would bet that, like the “Tiger Man McCool” in Shel’s hit song, the restaurant isn’t feeling much like “The Winner” now. Litigating a wage and hour case through trial is rarely going to be a victory by any definition after you consider the costs and time expended (even assuming you prevail).Continue Reading The “Winner” and Other Losers: What “Winning” That Wage & Hour Suit Might Get You
A few weeks ago, a reader e-mailed me a question about her son:
I’m trying to find out if my son can demand payment by check or direct deposit. He is 16 years old and working at Burger King.
Right now they load his payment onto a VISA card. Needless to say he can use
If you have been anywhere near a TV or radio over the past few months, you have probably seen or heard the ads for Hotels.com featuring Captain Obvious. If you’re from the Midwest, and Indiana in particular, it has probably crossed your mind whether the Bob and Tom Show’s Mr. Obvious and Captain Obvious