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 ...
Continue Reading →17 JAN
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 ...
Continue Reading →17 JAN
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.
The au pairs from countries such as Australia, Colombia, Germany, ...
Continue Reading →2 JAN
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 ...
Continue Reading →7 DEC
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 ...
Continue Reading →8 NOV
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 ...
Continue Reading →7 NOV
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 ...
Continue Reading →2 NOV
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 ...
Continue Reading →15 OCT
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 Reading →2 OCT
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.
The WHD’s efforts focused on educating employers and employees about compliance with ...
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