On July 7, 2015, Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP, along with co-counsel, Nichols Kaster, PLLP, filed a class and collective action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against Assurance Wireless, LLC (“Assurance Wireless”) and Wallace Morgan, Inc. (“Wallace Morgan”). The lawsuit is filed on behalf of all account executives, corporate trainers, or other similarly situated employees whose job was to gather applications for enrollment in the Lifeline Assistance Program through Assurance Wireless and Wallace Morgan.
Defendant Assurance Wireless is a national wireless service provider headquartered in New Jersey, and is owned by Virgin Mobile USA, L.P., which, in turn, is owned by the Sprint Corporation. Defendant Wallace Morgan is wireless phone provider that partners with Assurance Wireless to gather applications from consumers who wish to enroll in the Lifeline Assistance Program. The Lifeline Assistance Program is a federal program that offers wireless phones and phone services to low income consumers. These wireless phones are commonly referred to as “Obama Phones”. The lawsuit alleges that Assurance Wireless misclassified its workers, such as account executives and corporate trainers, as “independent contractors”, and thus only paid only paid these workers a flat rate of 10 dollars per consumer that enrolls in the Lifeline Assistanace Program. However, it is alleged that these positions are actually entry level, low skill jobs that do not require workers to have previous experience in sales, or any prior executive experience or training experience. Due to this, Plaintiffs allege they were actually employees of Assurance Wireless and Wallace Morgan and thus are entitled to minimum wage for all hours worked and overtime compensation for all hours worked over forty per work week as required by the FLSA and the NYLL. The lawsuit claims that the flat rate of 10 dollars per completed application does not equate to minimum wage, and workers received no overtime pay. In addition, the lawsuit seeks to recover all NYLL statutory damages for Defendants’ failure to provide annual wage notices and accurate wage statements.
The employment lawyers at Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP are strongly committed to protecting the rights of hard working employees. We are seeking to represent any account executives, corporate trainers, or any other similarly situated workers who presently work or have worked for Assurance Wireless or Wallace Morgan. Current and former Assurance Wireless or Wallace Morgan workers should contact us to see if you are eligible to join the case. For additional information, please call the employment lawyers at Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP at (212) 300-0375 or visit our website at www.fslawfirm.com.