BLOG

The number of layoffs that have been attributed to Covid by companies this past year have been astronomical. Employees often have had little to no notice when being laid off making it extremely difficult to cope during these trying times. What rights, if any, do workers have when it comes to being terminated on the fly? Existing laws, such as the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act), make it illegal for companies with 100 employers or more to fire 50 or more individuals within a short span of time without giving ...

Fast food workers in New York City have just gained significant protections against layoffs. Two bills were signed into law this past Tuesday by Mayor Bill de Blasio adding measures to shield workers from terminations without just cause or a significant economic reason. These additional restrictions for layoffs will provide much needed job stability for fast food workers that have been facing widespread challenges in the restaurant industry during the pandemic.

The first bill discusses fast food chains new requirement to present “just cause” when terminating or reducing a fast food workers hours by more than 15%. “Just cause” has been defined as failing to perform job ...

A popular convenience store chain in Pennsylvania, Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores Inc.,has just agreed to resolve claims of unpaid wages for almost $3 million. Employees that worked as Operations Managers for Love’s throughout Pennsylvania filed a class action lawsuit back in 2017 alleging they were owed overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). These Operations Managers claimed that the convenience store chain incorrectly classified them as exempt from overtime pay when working over 40 hours per work week.

The lawsuit alleges that even though these Operations Managers were in high-ranking positionsthey should not have been exempt from overtime pay because ...

Target Corporation and Target General Merchandise, Inc. (collectively, “Target”) in New York State has just been sued for employee pay violations. Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP filed the class action complaint on Tuesday, December 8, 2020, alleging that the grocery and retail chain failed to pay its manual workers on time. With over 80 locations in New York, Target employs more than 5,000 hourly manual workers. These manual workers such as guest advocates, inbound specialists, visual merchandisers, store attendants, cart attendants, ...

Walgreens employees have just received a preliminary approval from a federal judge in California approving a $4.5 million settlement for claims of unpaid wages. The workers alleged that the pharmacy chain violated state labor laws by failing to properly pay its employees at its distribution centers. More than 2,600 workers stand to benefit from the payout which the judge found to be fair and a good recovery considering the potential risk of going to trial. Each ...

CR England, the nation’s largest refrigerated truck company, has agreed to pay its drivers $18.6 million to resolve claims of unpaid wages. A Utah federal judge approved the settlement last week which includes a pay out for almost 13,000 current and former drivers of the company. The result was deemed an appropriate end providing immediate and substantial benefits to its Class Members. Each of the 12,802 affected drivers will be receiving at least $1,300 after all ...

If you think nothing is wrong with your paycheck, you may want to take a closer look. Many workers are uncertain on how to decipher their paycheck, let alone how to tell if they have been shortchanged. With nuances in Federal Labor Laws as well as lesser known New York State and local labor laws, you have rights that may be going overlooked. Read on below to see what you might be missing:

1. You are paid every 2 weeks instead of weekly.

If ...

Fitapelli & Schaffer is proud to announce that Frank Mazzaferro, Partner, and Armando Ortiz, Associate, have been selected once again to the Super Lawyers 2020 Rising Stars list. This selective award allows no more than 2.5 percent of lawyers in the state to receive this honor. Through a research team at Super Lawyers who conduct a patented multiphase selection process that includes a statewide survey of lawyers, an independent research evaluation of candidates and peer reviews by practice area, Frank Mazzaferro and ...

Enterprise Rent-A-Car (“Enterprise”) has just been sued by its employees for allegedly not getting paid on time. The proposed class action lawsuit claims that Enterprise, the largest car rental provider in the world, has failed to pay its New York employees on a weekly basis as required by the New York Labor Law (“NYLL”). This lawsuit seeks to recover pay for untimely wages and other damages for all current and former similarly situated drivers and manual labor positions (collectively, “Manual Workers”) ...

Joseph Fitapelli and Brian Schaffer have been selected to this year’s NY Super Lawyers list yet again. Through their dedication and commitment to their hard-working clients, both founding partners have made the selective cut of being featured on this list. Each year, no more than five percent of the lawyers in the state are selected by the research team at Super Lawyers to receive this honor. Together, Mr. Fitapelli and Mr. Schaffer have helped recover well over 100 million dollars for their clients. The firm specializes exclusively on ...