Four former Macy’s employees of the flagship Herald Square location in New York City are alleging that the company was pushing to have its workers racially profile Asian shoppers. They claim that they were instructed to not sell or avoid selling Macy’s merchandise to customers of Asian descent. The ex employees, who identify as Asian-American, also claim that they were wrongfully terminated after they spoke out against the alleged policy. Their terminations followed soon after they spoke to managers and ...
Continue Reading →20 SEP
The Appellate Division, First Department recently ruled that “live-in” nurses working 24-hour shifts should be paid for all 24 hours regardless of their allotted sleep and meal breaks. This ruling came in stark contrast to what had been the New York State Department of Labor’s (DOL) longstanding view that “live-in” nurses’ payment should follow the 13-Hour Rule. It required that they only be paid for 13 hours of their shift if they were allotted at least 8 hours of sleep ...
Continue Reading →19 SEP
Three former female employees of Alphabet, the parent company of Google, have filed a class action discrimination lawsuit in San Francisco. The lawsuit alleges that the tech giant discriminated against women in regards to their pay and promotions. Unfortunately for Google, the lawsuit hit shortly after an employee’s10-page manifesto went viral, which stated women employees were far less present within the company because of their inherent psychological differences than men, giving the lawsuit a platform to stand on.
According to the ...
Continue Reading →18 SEP
Gig economy workers, such as the delivery drivers for Postmates, have begun challenging their employers for potentially misclassifying them as independent contractors instead of employees. Many of these workers argue that due to this alleged misclassification they were paid less than the minimum wage. Following the footsteps of the Lyft and Uber misclassification cases, these delivery drivers filed a class action lawsuit and argued that by being labeled as independent contractors instead of employees, Postmates violated the federal Fair Labor ...
Continue Reading →15 SEP
Hertz and Thrifty employees in Washington State filed a class action lawsuit for minimum wage violations against Hertz and Thrifty. More than 150 employees of the car rental behemoths filed claims with the Department of Labor (DOL) under the SeaTac minimum wage ordinance.
The DOL investigated these wage complaints that alleged Hertz/Thrifty failed to pay the minimum hourly wage upheld by the ordinance between January 1, 2014 and September 30, 2015. To further avoid the inconvenience, uncertainty, and expense of litigation, ...
Continue Reading →13 SEP
It is not uncommon for a pregnant woman’s spouse or partner to accompany them to doctor’s appointments or spend time assisting them pre or post pregnancy especially if there are complications. However, an issue arises when the father of an expectant mother is denied their request for a more flexible schedule or a leave by their employer to accommodate their needs and is subjected to adverse employment actions. To this date, there have not been many cases that involve males ...
Continue Reading →12 SEP
In May of last year the Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it would increase the threshold salary requirements in determining whether an employee is exempt from receiving overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The DOL’s final rule affected professional, administrative and executive employees by dramatically increasing the threshold salary from $455per week to $913 per week. It also bumped the salary threshold for exempt highly compensated individuals from $100,000 to $122,148.
This change in overtime regulations caused ...
Continue Reading →7 SEP
Boca Juniors, the well known Argentine restaurant in Queens, New York which caters to soccer fanatics and steakhouse enthusiasts, has been sued by a former employee. A lawsuit was filed on August 31, 2017, by Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP on behalf of a former back of the house employee. The former kitchen worker is seeking unpaid overtime compensation, unpaid spread of hours pay, and other damages.
The lawsuit alleges that Boca Juniors Steakhouse and its owners instituted many policies and practices ...
Continue Reading →6 SEP
Employees in the healthcare industry, such as licensed nurse practitioners (“LPNs”), are often subject to workplace violations. LPNs often face issues such as unpaid wages, unpaid overtime, or may witness Medicare or Medicaid fraud. Recently, the employment lawyers at Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP filed a class and collective action lawsuit against a healthcare facility, Atrium Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing formerly known as River Manor Care Center for unpaid wages and unpaid overtime. The lawsuit is on behalf of all ...
Continue Reading →17 AUG
It seems as though the restaurant industry just does not want to clean up its act when it comes to paying its workers correctly. This is at least the case for BL Restaurant Operations LLC, also known as Bar Louie, that has been hit with yet another wage lawsuit. Back on April 20, 2017 Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP along with Shellist Lazarz Slobin LLP, filed an amended class action complaint against the upscale nationwide bar/restaurant on behalf of tipped employees. ...
Continue Reading →