On May 22, 2013, the United State Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit denied defendants Gristede’s Operating Corp.’s appeal from District Judge Paul A. Crotty’s award of $3,415,450 in attorneys’ fees and $442,609.85 in costs to plaintiffs after the parties entered into a $3,530,000 settlement on the eve of trial.
Defendants argued that the district court did not adequately ...
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AARP Survey Evidences Age Bias in the Workplace
In late 2012, the AARP surveyed 1,502 adults between the ages of 45 and 74 about age discrimination in the workplace, and found that many of the people surveyed have had personal experiences with age bias at work.
As Ann Carrns explained in the New York Times, almost 20% of the people surveyed believed they have been passed over for ...
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Recent Supreme Court Decisions Favor Businesses over Consumers, Employees
A recent Minnesota Law Review article studied 2,000 Supreme Court decisions from 1946 to 2011, and confirmed that the current Supreme Court is, by a wide margin, the most business-friendly Court during the time period. All five of the Court’s conservative-leaning judges (John Roberts, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito) rank among the ...
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On April 30, 2013, Fitapelli & Schaffer filed a class and collective action lawsuit against the owners and operators of Restaurant Riki, Box Snack Riki, and Riki Yakiniku Izakaya (collectively referred to as the “Riki Restaurants”), for failing to pay minimum wages, overtime wages, spread of hours pay, and for misappropriating customer tips intended for their servers. According to the lawsuit, the Riki Restaurants have violated numerous provisions of the ...
Continue Reading →An “Invisible Epidemic”: U.S. Employers Stealing Employees’ Wages at an Alarming Rate
Alternet.org recently published an article regarding wage theft, and the alarming rate at which workers in America – especially low wage workers – are being “robbed” by what most would consider an unlikely thief: their employer.
In the face of globalization and an economy in recession, thousands of businesses have set their sights on workers ...
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Court of Appeals Confirms New York City Human Rights Law Among Most Plaintiff-Friendly Employment Laws in the Country
Mihalik v. Credit Agricole Cheuvreux N. Am., Inc., No. 11-3361 (Apr. 26, 2013)
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Genesis Healthcare Corp. v. Laura Symczyk, No. 11-1059, — S.Ct. –, 2013 WL 1567370 (Apr. 16, 2013)
The U.S. Supreme Court’s (“Supreme Court”) ruling in Genesis, didn’t address the ultimate question of whether an unaccepted offer to make the named plaintiff whole can moot the individual Fair ...
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A former associate of Faruqi & Faruqi, a Wall Street plaintiffs’ law firm, filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against one of the partners of the firm, Juan Monteverde. The former associate, Alexandra Marchuk, accused Monteverde of relentlessly harassing her the night of the office holiday party, then pushed her to the floor and “quickly, forcefully, and painfully had sex with her.” After the incident, Alexandra ...
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Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, No. 11-864, 2013 WL 1222646 (Mar. 27, 2013)
In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court of the United States overturned the lower courts’ rulings to grant class certification for the plaintiffs’ antitrust claims. Although this case dealt with antitrust violations, Defense Attorneys will ...
Continue Reading →Stamped Complaint 13-1727 (FB)(RML)
On April 1, 2013, Fitapelli & Schaffer filed a class and collective action lawsuit against Wanrong Trading Corp. (“Wanrong”) for failing to pay overtime wages for hours worked over 40 per workweek. According to the lawsuit, Wanrong misclassified its employees as exempt from overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and the New York Labor Law (“NYLL”). In order to minimize labor costs, Wanrong, a meat processing ...
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