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 ...
Continue Reading →1 JUL
On June 29, 2015, Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP filed a class and collective action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District Court for the Southern District of New York against 85 Pearl Street Venture LTD. d/b/a Stone Street Tavern (“Stone Street Tavern”). The lawsuit is filed on behalf of all servers, bussers, runners, bartenders, barbacks, and other similarly situated tipped employees (collectively, “Tipped Employees”) who work or have worked at Stone Street Tavern in New York City.
The ...
Continue Reading →1 JUN
On May 29, 2015, Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York against Aki Renovations Group, Inc.; Aki Renovations, Inc.; Aki Todic, individually; Mujo Todic, individually; and Halil Todic, individually (collectively “Defendants” or “Aki Group”). The lawsuit is filed on behalf of all laborers who work or have worked for the Aki Group within the last six years.
Defendants are based in Queens, New York and provide ...
Continue Reading →14 MAY
On May 13, 2015, Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against Gaucho, LLC; Samba Brands Management; 7th & Barrow LLC; Avenue Spoon Inc.; Shimon Bokova; Danielle Billera; and Matthew Johnson (collectively, “Defendants”) who collectively own and operate the Sushi Samba restaurants in New York City, Miami Beach, Coral Gables, and Las Vegas. The lawsuit is filed on behalf of all servers, bussers, runners, bartenders, ...
Continue Reading →12 MAY
Governor Cuomo, frustrated from facing resistance and delays from the legislature in his attempts to raise the minimum wage rate once more, is resolute on making an increase a reality. This Thursday, the Governor will use his authority to direct the labor commissioner to convene a Wage Board and examine the current minimum wage in the fast-food industry. The board is expected to give its recommendations as to what it believes the minimum wage rate in this industry should be ...
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The countless nail salons in New York City and surrounding areas, as documented by a recent NY Times article, have recently been placed under the microscope in regards to wage and hour violations and hazardous working conditions. Several violations have become apparent such as these salons paying its workers way below the minimum hourly wage rate, no overtime pay, not being paid for all hours worked, and often not being paid at all. Last year, the Department of Labor ...
Continue Reading →13 APR
The Office of the New York Attorney General has recently announced an investigation into certain employment policies utilized by 13 major retailers, including Gap, Abercrombie & Fitch, Target, J. Crew, Sears, and TJX, that allow them to keep employees on unpredictable “on call” schedules. “On call shifts” require employees to call in to work a few hours prior to the start of their shift, or sometimes the night before, in order to find out whether or not they need to ...
Continue Reading →26 MAR
On March 26, 2015, Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against Dinosaur Restaurants, LLC, JLN-Store, Inc. f/k/a Dino-Store, Inc., Soros Strategic Partners LP, and John Stage, who collectively own and operated the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que franchise. This lawsuit is specifically filed on behalf of all servers, bussers, runners, bartenders, and other “Tipped Workers” who work or have worked at the following Dinosaur Bar-B-Que restaurants: the ...
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On March 24, 2015, Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against Landry’s, Inc. and its subsidiaries McCormick & Schmick Restaurant Corp. and Landry’s Seafood House-Arlington, Inc., on behalf of all servers, bussers, and other tipped workers who have worked at the “McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood & Steaks” that operated in New York City between March 24, 2009 and June 13, 2014.
Landry’s Inc. (“Landry’s”) is ...
Continue Reading →24 FEB
Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration has announced today that the New York State sub-minimum wage rate for all tipped workers will be raised to $7.50 an hour at the end of 2015. This is a substantial and well warranted increase from the current tipped wage rate of $5.00, and will bring the tipped wage rate much closer to the regular minimum wage rate, which will itself increase from $8.75 to $9.00 at the end of 2015.
The unprompted raise should provide a ...
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