On June 12, 2013, the Alycia Carrillo (“Plaintiff”) filed a complaint in U.S. Federal Court on behalf of herself and all others similarly situated that worked at The Ainsworth and Ainsworth Park (collectively, the “Ainsworth Bars”), as class representative, alleging that Paige Hospitality Group (“Defendant”) unlawfully violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FSLA) and New York Labor Law (NYLL). The plaintiff is seeking to recover unpaid minimum wages, overtime compensation, spread of hours pay, misappropriated gratuities, misappropriated service charges, unlawful ...
Continue Reading →13 JUN
S.D.N.Y. Grants Conditional Certification and Court-Authorized Notice to Tipped Employees against Ruby Tuesday Restaurants
On June 11, 2013, the U.S. Federal Court (S.D.N.Y.) granted conditional certification and court-authorized notice to potential class members in Guttentag v. Ruby Tuesday, ...
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Fox Entertainment Group and Fox Searchlight Pictures Violate Federal and State, Wage and Hour Laws by Failing to Pay Interns
On June 11, 2013, the U.S. Federal Court (S.D.N.Y) held in Glatt v. Fox Searchlight Pictures that Fox ...
Continue Reading →28 MAY
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 ...
Continue Reading →7 MAY
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 ...
Continue Reading →30 APR
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 ...
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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 ...
Continue Reading →19 APR
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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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 ...
Continue Reading →27 MAR
Martinez v. Hilton Hotels Corp., No. 10 Civ. 7688(JLC), 2013 WL 1087211 (S.D.N.Y. March 15, 2013).
The Court denied the defendants’ (the employers) motions for summary judgment. The defendants tried to get the case dismissed by arguing that the plaintiffs (the employees) qualified for the executive exemption making them not entitled to overtime. The defendants also tried to have the court calculate overtime damages using the fluctuating work week method.
The plaintiffs were housekeeping managers and assistant housekeeping managers who worked at ...
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