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 →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 →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 ...
Continue Reading →Elite Modeling, a top modeling agency, is being sued by a former intern for allegedly failing to pay its interns overtime pay for the hours they worked in excess of 40. The intern claims that the company misclassified its interns as exempt from wage requirements and then made them work more than 40 hours a week, including weekends.
The intern claims that her duties included “Assisting Bookers with scouting new talent at open calls; Assisting with product management and development including ...
Continue Reading →Fitapelli & Schaffer filed an amended complaint against Chipotle seeking overtime compensation on behalf of Apprentice’s nation-wide. We allege that the primary duties of an Apprentice are similar to hourly workers. To date, employees from the following states have joined the lawsuit: New York, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Kansas and Missouri.
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Continue Reading →A lawsuit filed against A-1 First Class Moving & Storage (“A-1 Moving”) alleges that A-1 Moving failed to pay its service employees the prevailing wage rate as set by the New York City Comptroller’s Office. The prevailing wage is the pay rate set by law for work on public works projects. The prevailing wage law covers anyone who: works in construction under a public works contract on a City-owned facility; provides building services such as security, cleaning, temporary office clerical, ...
Continue Reading →Counsel for Defendants asked the Court to compel removal of Plaintiffs’ website (www.TGIFridayslawsuit.com) alleging the website contained false and misleading information and infringed on T.G.I. Friday’s trademark. Plaintiffs argued that the website was proper attorney advertising and would not infringe on Friday’s trademarks because the public would not be confused regarding who controlled the website. The website contains disclaimers specifically stating that, “This website is not affiliated or endorsed by TGI Fridays or tgifridays.com. This website provides information regarding a ...
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F&S is pleased to announce that Judge Hellerstein has signed off on a stipulation allowing court-authorized notice to be sent to over 600 current and former employees of celebrity chef Daniel Boulud’s restaurants: Daniel, DBGB, Bar Boulud and Boulud Sud. If a person joins the case, they will be able to seek remedies for unpaid minimum wage, overtime, tips and spread of hours.
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We are pleased to report that Judge McMahon has granted our motion for Rule 23 Class Certification for all tipped and kitchen workers who have worked at Public House, Butterfield 8, Tammany Hall and Wicker Park in the past six years. We will be sending notices shortly advising employees of their ability to participate and recover if a settlement is reached. Restaurant workers should be aware that they are able to bring claims for ...
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On November 20, 2012, Fitapelli & Schaffer filed a class action lawsuit against The Riese Organization, Inc., who owns and/or operates 10 T.G.I. Friday’s in Manhattan. T.G.I. Friday’s is a popular restaurant brand with more than 500 locations worldwide. This lawsuit alleges that T.G.I. Friday’s failed to pay proper minimum wages, overtime pay, spread-of-hours pay, and call in pay to servers, bussers, runners, bartenders, barbacks and other tipped workers as required under the federal ...
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