Legal News Articles

Donning and Doffing and Getting Around the California Labor Law

Tracy, CA The judge presiding over a recent California labor lawsuit against Taylor Farms certified the class but only in part. Certification of donning and doffing was denied, contrary to the California labor code.

June 1, 2015

CALIFORNIA LABOR LAW

California Truckers Just Want to Be Paid

Compton, CA Eight months after two California truck drivers were handed a favorable finding from the Office of the California Labor Commissioner, a class-action lawsuit has been launched against a private freight hauler based in Carson accused of incorrectly classifying its drivers as independent contractors. The California labor lawsuit seeks to represent anyone who may have hauled freight for the defendant over the previous four years.

May 25, 2015

CALIFORNIA LABOR LAW

AT&T Faces California Labor Lawsuit

Los Angeles, CA AT&T faces a California labor lawsuit alleging violations of state and federal labor laws. The lawsuit was filed in California court on behalf of training specialists, who allege they were misclassified as exempt from overtime pay in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and California labor law. The lawsuit is just the latest to be filed alleging California employers violate California state labor laws in their treatment of employees.

May 19, 2015

CALIFORNIA LABOR LAW

Summer Intern? Maybe You Should Be Getting Paid

Los Angeles, CA Increasingly, unpaid interns are reporting that they are treated as unpaid employees and their employers are violating California labor laws and the FLSA (Wages and Fair Labor Standards Act).

Employers would be wise to brush up on the FLSA Act and the Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) criteria, to ensure their interns are not misclassified and exploited. In the past year, several class actions have resulted in unpaid interns being awarded unpaid wages and California overtime pay. (Do a quick Google search for “intern class action lawsuits” to see how much trouble you can get into: Paying interns minimum wage would be more cost-effective than settling an unpaid intern lawsuit.)

The latest suit filed May 1, 2015 in New York state court alleges the Giorgio Armani Corp uses interns for free labor. The proposed class action against the fashion giant was filed by former intern Claire Malnar. According to Law360, Malnar performed work duties including data entry, unpacking boxes and organizing inventory when she interned for the company for three months in 2010. The DOL clearly states that:

• The internship, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to training which would be given in an educational environment.
• The employer derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the trainees or students, and, on occasion, the employer’s operations actually may be impeded.

The suit seeks payment of back wages under New York labor law. The case is Claire Malnar et al. v. Giorgio Armani Corp. et al., case number 154399/2015, in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York.

Just one day before the Armani suit was filed, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) HD Productions LLC was hit with a putative class action in California court. Kimi Gupta claims she worked for the TV channel about nine hours per day, two days a week before she was fired for “making mistakes.” Gupta claims that MGM systematically hired interns to work for free.

The complaint states that “Defendants lured students and others into providing free labor and services as interns under various pretexts, including telling them that ‘there was always a chance of getting hired’ if they worked for a period of time without compensation.”

One of the Department of Labor’s (DOL) six criteria is that “The trainees or students are not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the training period.”

Further, the lawsuit adds that, “By engaging in such tactics and schemes, defendants procured the labor of unsuspecting and vulnerable persons, illegally reduced labor costs on its productions, and unfairly competed with others in the market.” The MGM lawsuit, which claims violations of California’s minimum wage law and the Unfair Competition Law, could involve more than 100 former MGM interns.

Last year Viacom Inc. settled with former MTV Networks and Viacom interns for $7.2 million and Condé Nast settled with 7,500 former interns for $5.8 million. The latter terminated its internship program. And thirdly in 2014, NBC Universal agreed to settle with about 8,000 former unpaid interns at Saturday Night Live and MSNBC for $6.4 million.

Obviously, it doesn’t pay to treat interns like unpaid employees.

The Fair Labor Standards Act’s (“FLSA”) six criteria for unpaid interns are as follows:

• the position be educational;
• benefit the intern;
• not displace other workers;
• provide no immediate advantage for the employer;
• have no promise of future employment;
• a clear understanding that it is an unpaid position.

Visit FLSA (Wages and Fair Labor Standards Act) for more information about unpaid internships.

May 11, 2015

CALIFORNIA OVERTIME

Caregivers Still Waiting for California Overtime

Los Angeles, CA Charlene quit her job as a retail supervisor to look after her mother who requires care 24/7. “I don’t have any savings or other means of income so I was counting on a fair wage and California overtime when the IHSS kicked in this past January,” says Charlene.

May 10, 2015

CALIFORNIA LABOR LAW

Stryker/Howmedica Agree to $3 Million California Labor Law Settlement

San Francisco, CA A labor class action rooted in California labor law has proven successful for plaintiffs following the announcement of a settlement between class participants and defendants Howmedica and Stryker. The settlement is worth $3 million.

May 4, 2015

CALIFORNIA LABOR LAW

California Labor Law: Yard Hostlers Not Getting Proper Breaks

Lancaster, CA Yard hostling might be an area of employment that people are not familiar with, but that doesn’t mean that yard hostlers don’t deserve proper meal and rest breaks. Unfortunately, some companies that employ yard hostlers are accused of not properly scheduling or providing meal and rest breaks because they are more concerned with boosting their profits. One lawsuit alleging California labor violations has already been filed, says Kitty Szeto, attorney at R. Rex Parris Law Firm, and more could certainly follow.

April 27, 2015

CALIFORNIA LABOR LAW

American Apparel Hit with Proposed California Labor Law Class Action

Los Angeles, CA When American Apparel announced to the press an impending mass layoff, the imminent job loss was allegedly news to many of the employees about to be affected, according to a class-action lawsuit filed days ago in California. When the layoffs were triggered on or about April 1, affected employees were blindsided, with little notice and minimal severance. California labor law and the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (both federal and state) hold strict tenets as to what is required when a worker is let go through no fault of his own.

April 20, 2015

CALIFORNIA OVERTIME

Subsidiary of Kaiser Permanente Hit with Overtime Pay Laws Class Action

San Diego, CA A class-action overtime pay lawsuit has been filed against Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, Inc. alleging senior systems administrators employed by the hospital(s) were purposefully misclassified in order to escape payment of overtime, as well as the issuance of meal breaks and other rest periods mandated by California overtime law and other employment statutes for non-management personnel.

April 18, 2015

CALIFORNIA LABOR LAW

California Labor Lawsuit No Piece of Cake

Torrance, CA A California labor lawsuit has been filed against a Beverly Hills bakery, alleging violations of California labor laws. The lawsuit accuses the bakery’s owners of abusive behaviors, including failing to pay minimum wage or overtime, retaliation, and human trafficking.

April 13, 2015