Wage & Hour News

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

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

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

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

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 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

Uber Faces More California Labor Claims

San Francisco, CA Following news of a California labor lawsuit filed against Uber for allegedly misclassifying its workers as independent contractors comes news of another lawsuit against the company alleging violations of California labor law. This new lawsuit, however, does not deal with employee pay or classification. Instead it alleges violations of California state labor laws requiring companies to properly protect employee information.

March 23, 2015

Health Club to Settle California Employee Lawsuit

Hollywood, CA Equinox Holdings Inc. has agreed to pay up to $4 million to settle allegations that the company failed to provide proper overtime pay, meal and rest breaks for employees. Although that lawsuit has been tentatively settled, the company still faces allegations of violations of California overtime law, alleging it did not properly pay employees all required overtime pay. In 2014, the company paid $2.9 million to settle overtime wages and meal break violations.

March 12, 2015

California Labor Lawsuit Seeks to Distinguish Employees from Contractors

San Francisco, CA Yet another company involved in a California labor lawsuit is alleged to have misclassified its employees as subcontractors, denying them proper pay and breaks as owed to employees. Now, a judge has suggested he might agree with the workers, and deny a motion by the defendant to dismiss the California labor law claim.

March 9, 2015

Wal-Mart Hit with California Labor Lawsuit

Santa Ana, CA Arguably the largest retailer in North America has been hit with a California labor lawsuit by a pharmacist formerly employed by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on behalf of all pharmacists employed by Wal-Mart across the country. At issue are allegations of missed rest periods and unpaid overtime, which is an affront to California Labor Law.

February 16, 2015
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