California Employment Lawyers Blog

In a recent California Employment Lawyers blog, our attorneys based in Riverside, California discussed a wage theft report in San Francisco, which found that out of 400 restaurant workers in San Francisco's Chinatown, over half of the workers made less than minimum wage.

In related news, U.S. Department of Labor reported last week that two restaurants in Washington State have agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by the DOL, after the restaurants were accused of violating the Fair Labor Standards Act by failing to pay workers minimum wage and overtime.

Super China Buffet and King Buffet will reportedly pay 83 workers $420,000 in back wages and liquidated damages, after a DOL investigation found that some restaurant waitstaff were only paid $10 per day--far below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. The kitchen staff was reportedly only paid a straight monthly salary with no overtime compensation, even when working beyond 40 hours in a workweek. The investigation also found that the employers often paid employees in cash and did not keep accurate time and payroll records, a violation of the FLSA.

As our Carson employment attorneys have reported recently in a blog post, the FLSA requires that employees covered by the act are paid $7.25 per hour. For employees who regularly receive over $30 a month in tips, employers may pay a base rate of $2.13 per hour in direct wages if the tips cover the pay difference. In overtime compensation, the FLSA requires that covered employees are paid one and one-half their regular compensation rates for all hours worked beyond forty in a week of work. Employees are also required under the FLSA to maintain accurate time and payroll records.

Continue reading "DOL Wage and Hour Lawsuit Settlement Brings $420K in Back Wages to WA Restaurant Workers" »

In recent a press release that our labor and employment lawyers in Irvine, California have been following, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has recovered $1,060,554 in back pay for employees working for a Southern California U.S. Army contractor from October 2008 to October 2010.

The DOL reportedly performed a wage and hour investigation against CALNET Inc., the primary contractor, and Acclaim Technical Services, Inc. and McNeil Technologies, both subcontractors. The three companies provide the United States Army based at Fort Irwin, California with information, language and intelligence technology services, and allegedly failed to compensate employees properly for "on-call" time.

Investigations by the department determined that the three companies were found to be in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by failing to compensate employees for "on-call" time, which resulted in violations of overtime pay. The three companies also reportedly violated the recordkeeping requirements of the FLSA, by failing to keep proper pay records of employees, along with accurate records of the total employee hours worked.

As our Newport Beach labor and employment attorneys have reported in a previous blog, under the FLSA, employees covered by the act are required to be compensated at least $7.25 per hour, the federal minimum wage, for any hour worked, and one and one-half the employee's normal pay rate for any hours worked over 40-hours in a workweek, including bonuses, incentive pay, or commissions.

Continue reading " US Army Contractor Workers in CA Paid Over $1M in Back Pay After DOL Investigation" »

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously on a retaliation ban limits case this week, that our Riverside labor and employment attorneys discussed in a recent blog, stating that a company can be sued for retaliation by terminating an employee's fiancée.

In the original lawsuit, Miriam Regalado, a female engineer at North American Stainless plant, filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) claiming that as one of only a few female engineers, she had experienced gender-based discrimination by her supervisors, and failed to receive the same pay raises as her male colleagues in similar positions.

As our Carson employment lawyers discussed in a related sex discrimination blog, under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it is against the law for an employer to retaliate against an employee for reporting gender-based discrimination.

At the time of the complaint, Regalado was engaged to Eric Thompson, (they are now married), a metallurgical engineer who also worked at the plant. Thompson was fired three weeks after Regalado's EEOC sex-discrimination complaint against their mutual employer was revealed.

Thompson decided to file his own retaliation claim, but his lawsuit was thrown out of the federal appeals courts because according to federal law, a retaliation claim is not permitted by a plaintiff who did not engage in opposing the unlawful employment practice, such as protesting the gender-based treatment his fiancée experienced, or supporting her in the complaint.

Continue reading "Supreme Court Rules Third-Party Victim of Retaliation Has the Right to Sue" »

Our Fullerton, California labor and employment attorneys have been following the recent announcement that a sixty-year-old strip club waitress recently received a $60,000 settlement from her former employers, after the worker claimed she was wrongfully terminated because of age discrimination.

Mary Bassi reportedly filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) after she was fired from her job as a bartender at the Cover Girls strip club in 2006, after working in the club for 13 years. Bassi claimed in the lawsuit that her employment was wrongfully terminated after two 30-something male managers made derogatory statements about her age, joking that she was showing signs of Alzheimer's, among other negative age-related comments.

The EEOC-filed lawsuit also claimed that the managers began scheduling younger waitresses to cover Bassi's shifts, and then terminated her employment.

As our Santa Ana employment attorneys discussed in a related blog post, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) protects job applicants and employees who are forty-years-old or older from discrimination in the workplace based on age. It is a violation of the ADEA to discriminate against an individual because of age in any condition of employment, including hiring, firing, layoff, promotion, job assignments, training, compensation and benefits, along with other terms of employment. It is also against the law to retaliate against an employee for opposing discriminatory practices based on age.

Continue reading "60-year-old Strip Club Waitress Receives $60K in EEOC Age Discrimination Settlement" »

In a recent California electronic privacy ruling that our labor and employment attorneys based in Orange County, California have been following, according to a 3-0 decision by a California court of appeals last week, e-mails between a client and attorney are not considered confidential and privileged if the e-mails are written by the client from a work e-mail account.

In the ruling, the Third Appellate District Court in Sacramento agreed to uphold the previous decision against Gina M. Holmes, who sued her employer, Petrovich Development Company, for allegedly being subjected to sexual harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination and violation of privacy, as well as emotional distress. Holmes reportedly claimed that her employer became hostile shortly after she was hired as a secretary in 2004, when the employer discovered that Holmes was pregnant.

According to Wired, Holmes e-mailed her attorney from her work e-mail account to discuss legal action. After filing an employment lawsuit against the company, her e-mail correspondence with her attorney was reportedly introduced during the trial to show that Holmes did not suffer severe emotional distress, but was frustrated and only filed the legal action under the advisement of her attorney. The appeals court found that Holmes' e-mails to her attorney were not confidential because the company had a written policy stating that company e-mail was not private and could be audited at any time.

In a related blog covering a Supreme Court ruling on electronic privacy in the workplace that our attorneys recently discussed, an Ontario, California police officer claimed that his privacy rights were violated in the workplace after his supervisor read personal text messages that the officer had sent using his work-issued pager.

Continue reading "Electronic Privacy in the Workplace: CA Court Rules Attorney-client Privilege Does Not Protect Work E-mail" »

Our Riverside employment attorneys have been following a recent class-action lawsuit initiated in federal court by a former mortgage consultant, who claims that Minneapolis-based mortgage company Cascade Mortgage Inc., engaged in employee misclassification by classifying him as exempt from overtime and minimum-wage requirements, violating both Minnesota state law and the Fair Labor Standards Act, (FLSA).

In his employee misclassification lawsuit, Robert Clausen claims that Cascade Mortgage Inc., and the company's owners should be held accountable for failing to pay him and other mortgage consultants proper overtime and minimum wage compensation that should be available to them under state and federal law.

As our Newport Beach labor and employment attorneys have discussed in a recent blog, employee misclassification is plaguing the workplace, with many employers reclassifying their workers from "employees" to "independent contractors," to lower the cost of workers' compensation insurance and to avoid having to pay payroll taxes, overtime compensation, social security and unemployment benefits, along with other wage and hour benefits like providing rest breaks and meal periods that were previously offered to workers who were classified as "employees."

According to Clausen's attorney, many mortgage companies have altered their pay practices over the past ten years in order to properly compensate mortgage officers with overtime and minimum wages that are in accordance with state and federal wage and hour laws--whereas Cascade is being accused in the lawsuit of failing to make this employment change.

Continue reading "Mortgage Loan Officer Files Lawsuit for Employee Misclassification" »

Last month, our Chino Hills labor and employment attorneys discussed a wage and hour ruling in a blog, where former and current workers of a garment manufacturer in Westminster, California, were awarded more than $887,000 by a judge in back pay and liquidated damages after an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) discovered alleged wage and hour violations.

In a related case from this month, the clothing manufacturer Joe's Jeans has recently paid 110 garment workers around $159,000 in back wages, after a DOL investigation found that the Los Angeles, California-based sewing contractor, used by Joe's Jeans, violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by failing to pay the workers minimum wage and overtime.

The DOL investigation reportedly found that Angel's Finishing, the contractor hired to finish Joe's Jeans, disregarded minimum wage and overtime laws requiring that employees are paid for all hours worked during the work week, as well as Saturday and Sunday. The DOL found that workers were instead only paid on a piece-rate basis, with no record of weekend work on the employee time cards. The jeans finished by Angel's were later shipped all over the United States, and sold at high-end department stores like Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdales.

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis stated that while Joe's Jeans was enjoying lucrative profits, the vulnerable low-wage workers were not even paid the federal minimum wage or overtime for their efforts. Solis claimed that the DOL expects employers to take responsibility to ensure that the manufacturers making their products are following the law and compensating workers with their legally entitled right to fair payment.

Continue reading "Joe's Jeans Pays $159K in Back Wages to LA Garment Workers" »

A female employee in Cambridge, Massachusetts is reportedly bringing a class action wage and hour lawsuit against department store chain, Lord & Taylor, according to a recent article that our Carson, California employment and labor attorneys have been following.

Shannon Liss-Riordan reportedly worked for Lord & Taylor from 2006 to April of 2010 and alleges in the proposed class-action lawsuit that Lord & Taylor violated state wage and federal wage and hour laws by deducting an hour of lunch from her paycheck, even when she did not take a lunch break.

Lord & Taylor allegedly automatically takes an hour of lunch pay out of the compensation for sales associates, even if they take a short lunch, or no lunch break at all. This is reportedly a common issue for companies using timekeeping systems that automatically deduct money for employee breaks.

In a similar Massachusetts case from December 2009, a judge approved a class action settlement where Walmart agreed to pay $40 million to as many as 87,500 former and current employees after allegedly denying the workers meal and rest breaks, overtime pay, and illegally doctoring time cards to lower employees' compensation. It was reportedly the largest wage and hour class action settlement in the history of the state.

Continue reading " Employee Brings Lawsuit Against Lord & Taylor Over Meal Break Pay" »

In a recent minimum wage development from this week that our Santa Ana wage and hour attorneys have been watching, the state of Florida's department of labor was sued on Monday by two legal groups, claiming that the state failed to increase the minimum wage by 6 cents per hour in 2011, to keep up with rising inflation.

The minimum wage lawsuit, filed by the Florida Legal Services and the National Employment Law Project, reportedly claimed that by keeping the state minimum wage at the federal rate of $7.25, the Agency for Workforce Innovation was violating the Florida Constitution, instead of raising it to $7.31 on January 1, 2011.

According to Bloomberg, this minimum wage decision could effect around 188,000 workers, costing the low-wage employees who work at the minimum wage on a full-time basis for 40-hours a week up to $128 individually, and up to $15 million collectively from that extra 6 cents in compensation per year.

The wage and hour lawsuit was reportedly filed on behalf of four workers and three organizations that represent low-wage employees. Seven other states that also share similar laws were reportedly mentioned in the lawsuit, as Arizona, Ohio, Washington, Vermont, Colorado, Montana and Oregon all increased their state minimum wages on January 1, 2011.

Continue reading "Florida's Labor Department Sued for Failing to Increase Minimum Wage" »

In a news story published today that our Irvine employment attorneys have been following, a female Aviation Laboratories employee filed a discrimination lawsuit, alleging that her supervisor subjected her to sexual harassment.

According to the Louisiana Record, Christina Jenkins was a data entry clerk who began her job in February of 2007 and was terminated in June of 2010. Jenkins filed the complaint last week in federal court, accusing her on-site supervisor of subjecting her to sexual harassment in the workplace, by making her crawl on her hands and knees and act like a dog, and bark in order to be granted permission to attend an event for her child. Jenkins also accuses her supervisor of throwing a live cockroach at her, and frequently calling her into his office where he would have pornography on his computer screen in full view. In another instance the supervisor allegedly threw liquid nitrogen under the ladies' bathroom door when she was inside.

Jenkins also claimed that this kind of abusive behavior and harassment was conducted in front of other employees and third-parties. After reporting the behavior, the supervisor reportedly began to increase the harassment. According to Jenkins, other female employees were also being harassed at the same time. Jenkins claims that she was constructively discharged as a result of the abusive treatment.

As our Santa Ana employment lawyers have reported in a related blog, sexual harassment in the workplace is a form of discrimination based on gender that is in direct violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Under the Act, it is illegal to discriminate against employees based on sex, and against the law to retaliate against a worker who files a complaint about discrimination in the workplace.

Continue reading "Female Worker Sues for Harassment--Claims Boss Hit Her With Live Cockroach, Made Her Crawl Like Dog " »

According to a recent news development that our Riverside employment attorneys have been watching, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has filed a consent judgment in a lawsuit against CEMEX, Inc., the biggest supplier of ready-mix concrete and cement in this country, and recovered $1,514,449 in overtime back wages for over 1,700 former and current drivers, working in eight states.

U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis claimed in a statement that the legal action against the company involving over $1.5 million in back wages for over 1,700 workers was pursued to ensure that CEMEX ceases to violate federal overtime laws in the future and right now, as the top priority of the DOL is to ensure that workers are paid their full wages under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The DOL Wage and Hour Division reportedly began the investigation in Florida, with local workers who claimed that they were experiencing wage and hour violations after their employer failed to compensate the "pay-per-load" workers for all hours worked beyond 40 in a week of employment. The investigation then covered eight other states, including California, Texas, Georgia, Arizona, New Mexico, North and South Carolina.

As we reported in a recent blog, under the FLSA, covered employees must be paid at least $7.25, the federal minimum wage, for all hours worked, plus one and one half times their regular pay rate, which includes commissions, incentive pay, and bonuses, for all hours worked beyond forty in a workweek. Employers are also required under the FLSA to maintain payroll and time records that are accurate.

Continue reading "CEMEX To Pay Over $1.5 Million in Overtime Back Pay to 1,705 Workers" »

Our Orange County employment and labor attorneys have been following the recent California class-action lawsuit filed last year against Johnson Controls, Inc., accusing the technology and industrial company of violating California Labor Codes by failing to pay overtime wages, failing to maintain accurate records, and failing to provide compensation for missed meal breaks, among other California employment violations.

Michael Evans, the lead plaintiff in the case, alleges in the class-action lawsuit that while employed by Johnson Controls in Napa, California, he was allowed to work more than eight hours per day and over forty hours per week, and often for more than seven consecutive work days, without being compensated for overtime pay of one and one half (1 ½) his regular rate of pay--a violation of California Labor Codes. Evans also claims that when working for more than 12 hours in a day, he failed to received overtime pay of two times his normal pay rate.

Evans also alleges in his lawsuit that he often worked for five hours straight, without being provided with his legally entitled meal breaks, and was not compensated for one hour of pay at his regular pay rate for each day that the meal breaks weren't provided--a violation of California labor laws, regulations, and Industrial Welfare Commission Wage Orders, according to the suit.

The California class-action lawsuit also accuses Johnson of failing to maintain accurate payroll and time records, and allegedly did not reimburse Evan for business expenses that were incurred in the regular course of his employment duties, which the company reportedly withheld from his wages.

Continue reading "Class-action Lawsuit Claims Technology Company Violated California Overtime Laws" »

In a recent blog, our Newport Beach employment lawyers discussed a recent U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) lawsuit, where the department recovered over $430,000 in minimum wages, overtime pay, and other monetary damages after employers in a New York City restaurant allegedly violated federal wage and hour laws.

The DOL has targeted another New York City restaurant this week, suing the Da Vinci Group Corporation, doing business at Joe G's Restaurant and The Da Vinci Hotel, as well as Giuseppe Galvano, the president of the corporation for alleged wage and hour violations.

According to the DOL, investigations into Joe G's Restaurant at the Da Vinci Hotel, found that the hotel allegedly violated the federal Fair Labor Standards Act's (FLSA) by not paying employees the federal minimum wage and overtime since at least July 23, 2007, and for failure to keep adequate records of employees' paid wages. The department is searching for all employees who have been affected by the violations of wage and hour laws since this date.

As our employment lawyers in Anaheim, California reported in a related blog, under the FLSA, covered employees must be paid the minimum of $7.25 per hour as well as overtime pay for one and one-half their hourly rates for any work over 40-hours in a week. Under federal law, employers are also required to maintain accurate employee records for all hours worked, as well as other conditions of employment, and are prohibited from retaliating against employees who exercise their lawful rights.

The Wage and Hour Division of the DOL claimed that this lawsuit puts makes employers take notice that federal wage and hour violations will not be tolerated, and the department will not hesitate to enforce the law by taking legal action.

Continue reading "Another NYC Restaurant Sued by DOL For Wage and Hour Violations" »

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released news this week that our Fullerton employment attorneys have been following, announcing that a consent decree was signed by a federal judge for $3,200,000 and comprehensive remedial relief that resolves the EEOC's disability discrimination lawsuit that was brought against SUPERVALU INC., Jewel Food Stores, Inc., and American Drug Stores LLC--the supermarket group otherwise known as Jewel-Osco.

The EEOC reports that Jewel-Osco allegedly had a practice and policy in place, where disabled employees who tried to return from a medical leave of absence would be terminated, instead of being brought back to work and provided with reasonable accommodations in the workplace.

Under this disability discrimination policy, a reported 1,000 workers in the Chicago area have allegedly been terminated since 2003, violating the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). As our Westminster employment lawyers have reported in a related blog, under Title I of the ADA of 1990, private employers are prohibited from discriminating against qualified employees with disabilities in job applications and placement, in hiring, job advancement, compensation, firing, job training, and other employment terms, conditions, and privileges.

The consent decree that resolves the case provides a monetary fund that will be shared by 110 individuals, as not all of the 1,000 employees wished to be involved in the suit, or were deemed eligible by the EEOC, bringing the amount to around $29,000 per worker. Jewel-Osco is responsible for making sure that all employees who are involved in making disability accommodation decisions must go through training to understand the requirements of the ADA, and the type of disability accommodations that are possible for employees who are returning to the workplace.

Continue reading "Jewel-Osco Agrees to Pay $3.2 Million in EEOC Disability Discrimination Lawsuit" »

Our Chino Hills labor and employment lawyers have been following the recent news that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has fined a local Las Vegas supermarket company $63,470 for violating the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by failing to compensate employees with overtime pay provisions.

These violations were reportedly discovered by the DOL after the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) conducted an investigation on Kwong Yet Lung, Co. Inc, that operates as a food distributor and supermarket, owning and operating the International Market Place supermarket, Quality Food Distributing, and Oasis Food Distributing. In a follow-up investigation the WHD determined that the company owed 119 workers $169 in back wages for overtime compensation that was not paid.

According to George Friday Jr., the administrator for the DOL's Western Region, an identical violation was found during a 1998 investigation, and the department will not hesitate to go after employers who repeatedly and willfully violate federal wage and hour laws.

The WHD investigators found that the company compensated employees with their regular hourly rate for overtime, instead of the FLSA's legal requirement of time and one-half their regular rates of pay for all hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek, a topic our Carson, California employment attorneys discussed in a related blog.

Continue reading "Las Vegas Supermarket Company Fined Over $63K for Wage and Hour Violations" »