California Employment Lawyers Blog

According to recent wage and hour lawsuit news that our Riverside California labor and employment attorneys have been watching, nearly 400 grocery story workers will receive $1.8 million in back wages, after the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) found that Houston-based Hong Kong Market stores and owners had willfully and repeatedly violated the Fair Labor Standards Act, (FLSA).

After the DOL reportedly investigated the grocery stores, the department found the defendants guilty of violating several FLSA labor laws--exploiting vulnerable low-wage workers and deliberating misleading investigators to hide the company's willful wage and hour violations.

The FLSA violations reportedly include overtime compensation and recordkeeping provisions, doctoring payroll records, and forcing low-wage and vulnerable employees to give back their hard-earned wages. The employees were reportedly forced to work as many as 70-hours per week for less than minimum wage and were denied their right to overtime compensation for any hours worked over 40 in a workweek.

In addition to the $1.8 million in back wages, Hong Kong Market grocery stores also paid $200,000 in civil money penalties for continuing to be in violation of FLSA laws after being put on notice by the DOL for similar violations from a previous investigation.

Continue reading "Low-wage Workers get $2M in Back Wages, Civil Money Penalties from Grocery Chain" »

Our Riverside, California labor and employment lawyers recently discussed wage theft in the workplace, after a University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) study uncovered rampant wage and hour violations in low-wage industries in California, Chicago and New York.

In related news, a New York City parking garage company has recently been ordered by a federal district court to pay 14 low-wage workers around $48,000 in back wages and liquidated damages, as well as civil money penalties after the company was found to have willfully violated the overtime compensation and recordkeeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

After a DOL investigation, Park It Management, Inc., was found to have willfully and repeatedly violated the FLSA by forcing low-wage workers to work over 40-hours in a week for multiple weeks without full compensation for all hours worked. In a recent Riverside employment attorney blog, our lawyers stated that the federal minimum wage is at least $7.25, and any hours worked beyond 40 in a week should be compensated for one and one-half times an employee's regular hourly work rate. The company was also found to have violated the FLSA by failing to maintain accurate time and pay records for all hours worked, a legal requirement under the act.

The court's consent judgment permanently prohibits the parking company from any future FLSA overtime, minimum wage, and recordkeeping violations, and prohibits the employers from retaliating against any workers who exercise their employment rights under FLSA laws.

Continue reading " NY Parking Garage Agrees to Pay $54K to Low-wage Workers in Lawsuit Settlement" »

According to recent California employment news that our Orange County, California labor and employment attorneys have been watching, Lars Ulrich, lead drummer for the famous band Metallica, has recently been sued by his personal assistant for employee misclassification and wage and hour violations.

Steve Wiig, who reportedly worked for Ulrich from 2001 until 2009, claims that he was considered "non-exempt" from overtime laws as an employee while performing various duties for the drummer, that included acting as his personal assistant, a chauffeur, an art collection manager, schedule manager, and other job responsibilities while on tour and at home with the musician.

Wiig claims in the California wage and hour lawsuit that he worked up to 70-hours per week while at Ulrich's studio and home, and up to 80-hours per week while he was on tour with Ulrich and the band--being on duty twenty-four hours each day, seven days a week. Wiig also claimed that under oral agreements he was supposed to receive yearly bonuses, and failed to receive these in 2006 and 2008. After he left the job in 2009, he claims he was not paid for the overtime accumulation that he was owed.

As our attorneys discussed in a related Carson, California employment lawyer blog, employee misclassification is a frequent violations of wage and hour laws. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, employees must be paid overtime for all hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek, unless qualifying for an exemption of overtime laws.

Continue reading "Metallica Drummer Sued for Wage and Hour Violations and Employee Misclassification" »

California Governor Jerry Brown recently agreed to drop the high-profile lawsuit filed last year filed by former Governor Schwarzenegger to force Controller Jon Chiang to lower the wages of around 200 of California's state employees to the federal minimum wage during a budget impasse.

As our Long Beach labor and employment attorneys discussed last year, the lawsuit reportedly sought to make Chiang compensate California governmental workers with $7.25 an hour instead of paying them with their full salaries, until Schwarzenegger could reach an agreement with the state lawmakers on how to deal with the hefty $19 billion deficient for the fiscal year. Back pay, according to the former administration, would have been given back to the workers once the budget was enacted.

Chiang argued last year that the California computer payroll system of the state was so out of date that it would have been impossible to follow Schwarzenegger's order, and that the lowering the employees' wages would violate California wage and hour laws and lead to taxpayer fines and damages.

Last week Brown decided to abandon the case, stating that after already costing the state $928,000 at the end of 2010, it was going to be an expensive and protracted trial.

Continue reading " California Governor Jerry Brown Drops Schwarzenegger's Minimum Wage Fight" »

Our Chino Hills, California employment attorneys have been following the recent news that UnitedHeathcare has recently paid $934,000 in overtime back wages to 479 employees, along with over $100,000 in civil money penalties after the company was found to have engaged in employee misclassification by a U.S. Department of Labor investigation.

UnitedHealthcare is reportedly the biggest single health insurance carrier in this country, and according to the DOL investigation, the company was found to have erroneously classified employees in many different categories of jobs as administratively exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which denied them overtime payment when they worked beyond 40-hours in a workweek.

As our attorneys have reported in a recent Carson labor and employment lawyer blog, according to the Fair Standards Labor Act (FLSA) and California law, most non-exempt employees are entitled to receive overtime compensation, of one-and-a-half times their regular hourly pay rate when working beyond 40-hours in a work-week.

The FLSA provides "exempt" employees with exemptions from both minimum wage and overtime payment, who are administrative, executive, and professional employees, as well as outside sales and some computer employees. These are often called white collar exemptions, and according to federal FLSA laws, an employee can only qualify for these exemptions if exemption guidelines are met regarding their job duties and responsibilities.

The DOL investigation reportedly found that UnitedHealthcare incorrectly classified several different job categories as "administratively exempt" from federal labor laws, denying them overtime payment for every hour worked beyond 40 in a workweek.

Continue reading "UnitedHealthcare Pays Over $1M in Violations for Employee Misclassification" »

Last month, a Los Angeles, California Superior court judge tentatively rejected the bids by the NBA and the Los Angeles Clippers to have former Clippers general manager Elgin Baylor's age discrimination and wrongful termination lawsuit dismissed.

At the January 2011 hearing, that our Newport Beach employment attorneys have been following, Judge Kenneth R. Freeman reportedly issued a tentative ruling denying the motions for dismissal, but agreed to schedule another hearing for February 3, to hear the final arguments and make a final ruling on whether the wrongful termination and age and race discrimination lawsuit should move to trial. Freeman's decision was expected to be released last Thursday.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Baylor was the Clippers' executive vice president and general manager for 22 years, until 2008. Baylor is known for helping the Clippers qualify for the NBA playoffs four times during his 22 seasons as general manager. Baylor, who is now 76, filed a lawsuit in February of 2009, claiming that he was wrongfully terminated due to age and race discrimination.

Baylor also claimed that he was grossly underpaid compared to the compensation scheme for every other team general manager in the NBA. The defendants include the Clippers, Donald Sterling, the Clippers owner, Andy Roeser, team president, and the NBA.

As our Newport Beach, California employment attorneys have discussed in a recent California employment blog, it is illegal, under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), to discriminate against individuals who are 40-years-old or older in any employment terms, conditions, or privileges, including hiring, firing, employment layoffs, job promotion, compensation, benefits, job assignments, and training.

Continue reading "Elgin Baylor Sues LA Clippers for Wrongful Termination, Age and Race Discrimination" »

In a related Orange County, California employment lawyer blog, our attorneys discussed a recent case involving a Mexican Restaurant Chain in Ohio, that reportedly violated restaurant wage and hour laws available to restaurant and fast food industry workers in the United States--laws that many vulnerable low-wage workers are not aware of under law.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), employees are required to be paid at least $7.25 per hour, the federal minimum wage, for all hours worked, plus one and one-half their standard pay rates for all working hours over 40 in a workweek, including bonuses, commissions and bonus pay.

Employees receiving tips, under the FLSA, are considered to be those who regularly receive tips that total over $30 in a month. An employee's tips may be considered as part of the wages, but the employer may not pay less than $2.13 an hour in direct wages, to ensure that the amount of tips received add up to the federal minimum hourly wage of $7.25.

The FLSA also states that tipped employees who received $2.15 an hour in regular wages are also subject to overtime laws, and should be compensated for one and one-half times the standard minimum wage, not one and one-half of $2.13.

Continue reading "Restaurant Worker Wage and Hour Laws Under the FLSA" »

Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis and the over 250-member staff at the U.S. Department of Labor continue to be committed to fighting for low-wage and vulnerable worker rights in this country, as our Irvine, California labor and employment attorneys have noticed by the recent announcement of yet another recovery made by the department's Wage and Hour Division, where $400,000 in back wages were recovered for 129 low-wage workers in series of Mexican restaurant chains in Ohio.

The recent DOL investigation reportedly found that six Mexican El Mariachi restaurants, owned by Miguel Castro, were in violation of federal wage and hour laws by denying employees minimum wage and overtime pay, by failing to compensate tipped employees with a minimum hourly wage rate, as well as failing to pay overtime to employees who were on salary. Castro was also fined $11,000 for willfully repeating violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Low-wage workers in this country, with limited employment options are vulnerable and are often not aware of their employment rights under federal labor laws, according to George Victory, the Wage and Hour's Columbus Division's district director. Victory stated that The DOL will continue to ensure that businesses pay their workers fairly, without engaging in wage theft, and that any workers who are taken advantage of are properly compensated for their work time.

As Solis stated in an address from last year, federal labor laws are in place for the protection of all workers, and low-wage workers should not be cheated out of their rightful wages just so employers can gain a marketplace advantage. The DOL continues to remind employers that the Labor department will not hesitate to go after companies who violate wage and hour laws that are in place to protect the rights of every worker in America.

Continue reading "Mexican Restaurant Chain Fined $400K for Minimum Wage and Overtime Violations" »

In a previous employment discrimination blog post, our Pomona, California employment lawyers discussed gender discrimination in the workplace and the laws prohibiting employers from engaging in this kind of employment activity.

According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, sex-based discrimination involves the treatment of a job applicant or employee in an unfair manner because of that individual's gender. Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as our Anaheim employment lawyer blog stated previously, it is against the law to discriminate against an employee based on sex when it comes to any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, promotions, job assignments, layoffs, fringe benefits, job training, and any other employment terms of conditions. It is also illegal to retaliate against an employee who files a complaint about workplace gender discrimination, or co-workers who support an employee's sex discrimination complaint.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is in charge of enforcing the federal laws protecting workers or applicants from discrimination based on an individual's gender, race, religion, color, or national origin as well as pregnancy. The EEOC aids in helping victims of discrimination in performing investigations, mediating, and by filing lawsuits on behalf of employees.

Whether you are a victim of sex-based discrimination in the workplace, or an employer being wrongfully accused of discriminatory practices in a lawsuit, the experience can be difficult and stressful. At Howard Law, PC our Santa Ana labor and employment attorneys are committed to fighting for employees who have been discriminated against, members of class action discrimination lawsuits, and employers who have been wrongfully accused of discrimination. Contact Howard Law, PC today, for a free consultation.

Continue reading "The EEOC and Workplace Discrimination Based on Gender" »

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP, and Kinder Morgan Inc., one of the largest North American pipeline transportation and energy storage companies providing service to local oil refineries like Exxon Mobil and Shell, is being sued by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), according to a press release that our Newport Beach employment attorneys have been watching, after a DOL investigation found the company in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act by failing to compensate employees for overtime.

According to the DOL lawsuit, both Kinder Morgan companies are being sued for their failure to pay over $1 million in overtime payment to around 4,500 current and former employees who work or have worked for the company as technicians, maintenance workers, laborers, operators, and administrative nonexempt employees. The investigation reportedly found systemic wage and hour violations resulting from Kinder Morgan's failure to include specific bonuses in overtime compensation for these employees.

As our Costa Mesa, California labor and employment lawyers have documented in a related California wage and hour blog, under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), covered employees should be paid at least $7.25, the federal minimum wage, for every hour worked, plus one-and-one half their normal pay rates, including commissions, incentive pay, and bonuses, for hours worked beyond 40 in workweek. Employers are also responsible under the act for maintaining accurate time cards and payroll records.

The Labor Department is asking the court to order Kinder Morgan to pay back wages in full, along with liquidated damages, and to order the company stop engaging in these federal wage and hour law violations in the future.

Continue reading "Kinder Morgan Sued for Federal Wage and Hour Law Violations" »

Our Orange County labor and employment attorneys have been following the recent news announcement of a sex discrimination lawsuit filed against Toshiba American Inc., by senior human resources manager Elaine Cyphers, who claims that the technology company pays female employees lower salaries and bonuses than male employees who perform similar work for the company.

Cyphers claims in her lawsuit that although Toshiba created a "Gender Equality Office" six years ago, the company still engages in gender discrimination, as Toshiba has a significant lack of female employees holding leadership positions. According to Reuters, only 3.4 percent of the company's 6,273 managers around the world are women.

The complaint states that as human resources manager at Toshiba America Nuclear Energy Corp since June of 2008, Cyphers is the highest-ranking U.S. human resources employee at that Toshiba unit. Cyphers claims she had 25 years of experience in human resources before joining the company, and that while she made $90,000 to $91,800 annually from 2008-2010, male employees with similar positions at Toshiba were paid around $120,000 per year for the same job.

Toshiba is being accused of violating federal labor and employment laws by engaging in systemic discrimination based on gender by compensating female workers less than male employees with similar job duties, denying them job promotions that would lead to higher pay, keeping their employment opportunities limited to job classifications that are lower in pay and less desirable, and exposing them to different employment treatment based on their gender, in regard to salary, benefits, bonuses and promotions, where male employees reportedly receive preferential treatment.

Continue reading " Toshiba Sued by HR Manager for $100M in Gender Discrimination Lawsuit" »

As our San Bernardino County employment attorneys discussed in a recent sexual harassment in the workplace blog, according to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, harassment based on sex is a form of discrimination that is against the law.

In recent employment news that our Santa Ana, California legal team has been following, a woman has filed a lawsuit against her boss for allegedly subjecting her to sexual harassment and discrimination by giving her a sex toy for her birthday.

According to the lawsuit, Silvia Olveira experienced intentional and offensive acts of sexual harassment by her boss after she was hired at Mansi International in October of 2008. Olveira claims that during her employment, Ibrahim Mansi constantly discussed his sexual exploits with her, requested intimate details about her sexual life, subjected her to physical harassment that included slapping her buttocks and attempting kiss and hug her, requested that Olveira sit on his lap, and commented on her breasts and buttocks. Mansi also allegedly asked if he could hand out her salary by placing it in her work pants. On her 33rd birthday, Olveira reportedly received a life-like sex toy from her boss in the shape of a large vibrating male penis.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 states that sexual harassment includes unwanted sexual advances, requests for favors of a sexual nature, as well as other physical or verbal contact that implicitly or explicitly affect an employee's work environment, unreasonably interferes with an employee's work performance, or creates a hostile work environment.

Continue reading "Woman Sues Boss For Sexual Harassment After Receiving a Sex Toy For a Gift" »

In breaking employment news from this week, a wrongful termination settlement was reached in the firing of a medication technician, whose employment was ended after she made critical remarks about her boss on Facebook.

Our Temecula, California employment attorneys have been following the recent announcement that that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has reached an undisclosed settlement with the American Medical Response, who reportedly fired Dawnmarie Souza in 2009 after she wrote a Facebook message on her home computer criticizing a supervisor who made her aware that a customer was dissatisfied with her job performance. Souza's Facebook message was reportedly filled with profanity, and used the company's code word for a "psychiatric patient" to refer to her boss. Her Facebook posting received responses from her co-workers expressing support and approval for her rant.

Souza was reportedly fired because of complaints about her work, but the NLRB, an independent federal agency created by Congress to administer the National Labor Relations Act in 1935, filed a complaint against the ambulance services company in October of 2009, in defense of Souza, claiming that her Facebook comments complaining about her work were protected under federal labor laws.

The federal agency reportedly filed a complaint on behalf of Souza, claiming that under the National Labor Relations Act, employees have the legal right to discuss their employment terms and conditions with colleagues and others online and elsewhere. The national agency also accused American Medical Response of failing to provide Souza with union representation while being interviewed about her Facebook comments.

Continue reading " Facebook-related Wrongful Termination Lawsuit Settled by Federal Agency" »

As Irvine, California labor and employment attorneys, we have been following the recent multi-state class-action overtime lawsuit settlement announcement of $15 million, to be paid by sportswear chain Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc. to current and former employees who claim that the company violated federal and state wage and hour laws by failing to pay overtime and forcing them to work through meal and rest breaks.

The original lawsuit was reportedly filed in 2005 by Tamara Barrus, the lead plaintiff, who accused Dick's of employing payroll software that docked worker's pay by deducting break periods and meal breaks from workers' pay automatically, even though Barrus and other workers claimed that they were often forced to work through rest periods or meal breaks. This, according to the claim, makes the workers eligible to collect overtime compensation.

After Barrus filed her lawsuit, other former and current employers of Dick's joined the action, leading to class action certification by the court in 2006. The agreement signed between the plaintiffs' and the sporting goods chain, if approved by a federal judge, would settle the wage and hour class-action lawsuit claimed under 36 states' wage and hour laws.

In a recent wage and hour lawsuit blog post, our Corona, California employment attorneys reported that under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), employees covered by the act must be compensated at least $7.25, the federal minimum wage, for every hour worked in a forty hour work week, 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 accurate payroll and time records for every employee.

Continue reading "Dick's Sporting Goods Settles Wage and Hour Class-Action Lawsuit for $15M" »

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced in a press release that our Riverside, California employment attorneys have been following, that a federal beef contractor, whose biggest clients are the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, will pay $1.65 million in back wages to 1,000 women who suffered systemic gender discrimination.

According to the DOL's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) investigation, Green Bay Dressed Beef, LLC systemically denied employment to 970 women applying for general laborer opportunities between 2006 and 2007 at the company's plant in Green Bay.

The OFCCP, whose job is to enforce the contractual promise of equal employment opportunity and affirmative action for the benefit of wage earners and job seekers, required of companies who do business with the Federal government, determined in a compliance review that Green Bay was in violation of Executive Order 11246, which states that gender discrimination in the workplace is against the law.

Green Bay Dressed Beef, LLC, one of the largest beef suppliers for the nation's school lunch program and one of the top providers of beef to the American military, will reportedly pay $1.65 million in back wages, benefits and interest, to be shared among the class of women. Green Bay will also reportedly extend 248 job offers to affected women as employment positions become available. Sixty of the women from the original class have reportedly already been hired by the company.

Continue reading "Green Bay Dressed Beef Pays $1.65M in DOL Gender Discrimination Lawsuit Settlement" »