California Employment Lawyers Blog

California Representative Lynn Woosley (D-CA) recently re-introduced the Employee Misclassification Prevention Act (EMPA) of 2011, (H.R. 3178) as our Carson, California employment lawyers blog discussed in a related labor and employment law post.

Last year, Representative Woosley was a co-sponsor of the Employee Misclassification Prevention Act of 2010 (H.R. 5107), and this new bill includes all of the original provisions of the 2010 EMPA, in order to put a stop to the employee misclassification epidemic --an illegal practice that keeps employees from their lawful right to minimum wages, overtime compensation and other important employee benefits, and deprives state and federal governments of unemployment insurance contributions, workers compensation premiums and other employment taxes.

Representative Woosley introduced the new EMPA with New Jersey Representative Rob Andrews (D-NJ) and California Representative George Miller (D-CA), to ensure that workers receive basic employment protections, and in order to help this country pay down the national debt--as Woosley claims this bill will help empower U.S. employees and invigorate the national economy.

Under the Employee Misclassification Prevention Act of 2011:

• Employers will be responsible for keeping proper and accurate records that clearly reflect each worker's status as an employee or independent contractor--with clarification that employee misclassification, whether willfully or unknowingly, violates the Fair Labor Standards Act, (FLSA).
• Penalties will be increased against employers who knowingly or unknowingly misclassify their employees and are found to be guilty of minimum wage and overtime rights violations.
• Employers will be required to inform their workers about their employee or independent contractor classification status, creating a website dedicated to employee rights aimed to educate workers about their state and federal wage and hour rights, and inform the workers to contact to the DOL if they have any questions about possible classification issues.
• The EMPA will provide workers who seek accurate classification with protection--if they experience discrimination after reporting employment misclassification.
• The act will require that states conduct regular investigations to identify employers who engage in worker misclassification, and require the U.S. Department of Labor to monitor the efforts of states to target and identify employee misclassification.
• The EMPA of 2011 will also direct states to strengthen their own employee misclassification penalties.
• The act will also permit the DOL and the IRS to refer incidents of employee misclassification to each other.

Continue reading "EMPA of 2011 Aims to Stop Employee Misclassification, Invigorate National Economy" »

In a recent Hollywood employment lawsuit development that our Irvine, California labor and employment attorneys have been watching, cast members from the legendary television show "Happy Days" have suffered a reported setback in their current $10 million lawsuit against CBS/Paramount over merchandising revenue from the comedy sitcom.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the cast sued CBS in April of this year, claiming that they were never paid for years of home video releases and licensed show merchandising that used their images and voices --during the run of the series, that lasted from 1974 until 1984 and has continued to run for years in television syndication. They are accusing CBS/Paramount of bad business practices and breach of contract.

The lawsuit claims that although they all received different salaries, they had the same contracts in regard to merchandising--each actor was to receive a percentage of the net proceeds if images of them were used in a group, after the studio took its handling fee, which was a reported 50% off the top.

The employment lawsuit reportedly began after an actor from the show saw their images on a casino's slot machines. The same actor had also noticed that starting in 2004, the show had been repackaged into four different DVD box sets with pictures of the cast on the boxes and inside the DVD material. The lawsuit is accusing CBS/Paramount of continuing to market the brand to merchandisers, selling everything from t-shirts to coffee mugs with cast pictures, with never intending to pay them for merchandise with their images.

Continue reading "'Happy Days' Television Stars Sue CBS/Paramount for $10 Million" »

In a previous California employment lawyers blog entry, our Howard Law, PC attorneys discussed California Governor Jerry Brown's recent approval of Senate Bill 459, a bill that enacts stiff penalties on companies and employers who willfully engage in employment misclassification.

In similar employment misclassification news, California Representative Lynn Woosley (D-CA) recently introduced the Employee Misclassification Prevention Act of 2011 (EMPA), H.R. 3178--a bill Woosley originally co-sponsored last year, that aims to stop the illegal employment practices undermining California employees and the right to fair competition in the California workplace. Woosley stated that this act is also important in the federal government's effort to pay down the national debt, as well as playing a key role in invigorating the national economy and empowering U.S. workers.

Employee misclassification, as our Costa Mesa labor and employment attorney blog has frequently discussed, is a growing and unfair workplace practice that robs workers of important employee rights, benefits and protections, like overtime payments and minimum wage, workers' compensation, family and medical leave, rest breaks and meal periods, among other employee benefits. Employee misclassification also places honest employers at a competitive disadvantage in business, leaving taxpayers to deal with the problem.

Woosley introduced the bill, joined with California Representative George Miller (D-CA), and New Jersey Representative Rob Andrews (D-NJ). Representative Miller stated that employee misclassification is unfair to employers who obey labor and employment laws, and unfair to the workers who are stripped of their legal rights to receive basic employment protections like overtime payment, minimum wage and the right to organize. Representative Andrews discussed the importance of ensuring that working employees are given their rights, without unfair employers lining their own pockets with unpaid payroll taxes. Woosley reinforced the fact that working Americans deserve to be given their legal rights in the workplace and should not be taken advantage of at a time when this country is experiencing one of the worst economic downturns in years.

Continue reading "California Representative Lynn Woosley Re-introduces Employee Misclassification Prevention Act" »

Our Orange County, California employment lawyers blog has been focusing recently on the topic of employment misclassification in the California workplace and around the country, and how the practice of employee misclassification poses a serious risk to employees and their right to receive important employment benefits, as well as honest employers, who are trying to comply with the state and federal labor and employment laws.

Last week, in recent California employment misclassification news, California Governor Jerry Brown approved Senate Bill 459--a bill that enacts strong penalties on employers who are found to have knowingly or voluntarily misclassified workers as independent contractors.

This new employment misclassification law adds California to the growing list of states across the country that have enacted legislation to fight the misclassification of employees over the past few years. Brown's bill prohibits companies or employers from willfully engaging in misclassifying employees as independent contractors, adding harsh financial penalties with each violation.

The bill also prohibits employers from charging employees who have been misclassified as independent contractors a fee or deducting any amount from their compensation for any purpose, including for materials, goods, services, repairs, rental space, equipment maintenance or any other fees or fines arising from an individual's employment--where any of these acts would have violated the law if the employee had not been clearly misclassified.

Continue reading "CA Governor Jerry Brown Approves Bill to Increase Willful Employee Misclassification Penalties" »

In a Chino Hills, California employment lawyers blog from earlier this year, our attorneys discussed an overtime lawsuit settlement where UnitedHeathcare paid $934,000 in overtime back wages to nearly 479 employees, along with over $100,000 in monetary penalties, after a DOL investigation found the company responsible for incorrectly classifying several employee categories as exempt from federal labor laws--denying the employees overtime payment for working beyond a forty hour employment week.

According to a related press release from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), 1,064 former and current Oklahoma City registered nurses, certified medical assistants and licensed practical nurses have recently been paid $244,341 in overtime back wages, after the DOL's Wage and Hour Division discovered that Health Management Associates, Inc., the company operating Midwest Regional Medical Center, violated the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by failing to provide employees with lunch breaks, and failing to provide proper time and payment records.

The DOL investigation reportedly found the medical center responsible for illegally taking deductions for employee lunch breaks, even when the employees did not take lunch breaks that were uninterrupted. As a result of this, many employees worked beyond a forty-hour week, and failed to receive any overtime compensation for their time. In addition, the company failed to monitor the overtime hours with proper record keeping.

As our Carson wage and hour employment attorneys have reported previously, under federal labor laws, employees must be paid at least $7.25 for each work hour--the federal minimum wage. If the employee works over forty hours in a work week, the individual is entitled to time and one-half their normal payment rates which includes bonuses, incentive pay and commissions. All employers are required, under federal law, to record time and payroll records that are accurate.

Continue reading "Healthcare Company Pays Over $244K in Overtime Back Wages to Medical Center Employees" »

Our Riverside, California employment lawyers blog recently discussed the issue of wage and hour violations that surround unpaid internships in the workplace, after a recent Department of Labor (DOL) investigation discovered the rampant exploitation of unpaid interns by employers--taking advantage of interns who often have difficulty finding paid employment.

According to the DOL's Wage and Hour Division, a for-profit employer does not have many options to offer an unpaid internship and still follow federal wage and hour regulations. The DOL states that although unpaid internships are common in the non-profit and arts work environments, internships in the for-profit workplace that are not paid can lead to intern exploitation, along with violations of federal wage and hour violations.

The New York Times recently reported that two men who worked on Fox Searchlight Pictures' Oscar-winning movie "Black Swan" as unpaid interns, have challenged the film industry's generally accepted unpaid internship practice, by suing the studio for violating minimum wage and overtime laws during the making of the film.

According to the lawsuit, Fox Searchlight relies on unpaid interns to perform tasks like preparing coffee for the production office, taking out the trash, or taking and delivering lunch orders for the studio's production staff. These are all employment duties that, according to the plaintiffs, should be performed by paid employees--not unpaid interns who apply for internships to gain the kind of educational experience that federal labor and employment rules require in order to give employers unpaid intern exemptions.

The lawsuit states that the unpaid interns are an integral part of Fox Searchlight's labor force on the film productions--and as interns they function in important roles as bookkeepers, production assistants, as well as performing janitorial and secretarial work. The plaintiffs state that the responsibilities of the unpaid interns are the same duties of entry-level employees, and the employers are violating wage and hour laws by not compensating the interns properly for their work time, in order to keep costs low and improve profit margins. Fox Searchlight is being accused of misclassifying the workers as unpaid interns, and denying them the employment benefits that the federal law gives to paid employees.

Continue reading "Fox Searchlight Sued by "Black Swan" Unpaid Interns for Wage and Hour Violations" »

Our Costa Mesa, California employment lawyers are currently representing an employee in a California class action wage and hour lawsuit who is suing his employer, the Secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

The plaintiff, Ryan Young, has filed a wage and hour lawsuit against the Secretary of the CDCR, Matthew Cate, on behalf of himself and other Correctional Officers in similar positions within the CDCR--the second largest peace agency in the United States, that employees around 35,000 state correctional peace officers. Young and the class, including over 10,000 correctional officers, are responsible for the operations of the California State corrections, rehabilitation, and parole systems, involving all custodial aspects for incarcerated adult inmates as well as protecting public safety by maintaining security throughout the prisons.

The California overtime lawsuit accuses Cate of depriving the correctional officers of their lawful right to overtime wages--as Young and the class performed their duties and worked over forty hours per week, without receiving overtime compensation overtime hours as required by federal law.

According to the complaint, filed last month, the overtime work arises out of the CDCR's uniform policy to request holiday time off. In order for the correctional officers to take a holiday, they must complete and submit a formal holiday request that cannot be submitted any earlier or later than thirty days before the holiday request. However, the CDCR policy refuses to let the officers complete the holiday form during their regularly scheduled shifts--requiring them to complete the form, which is work, at a time other than their scheduled work time.

Continue reading "California Correctional Officer Sues CDCR in Class Action Wage and Hour Lawsuit" »

Our Newport Beach, California employment lawyers blog recently discussed the topic of wage theft among low-wage restaurant industry workers, and the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) ongoing commitment to support employees in their legally entitled right to receive fair wages in the workplace.

According to a recent DOL Wage and Hour Division investigation, the company Wok King International Buffet Inc. and their owners were recently ordered to pay $531,000 in back wages and damages to forty-one employees, after the department sued the company for violating minimum wage and overtime laws under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) as well as failing to keep accurate records of employee payments.

The DOL investigators reportedly found that the restaurant employees were averaging 63 hours per week, without receiving their legally entitled right to overtime compensation. Some of the workers were earning around $1.93 per hour, and were paid "straight time" or flat rate wages, instead of overtime payment under the FLSA, which is one and one-half times their regular compensation rate for hours worked beyond forty hours in a workweek.

The DOL also found that other employees were paid a set monthly salary that failed to include any overtime compensation and was less than the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Under the FLSA, when employees regularly receive over $30 per month in monetary tips, employers may compensate with a base rate of $2.13 an hour in wages, but only if the tips cover the monetary difference to comply with the federal minimum wage standard.

Continue reading "DOL Forces Wok King Restaurant to Pay $531K in Wage and Hour Violations" »

According to recent labor and employment law news that our Anaheim employment attorneys have been following, Proskauer Rose LLP, a law firm known for defending corporate clients from employment lawsuits, is being sued by its former chief financial officer for discrimination and wrongful termination.

Proskauer Rose LLP, one of the top ranking labor and employment law firms in the country, with twelve offices worldwide, was sued this week by Elly Rosenthal, 57, the former CFO of the company--who claims she was discriminated against and wrongfully terminated in March of 2011, and is seeking $10 million in monetary damages.

The Wall Street Journal reports that lawsuits like these are rare, as law firms are more likely to keep senior level employee disputes under wraps. When most firms experience discrimination lawsuits, they are often by female and minority junior attorneys who sue as after being passed over for partner.

In her sex, age and disability discrimination lawsuit, Rosenthal claims that she was demoted after returning to work following a 2008 medical leave, to recover from breast cancer surgery--whereupon her employment was later terminated. The lawsuit claims that after working for the firm for sixteen years with great success and positive reviews, she was unlawfully discriminated against by male superiors and then wrongfully terminated as a result of her gender, her age and her medical condition.

Continue reading "Female CFO Sues Proskauer Law Firm for Gender and Disability Discrimination" »

Our Carson, California employment lawyers have been following the a recent press release stating that Tyson Fresh Meats Inc. will settle allegations of sexual discrimination in the workplace, paying $2.25 million in back wages, benefits and interest to over 1,650 women who applied for employment opportunities within the company and were rejected--allegedly due to their gender.

According to the announcement, made by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), the OFCCP found that Tyson Fresh Meats discriminated against qualified job applicants based on gender, violating Executive Order 11246. Hilda Solis, DOL Secretary, stated that companies that profit from federal contracts should in no way discriminate in employment decisions.

The sex discrimination lawsuit settlement, $2.25 million, is one of the largest in the OFCCP's history, and according to Solis ensures that female workers who were wrongly denied job opportunities with the company based on gender, will be compensated--as the settlement will be divide among the rejected female job applicants who applied for jobs at facilities in Joslin, Illinois, West Point, Nebraska, and Denison and Waterloo, Iowa.

Tyson has also reportedly agreed to offer job opportunities to around 220 of the female job applicants as soon as positions are available in the Iowa cities of Denison and Waterloo.

Continue reading "Tyson Fresh Meats Will Pay $2.25 M in DOL Gender Discrimination Lawsuit Settlement" »

In continuing the department's fight against employee misclassification in the workplace, the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD), has recently found an Oklahoma-based auto care company responsible for improperly classifying their workers, as well as violating the Fair Labor Standards Act, (FLSA) by failing to pay them overtime compensation.

According to the DOL investigation, that our Santa Ana employment attorneys have been following, Precision Tune Auto Care Inc., was found to have misclassified forty former and current automotive technicians, as exempt from overtime compensation, and paid them a base salary for every worked which often totaled fifty hours a week--failing to pay the workers overtime compensation for every hour worked beyond forty in a work week.

As our Carson employment attorney blog has reported in a related post, employment misclassification is a growing problem, posing a serious threat to vulnerable workers who have the legally entitled right to employment that pays fairly. Misclassifying employees and violating wage and hour regulations of FLSA are common ways that employers cheat vulnerable workers out of their hard-earned wages. Employee misclassification is also unfair to honest employers who follow the FLSA's guidelines, as it gives employers who don't play by the rules a competitive advantage--by dodging minimum wage and overtime pay and forcing workers to pay taxes that employers are legally obligated to pay under law.

According to the FLSA, "non-exempt" employees covered by the act are required to be compensated with at least the federally mandated minimum wage, which is $7.25 for all hours worked. The FLSA requires that non-exempt employees who are covered under the act, are entitled to overtime compensation which is one and a half times their regular compensation rates per hour when working more than 40-hours in a workweek, including incentive pay, bonuses and commissions.

Continue reading "Auto Care Company to Pay Nearly $48K in Overtime Wages for Employee Misclassification" »

In recent California wage and hour news that our Carson labor and employment attorneys have been following, Julie Su, California's Labor Commissioner, filed a lawsuit last week against ZipRealty Inc., for over $17 million--seeking to recover back wages and overtime pay for hundreds of real estate agents who were allegedly unpaid throughout the state.

According to the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) which oversees the Labor Commissioner's Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, ZipRealty, a real estate brokerage company, violated California state law for over four years by failing to pay agent employees the state minimum wage, as well as premium overtime payment for any hours worked beyond forty in a workweek.

The minimum wage laws in California were first established in 1937, and under California employment law, employers are required to pay state employees the minimum wage of $8 per hour. Under California law, nonexempt employees are also required to receive one and one-half times the employee's regular pay rate for any time worked over eight hours in a workday, and forty hours in a week of work. For hours worked beyond twelve in a workday, employees are required to receive double the employee's regular rate pay.

The California wage and hour lawsuit seeks over $7.5 million in minimum wages, $1.25 million in overtime compensation back pay, and over $9 million in damages and penalties. Labor Commissioner Julie Su stated that this wage and hour lawsuit surrounding real estate agents pinpoints a rapidly changing economy and labor market in the state--where wage and hour violations are affecting a wide variety of occupations and not just employees in the traditional low-wage occupations. Su stressed the importance of enforcing California's minimum wage laws--for employees, and for employers who play by the rules, who shouldn't have to compete against companies who gain an unfair competitive advantage by violating state labor laws.

Continue reading "ZipRealty Sued for $17M by CA Labor Commissioner for Wage and Hour Violations and Employee Misclassification" »