California Employment Lawyers Blog

In a blog from earlier this week, our Carson, California Wage and Hour Attorneys discussed a recent U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Division initiative to investigate low wage industries for federal wage and hour violations. If the DOL performs an audit, businesses are examined to ensure employers are complying with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FSLA), and if employer violations are found, businesses are shown how to implement corrective actions to protect employees according to FSLA law.

This week, the DOL is reportedly investigating new allegations of wage and hour violations at the Massachusetts pizza chain, Upper Crust, LLC. Last year, after employees complained to the wage and hour division, the DOL reportedly ordered Upper Crust to pay over $341,000 in a settlement, to around 121 workers, after an investigation found that the low wage workers were not compensated for overtime.

The investigation, which looked at the Upper Crust's pay practices from 2007 to 2009, found that hourly workers were paid for straight time, although many worked more than 40-hours in a week.

Last week two former cooks for the pizza chain filed a lawsuit claiming that Upper Crust took back the overtime settlement payments, ordered by the DOL, by deducting the compensation from their paychecks every week. A former manager reportedly told investigators that employees who received the overtime settlements last year were told that if they kept the checks they would have to quit their jobs, and they could only keep their jobs if they gave back the settlement money by taking a slash in pay.

The manager claimed that the most of the employees were Brazilian immigrants and regularly worked 70 to 80 hours in a single week. He told investigators that after the settlement, the Upper Crust owners engaged in employee misclassification, by changing employee status from hourly staff to salaried employees, so the company could avoid paying overtime, which is against the law.

Continue reading "Pizza Chain Investigated by DOL for Wage and Hour Violation Allegations" »

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has recently labeled the hospitality industry along with other low wage industries as "high-risk" in regard to the frequency of federal wage and hour law violations against vulnerable workers. As a result, the DOL has planned an initiative that will target these industries across the country, with DOL Wage and Hour Division audits and investigations.

According to the DOL Wage and Hour Division (WHD) fact sheet, in an audit, the division chooses certain types of low wage industries for investigations because of the high rates of violations, the employment of vulnerable workers, as well as the quick changes in the growth or decline of the businesses. The DOL reports that certain businesses are targeted for investigations in order to protect employee rights, by improving employer compliance with federal laws, like the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), requiring proper overtime and minimum wage payment.

In a DOL Wage and Hour Division investigation:

• An employer's records are examined in order to determine the exact exemptions or laws that apply.
• The company's payroll and time records are examined, to make sure that the employer is not violating any wage and hour laws under the FLSA.
• Certain employees are interviewed, to verify the employer's payroll, examine the classification of employees, and ensure the legality of working minors.
• When the investigations are completed, the employer is reportedly informed on the extent of the employment violations, and instructed on how to implement corrective actions. If the employer has violated overtime or minimum wage laws, and back wages are owed to workers, the WHD investigator will ask that the correct amount of back wages are paid to the employees.

Continue reading "DOL Wage and Hour Division Audits for Low Wage Industry Violations" »

Our Anaheim, California Wage and Hour Lawyers have been following the recent press release by the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division, that details a new provision covering working mothers and breastfeeding in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The PPACA was recently signed into law in March of this year, and amends Section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

According to the federal provision, employers must provide mothers who are nursing with both the space and the time to lactate in the workplace. The law states that any time an employee needs to breastfeed, for one year after the birth of the child, the working mothers must receive a reasonable length of unpaid break time, as well as a private setting other than a bathroom for their breastfeeding needs.

The DOL Wage and Hour Division fact sheet states that employers are required, under law, to provide breaks for nursing mothers that are reasonable amounts of time, as frequently as needed, with the duration of each break varying, in a functional space. Even if seemingly private, bathrooms are not permissible spaces under the Act. By law, the space must be available when needed, and must be private and protected from public or colleague intrusion.

The FLSA break time requirement does not preempt any State laws that provide more employee protection, including compensated break time for employees who are exempt, or any breastfeeding time provided after the child's first year. As our attorneys reported in a recent blog, since 2002, By law, California employers must provide reasonable break time for California employees to breastfeed their children, as well as lactation accommodation. A mother also has the right to breastfeed her child in any public or private location.

Continue reading "FLSA Provision Covering Break Time for Nursing Mothers" »

Our Riverside, California Employment Lawyers have been following the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) recent crackdown on labor violations across the country, to ensure that employees are receiving the appropriate wages that they have earned and are entitled to under federal law. As we reported in a recent blog, Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis announced this year that when employers don't pay employees their overtime wages, the DOL won't hesitate to enforce the law.

In keeping its promise, the DOL recently filed a wage and hour lawsuit against Sterling Caterers & Restaurant, after an investigation found that the New York company was violating the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), by not paying 14 employees according to minimum wage and overtime laws, as well as failing to keep accurate records to document the employment activity.

The lawsuit, filed by the DOL, claimed that the catering employees were owed back wages in the amount of $61,667, over $30,000 in liquidated damages, and over $600 in post-judgment interest. The New York catering company agreed to pay the $93,1100 this week, to settle the wage and hour lawsuit.

Under FLSA law, employees should be paid no less than the federal minimum wage for every hour worked, which is currently $7.25 per hour. Workers are also legally required to be compensated time and one-half their regular pay rate when working over 40 hours in a single week. Employers are required by law to maintain accurate records or all employee wages, hours worked, as well as other conditions of employment.

In Riverside, California and throughout Southern California, our Labor & Employment Attorneys at HOWARD | NASSIRI, PC know how to find the best solution to your wage and hour issue. Contact us today.

Bethpage Caterers Settle Federal Labor Suit for $93K, Long Island Press.com, July 13, 2010

Related Web Resources:

"Exempt" vs. "Non Exempt" in the California Workplace, California Employment Lawyers Blog, April 15, 2010

United States Department of Labor

U.S. Department of Labor: Wage and Hour Division (WHD), Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

In a blog from last month, our California Employment Attorneys discussed a recent initiative introduced by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), to enforce child labor laws by implementing stronger penalties against employers who violate child labor laws. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis stated that work involving children must not interfere with school, must be appropriate to the age of the child, and must be conducted in a healthy and safe work environment, as young workers are one of the DOL's top priorities.

In a recent lawsuit settlement announced this week, a Baltimore County McDonald's franchise owner must pay around $30,500 in child labor penalties and back wages as a result of breaking child labor laws and failing to pay young employees for overtime hours.

After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division, the McDonald's franchise was found to be violating the Fair Labor Standards Act's, (FLSA) child labor laws, with 14- and 15-year-old McDonalds employees working longer than the legal limit of three hours on a school day, and also working late into evenings.

The FLSA states that individuals who are age 14- and 15-years-old may not work earlier than 7am in the morning, or later than 7pm in the evening, unless they are working in the summer, from June 1 through Labor Day, in which case they can work until 9pm. Workers who are under the age of 16 are only able to legally work limited after-school hours, and the types of jobs and hours that 14- and 15-year-olds can work are also restricted by FLSA laws.

Continue reading "DOL Fines McDonald's Franchise Owner for Overtime and Child Labor Violations" »

According to a recent wage and hour ruling that our Riverside, California employment attorneys have been following, sales representatives of Novartis AG, are supported by federal, New York state, and California state wage and hour laws that require overtime compensation.

In a United States Court of Appeals ruling in New York last week, pharmaceutical "sales representatives," who have the responsibility of visiting doctor's offices to give drug samples to doctors, and educate them with scripted pharmaceutical information describing the drugs, are entitled to overtime payment.

In the decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals overturned a 2009 district court ruling, and claimed that the Novartis representatives are not subject to federal and state "outside salesman" or "administrative" exemptions to overtime compensation. In its opinion, the three-judge panel held that representatives are not outside salesman, and not exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FSLA) or state laws, as the employees were not actually engaged in "selling" the drugs.

After the December decision of last year, the sales representatives were reportedly supported by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), as the DOL filed an amicus appeal brief. The court decision from last week relied on the DOL laws defining "outside salesman" and "administrative" employees, and ruled that because the employees were controlled and lacked the "independent judgment" in their duties necessary to make them classify as administrative employees, they were not exempt.

Continue reading "U.S. Appeals Court Rules Novartis Salespeople Covered by FLSA Overtime Law " »

In yesterday's blog, our Southern California wage and hour attorneys discussed a recent case of employee misclassification involving port drivers in Long Beach and Los Angeles, California--a topic California Attorney General Jerry Brown has vigorously pursued, in order to expose companies who violate worker's rights and operate hidden economy schemes.

As California Attorney General, Brown has reportedly focused on prosecuting California port trucking companies for engaging in employee misclassification, and for failing to provide workers with Social Security, worker's compensation, and Medicare benefits that they are legally entitled to, according to California state law.

In February, Brown won his fifth lawsuit against port trucking companies, after the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles County ruled that a fleet operator in Southern California, Pacifica Trucks, misclassified port drivers as independent contractors--claiming its workers as independent contractors to skirt the responsibility of paying into Medicare, Social Security, and employment-related state taxes.

Brown argued in the lawsuit, filed in 2008, that the drivers for Pacifica should have been classified as employees, with all of the legal benefits that employees are entitled to under state law, and not independent contractors--as Pacifica Trucks maintained total control over the drivers, by providing and covering the trucks, gas, equipment, and other employee expenses related to their business, including repairs.

Attorney General Brown also claimed that by misclassifying the port drivers, Pacifica Trucks maintained a clear cost-saving advantage over trucking competitors that was unfair--a violation of California Business and Professions Code 17200. This is a topic our attorneys discussed in another recent blog, reporting on California Representative Lynn Woosley's (D-CA) Employee Misclassification Prevention Act (EMPA).

Continue reading "California Attorney General Fights Employee Misclassification and Workers' Rights Violations" »

A California wage and hour class action lawsuit was filed recently by two port drivers, against the owner of Sun Pacific Trucking and Pacific Green Trucking--companies that serve the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, California. The lawsuit alleges that the owner violated many employment laws including wage theft.

According to the lawsuit, Sun Pacific Trucking, a company that was based in Wilmington, failed to offer many California drivers minimum wage payments as well as their legally entitled meal and rest break periods.

One of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit reportedly claims that Sun Pacific would frequently ask him to work extra hours here and there, with no compensation for his time. The plaintiff claims that the hours would quickly add up, but with no payment to reflect his hard work.

According to the Daily Breeze, Adam Luetto, the plaintiffs' attorney in the lawsuit, claims that these port drivers are tired of driving for long hours with no breaks for overtime work that they aren't paid for. The workers claim that they want their employer to take responsibility for these California employment violations, and to pay them according to their legal rights.

Continue reading "California Port Drivers File Class Action Wage and Hour Lawsuit Against Truck Company" »

In recent news that our Santa Ana, California Employment Attorneys have been following, the administration of Governor Schwarzenegger has filed a new lawsuit this week against Controller John Chiang, to force Chiang to lower wages of state workers in California to the federal minimum wage--a change that would start at the end of the month. This is another development in the ongoing and heated fight between Schwarzenegger and Chaing over the wages paid to state workers when the state budget is not yet signed.

The lawsuit reportedly seeks to make Chiang compensate California governmental workers $7.25 an hour instead of paying them with full salaries, until the governor can reach an agreement with lawmakers on how to deal with an over $19 billion deficit for the new fiscal year.

Last week Schwarzenegger was reportedly given support by a California appellate court to order cutting the pay of 240,000 state workers to the minimum wage, until the budget of the current fiscal year is signed. The administration argued that in the absence of a budget, they are bound by law to slash the wages. Back pay, claims the administration, would then be given to state workers once the budget is enacted.

This is reportedly the second time that Schwarzenegger has tried to implement this change, and Chaing claims that he won't obey the governor's demands until the California Supreme Court orders him to do so. Chaing announced this week that he will protect California workers from the "reckless executive order" of the governor.

Continue reading "Schwarzenegger's California State Worker Minimum Wage Fight Goes to Court" »

In a recent wage and hour lawsuit settlement that our Orange County, California Employment Attorneys have been reading about, Houston Police canine officers will reportedly receive 1.5 hours of overtime payment weekly for the care of their city-owned police dogs over holidays and weekends.

The lawsuit was reportedly brought by fifty canine officers and the Houston Police Officer's Union last year, to fight for proper canine officer overtime compensation--for the time it takes them to care for their dogs when they are off duty. The dispute over wage and hour payments for canine officer who perform weekend duties reportedly follows a settlement from 1995 that paid some officers a flat fee payment for extra off duty canine responsibilities, but didn't accurately reflect inflation.

According to the Houston Chronicle, the new settlement continues the $150 per month payment for canine officers, gives the officers an hour per each work shift to properly care for their dogs, and waives the payment of $160 that officers paid the city previously to take their patrol units home.

The wage and hour lawsuit settlement will reportedly cost the city $270,000 per year for canine officer overtime costs, and it includes an award of over 100 hours of compensatory time to around 33 officers who were not part of the original lawsuit that was filed.

Continue reading "K-9 Officers Win Overtime Payment in Wage and Hour Settlement" »

According to U.S. Senator Tom Harkin, (D-IA) who recently discussed the issue of employee misclassification at the U.S. Senate HELP Committee hearing, over 10.3 million workers in this country are incorrectly labeled as independent contractors--which amounts to around 7.3 percent of the nation's workforce. Harkin stated that the scope of the employee misclassification problem is "staggering." The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) supported this statement, as a recent study found that as many as 30 percent of this country's businesses misclassify employees as independent contractors.

As our Southern California Employment Attorneys discussed in a recent blog, employee misclassification is a frequent and growing problem--as misclassified workers don't receive the same protections under our laws, like minimum wage and overtime payments, meal periods and rest breaks, tax responsibilities, safety and health laws, workers' compensation, antidiscrimination protections, along with other federal and state employment laws and regulations.

Harkin claimed that employee misclassification is also costing the state and federal governments billions of dollars in unpaid revenues, and hurting businesses who are trying to comply with the law. An employer that misclassifies workers could outbid honest and lawful employers by as much as 30 percent.

Harkin reported that in Iowa's first year of operating the Iowa misclassification program, the state uncovered 182 employers who had misclassified 1,565 workers--that totaled more than $27 million in total unreported wages, $1 million in unemployment taxes due, and unemployment penalties and interest amounting to $340,000. He claims that if state and federal agencies help to solve the problem, they can recover millions of dollars from employers who aren't paying their fair share to workers and to the individual states.

Continue reading "Senator Harkin Aims to "Level the Playing Field" to Protect Workers And Businesses from Employee Misclassification" »

In a recent blog, our Santa Ana Labor and Employment Attorneys discussed the announcement by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) this week that employers who illegally hire children and violate child labor rules and regulations, will now face stronger penalties.

According to the New York Times, the Obama administration has embarked on the campaign of enforcing child labor rules and regulations to keep farmers who hire children and underpay workers from breaking the law.

Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis, whose father was an immigrant farm worker, claims that enforcing labor rules and laws on farms is a priority in the current administration, and that they will be hiring over 250 labor investigators and will raise the wage and hour violation fines to reflect the priority. Congress is also currently considering whether laws that permit 12-year-olds to engage in summer farm work with almost no limits need to be rewritten.

The Care Act, put forth by Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) is a proposal to ban the hiring of 12- and 13-year-olds, and to limit the hours of 14- and 15-year-olds to keep teenagers away from hazardous jobs. Reportedly 91 representatives have co-sponsored the act, and Iowa Senator Tom Harkin claims that he plans to introduce a similar bill in the Senate.

Continue reading "Labor Secretary Investigates Child Labor Law Violations in Farming Industry" »

In a blog from earlier this week, our attorneys at HOWARD | NASSIRI, PC discussed the Department of Labor's (DOL) announcement of a grant, supporting and training women in non-traditional occupations.

The DOL made headline news again this week, announcing that employers who illegally employ children as workers will now face stronger penalties--as the department is cracking down on employers who violate child labor rules and regulations.

In a statement by Hilda L. Solis, Secretary of Labor, young workers are a priority of the state department. Solis claims that work involving children must be age appropriate, must not interfere with school, and must be conducted in a healthy and safe work environment.

According to current child labor provisions under federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA):

• Workers under the age of 18 are prohibited from working in hazardous, nonagricultural occupations.

• Individuals who are under the age of 16 are legally able to work only limited after school hours.

• Individuals who are age 14 and 15 may also not work before 7am in the morning, or after 7pm in the evening, unless it's from June 1 through Labor Day, in which they can work until 9pm.

• The types of jobs and hours that 14- and 15-year-olds can work are also restricted by FLSA laws.

• With agricultural work, children under the age of 12 may be employed with consent from their parents, but only on small farms that are not subject to federal minimum wage requirements.

• Individual workers who are 12- or 13-years-old may also be employed on a farm with parental permission, or can also be hired to work on the same farm as a parent.

• On a general rule, no farm worker under the age of 16 can perform hazardous work, or engage in employment during school hours.

Under the new, tougher penalty structure of the DOL, employers who employ 12 and 13-year-olds illegally will face a $6,000 penalty per violation. The penalty will be at least $8,000 per violation If the child is under the age of 12. Under certain conditions, illegally employing child laborers under the age of 14 could be raised to $11,000 per violation.

Continue reading "Department of Labor Cracks Down on Illegal Employment of Children" »

In a recent wage and hour lawsuit filed against the Hilton Los Angeles (LAX) Airport Hotel, two workers in Los Angeles, California claim that the hotel hired numbers of low wage workers through a subcontractor, in an attempt to illegally dodge the Los Angeles city laws--requiring that lower wage, temporary airport-area hotel workers receive a "living wage."

The proposed class action lawsuit was reportedly filed by two housekeepers in Los Angeles Superior Court, on behalf of over 150 former and current workers for the Hilton hotel, and claim that Hilton officials have been using Norma's Corp., an employment agency to hire and pay the employees less than the city's living wage, and violate their wage and hour rights. The employees hired through the agency were reportedly paid less than minimum wage, with no access to health insurance.

According to the Daily Breeze, in 2006, Los Angeles City Council reportedly adopted the living wage ordinance for the hotels that are inside the Century Corridor. Hotels were told by the city that they would be responsible for paying the living wage of $10.64, unless they were able to reach a collective agreement with their employees.

The Hilton reportedly tried to overturn the Los Angeles law during which time other hotels in the airport area agreed to comply with the living wage ordinance. The suit is reportedly bringing attention to hotels who are gaining profit by taking advantage of low-wage workers by violating the Los Angeles living wage ordinance. The workers are seeing unspecified damages and back pay.

Continue reading "Hotel Workers Accuse Los Angeles Airport Hilton of Violating Living Wage Law" »

Our Riverside, California Employment Attorneys have been following a recent wage and hour class-action lawsuit settlement--where Charter Communications has agreed to compensate California field technicians and technicians in other states $18 million, after being accused of failing to pay the technicians overtime as well as other wages earned.

According to the lawsuit, in 2008, a field technician at a Charter Communication office in Janesville, sued the company in a federal collection action, to fight for overtime and unpaid wage compensation for around 8,000 former and current Charter employees.

This class action case claims that Charter violated the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by neglecting to pay field technicians assigned with Charter vehicles for a number of tasks surrounding the vehicles--loading and unloading the Charter vehicle, paying for time spent traveling, for before work activities, stocking and collecting equipment, vehicle cleaning, reconciling inventories of equipment, and completing logs that document work activity. The class action lawsuit reportedly involves field technicians who had a Charter vehicle assigned to them, and were responsible for keeping the Charter vehicle at home overnight, anytime after March 15, 2005.

The wage and hour class action lawsuit settlement includes former and current employees for Charter from California, Missouri, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Washington, Nebraska along with other states, during specified class periods.

Charter has denied any liability under the settlement, and claims that they have a policy in place that pays its hourly employees for all time worked.

Continue reading "Charter Agrees to Settle Class Action Wage and Hour Lawsuit" »