Articles Posted in wage and hour lawsuit

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Many workers in this digital age are familiar with the pings and rings of their smartphones, alerting them to work-related issues after work hours. Most assume it’s simply a part of the job, and few file for overtime compensation related to these expected duties. officerholdingcellphone

But that may change, depending on the potential precedent set by a case slated for bench trial this month. Allen v. Chicago, before the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, is one of the first of its kind to proceed to the trial phase. That’s because most similar cases are settled out-of-court before going to trial.

This class action employment lawsuit was filed by a police sergeant on behalf of himself and other similarly situated individuals who worked at the Chicago Police Department. Continue Reading ›

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Somewhere between 1 and 3 million workers migrate from various locations across the world – usually Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean – to work as laborers in U.S. farms. farms

Vital as these workers are to the labor force, they are often mistreated, underpaid and sometimes even abused. Employers sometimes use threats and intimidation to silence these workers from reporting workplace injuries, wage theft violations and sexual abuse.

Although these workers aren’t the only labor force to suffer from a concept known as “misclassification,” they certainly are subjected to it quite often.

Misclassification refers to an illegal practice by employers of classifying workers as “independent contractors” rather than “employees” to evade paying workers’ compensation insurance premiums, benefits, certain taxes and fair wages. Continue Reading ›

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Retail workers often have a much harder time than most people would imagine. While it might not seem like the hardest to job to stand in a store, manage the shelves and check out customers, there are a lot of challenging aspects when trying to earn a living and take care of a family in the retail industry.

black4First of all, most retail jobs are not full-time positions, and many retail workers are forced to work two or even three separate jobs to make enough money to get by each month. However, even though an employee might be working well in excess of 40 hours per week, he or she will not be entitled to overtime pay, fulltime employee benefits, or even paid sick leave in many cases. Retail employees are also constantly being accused of theft of merchandise, even when there is not evidence or reason to make such accusations, and management is constantly verbally abusing them. Continue Reading ›

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According to a recent news story from The Daily Californian, a large group of demonstrators were singing in protest at California Hall to protest University of California at Berkeley (UC Berkeley) and its decision to use contract-based workers instead of full-time employees on the campus.

on-the-quad-60945-mThis group of demonstrators said the university was being “super cheap” in their hiring practices and called on the university to hire more union workers to fill those jobs. This group of protesters included both workers and students, and they went to the chancellor’s office holding a cake that was decorated with the phrase, “I don’t always pay fair wages, but when I do it’s in Berkeley and Richmond.” The group also sang songs they had written for the protest. They were asking for fair wages, decent healthcare, and for the university to hire employees instead of using more contractors. Continue Reading ›

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The City of Los Angeles has just passed what many consider a landmark minimum wage bill for all wage earners working within city limits. This is a huge step for residents of the city, but it is not the first example of a city minimum wage law. Los Angeles has simply decided to follow in the footsteps of other major metropolitan areas around the county, upon the realization that a state minimum wage is not a living wage in their cities, and lowest income workers are not able to travel great distances each day to work for the state minimum wage.

to-sign-a-contract-3-1221952-mHowever, these minimum wage hikes will not be of any help to workers who are employed outside of the city, including unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County.   According to a recent news report for the Orange County Register, state lawmakers are now engaged in a major battle over whether or not to raise the statewide minimum wage to $13 per hour by the year 2017. Continue Reading ›

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Sometimes, when an employer withholds pay from an employee, it is because an employer is intentionally and willful committing wage theft. Other times, we are dealing with an accounting or payroll error, which results in accidental withholding of wages. Regardless of the cause, the situation still leaves many workers who are in desperate need of a paycheck without money to survive and take care of themselves and their families. It is not as if their bill collectors and landlords will simply allow them to pay late without accruing any penalties or defaults, because their employer is withholding wages.

notmuchmoneyAccording to a recent news article from the LA Times, many home-care workers have been waiting weeks for their paychecks. This incident involves over 40,000 workers who are employed by a taxpayer-funded program to serve as home-care workers in Los Angeles County. The program was designed to pay these workers to provide much needed home care for elderly and disabled California residents who live in low-income households.

The employees are required to complete their scheduled shifts and then submit a paper timesheet to the project processing center. It has not been said why this process has never been switched over to an online based reporting system, like most other state and federal programs. Continue Reading ›

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Employee wage theft is a serious problem in California. The problem is one that can affect all workers, but the many foreign-born workers in California are disproportionately affected, as unscrupulous employers may take advantage of workers who do not speak fluent English.

heres-is-a-tip-1022839-mAccording to a recent news article from the Monterey Herald, California state legislatures have advanced a “wage theft” bill to protect workers. Specifically, Senate Bill 588 (SB 588), a proposal that passed by 24 to 12 vote, makes it easier for the state to collect wages owed to workers. The bill allows the state labor commissioner to file a lien on the property of an employer who is illegally withholding wages from an employee. Continue Reading ›

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According to a recent news article from the LA Times, eight months following Mayor Eric Garcetti’s proposal to raise the minimum wage in the City of Los Angeles, most major stakeholders have expressed their support in raising the minimum wage, or have at least chosen not to fight the inevitable. Now, the debate has shifted to the amount of a minimum wage increase that would be appropriate.

one-dollar-1380007-mIn addition to the amount of the worker base pay hike, city officials are looking at the duration of time over which an increase should be phased and whether some employers should be exempt from having to pay workers whatever new higher minimum wage is eventually passed into city law. Continue Reading ›

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According to a recent news article in the Los Angeles Business Journal, Health Net, Inc. has announced it will by laying off more than 2000 of its employees and offering them jobs as contractors to the company.

advertisementIn total, around 1200 employees in Woodland Hills and approximately 900 employees in Rancho Cordova will be without permanent positions, according to the major insurance company. The contract positions will be offered through a third-party consulting firm. Continue Reading ›

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For the past year, there has been a great deal of debate about creating a minimum wage for the City of Los Angeles. The state already has a minimum wage, but it has become increasingly clear that state minimum wage does not equate to a living wage for the residents and workers in Los Angeles.

Fears of Min WageWith that in mind, the debate over whether or not Los Angeles should follow the lead of other cities and establish their own minimum wage is quickly turning into a debate of what the new minimum wage for the city should be, as it was obvious some form of a minimum wage law was needed. There was understandably a lot of input from advocates for low-wage workers and also for business owners and other employers in the city of Los Angeles. As one could easily imagine, workers’ advocates and employers had vastly different ideas on what the new minimum wage should be and when it should take effect.

There were three main proposals that emerged as frontrunners in the debate, and the amounts of the new minimum wage ranged from around $11 per hour to $15 per hour. The number of years to fully implement the increased minimum wage ranged from a little as three years to more than 15 years. According to a recent news article from the Washington Post, city officials have decided to raise the citywide minimum wage to $15 per hour, and this increase will take effect by 2020. Continue Reading ›

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