Whether you are an employer or an employee, it’s important to stay up-to-date on developments in employment law to protect your rights in the workplace. Our blog highlights the most relevant news, bills, lawsuits, and “how-tos” of employment law for working professionals. Our blog also includes our firm’s most recent news.
24
April
New York’s Living Wage Gets Mayoral Boost
Living wage legislation is proven to reduce poverty, and New York City Mayor de Blasio is taking a step toward fulfilling his campaign promise to reduce income inequality. A living wage is the minimum income required to meet basic needs like housing, clothing, and nutrition without additional aid. A living wage is different from minimum wage, which is set somewhat arbitrarily. The minimum wage is often not high enough to meet basic needs and leaves many in dire need of additional
12
January
Overtime Crimes: Employer Wage Theft Amounts to $50 Billion a Year
An overwhelmingly large percentage of workers eligible for overtime pay are intentionally denied earned overtime wages by unscrupulous employers who are rarely punished and steal with impunity. This was the conclusion reached by the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington D.C.-based research and policy institute, and published in a report this past fall.
To place this in perspective, as the report further notes, all wage theft, including the intentional non-payment of minimum wage and overtime pay, resulted in approximately $50 billion in
28
December
Pregnancy in the Workplace: “Pregnancy Neutral” or Pregnancy Discrimination?
Peggy Young regularly lifted boxes weighing up to 70 pounds as a delivery truck driver for the UPS. When she became pregnant in 2006, she requested a few months of lightened loads to accommodate her pregnancy. Other UPS workers injured on the job or otherwise considered disabled under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) were eligible under the collective-bargaining agreement for “light duty” work. But Young’s request was denied because she was not technically injured or disabled, so she was
14
November
The Law Office of Christopher Q. Davis files complaint against Wells Fargo Advisors
The Law Office of Christopher Q. Davis filed a complaint against Wells Fargo Advisors in the Eastern District of New York in October on behalf of Financial Advisors in WFA’s Private Client Group for unpaid overtime wages, minimum wages, unlawful promissory-note compensation, and other practices which unlawfully reduced their compensation. This lawsuit has received press attention, and other legal commentators have noted the strength of class claims.
Ms. Hartley also separately filed a discrimination lawsuit stemming from intense harassment she received
12
November
A Splash in the Tip Pool: Even elite New York restaurants steal workers’ wages
Employees of the five-star Boulud restaurants filed a multimillion dollar class action lawsuit with the New York Supreme Court in June 2014. Hundreds of restaurants, including those in the top-tier, are operating illegally when they force employees to share their tips with workers who are not serving. Many restaurant workers are not being paid fair wages: they earn less than minimum wage without tips and are also illegally required to perform un-tipped tasks. Their gratuity money ends up going to
10
November
Goldman Sachs Grapples with Class Action: 2,300 women claim discrimination
Former Goldman Sachs employees Cristina Chen-Oster and Shanna Orlich are leading a 2,300-member class in a gender bias suit against the banking firm in the Southern District Court of New York. Chen-Oster and Orlich first filed in 2010, and are still battling with the defendants. The plaintiffs recently rebuked an expert report by Michael A. Campion that explained the pay gap between male and female employees as “plausible” due to male workers’ greater willingness to take on “extreme jobs.” Plaintiffs