Posts Tagged ‘ California labor law ’

Week Adjourned: 7.3.09

July 3rd, 2009. By LucyC

Top Class Actions

Whiz-through security fizzes out? As if air travel wasn’t fraught with enough obstacles, delays, and frustrations frequent flyers last Monday found themselves SOL at Clear Airport Security Kiosks across the country. The problem? They’d closed their doors, gone out of business, shut down. See ya bye.

Clear operated the Registered Traveler program in 20 airports, serving a reported 260,000 customers. The company pre-screened frequent fliers taking fingerprints, iris scans and credit information, which it then gave to the US Transportation Security Administration, in order to fast track people through the security line-ups.

So, Verified Identity Pass, the parent company of airport security provider Clear, was hit with a class action lawsuit over reimbursement of its US$199 annual fee, by one very disgruntled customer. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: California labor law, Clear Airport Security, Marriott, Methodist Hospital, Week Adjourned
Posted in Emerging Issues | 566No Comments »Week+Adjourned%3A+7.3.092009-07-03+23%3A46%3A40LucyC

Am I Owed California IT Overtime?

June 5th, 2009. By admin

For those of you in California who work in IT or computer industry, it might be a bit confusing to figure out if you qualify for overtime pay. After all, just being labelled “Exempt” doesn’t necessarily mean much–you could be labelled such and yet still qualify for overtime pay based on a number of “tests”.

LawyersandSettlements.com outlines some of these tests for you, but here’s something you may not be aware of: you may be entitled to back overtime pay–going up to FOUR YEARS back. So even if you’re legitimately Exempt now, you may not have been a couple of years ago.

One of the requirements in determining Exempt status is your level of pay. The chart below shows the minimum pay requirements (2005-2009) that you needed to be at in order to be considered Exempt. While there are other factors that must be looked at to determine if a job is indeed Exempt, your rate of pay is a good place to start.

Year	Hourly Rate	Annual Rate (40 hour week)
2009	$37.94	$79,050
2008 as of Sept.	$36.00	$75,000
2008 prior to Sept.	$36.00	$74,880
2007	$49.77	$103,522
2006	$47.81	$99,445
2005	$45.84	$95,348

Source: Division of Labor Standards Enforcement; History of Rate of Pay for Exemption for Computer Software Employee (California Labor Code Section 515.5(a)(3))

Tags: California IT overtime, California labor law
Posted in Emerging Issues | 323No Comments »Am+I+Owed+California+IT+Overtime%3F2009-06-05+14%3A21%3A04admin

California Labor sees Job Market Shift?

May 25th, 2009. By admin

Came across this one, had to share…wonder if anyone asked about overtime?

job_market_2009_311

Tags: California IT overtime, California labor law
Posted in Emerging Issues | 189No Comments »2009-05-25+12%3A21%3A42admin

Week Adjourned: 5.15.09

May 15th, 2009. By LucyC

Top Class Actions: The Week of the Biggies

Hotel Costco: You can clock in, but you can never leave? It appears to have been another busy week in law firms and courthouses across North America. Let’s start with Costco—last week Costco was in the news for having settled an unfair business practices class action and this week they’re in the news for “falsely imprisoning” employees in its California warehouses. Whaaat?

When I first read this my mind reeled, “what new business venture is this?”

Turns out it’s yet another unpaid overtime and wages class action centered in California. What is it about California? (I’m referring to the endless labor law violations).

The class action centers on employees who were and are forced to remain in the warehouses after closing while store managers make goods secure and lock up. This has been going on for years, apparently. But now there is a lawsuit, of course, and the lawyers are seeking US $50 million in damages.

O Canada!—who was standing on guard at Guidant? Across the border in Canada, not a land well-known for class action lawsuits—something large is taking place. Earlier this month a national class action was certified against Guidant Corp, alleging that the company knowingly sold defective pacemakers. The class so far represents more than 28,000 people, and the lawyers are seeking CD$525 million in damages.

Highway Robbery? And a class action that’s been getting a lot of media this week is the Massachusetts Turnpike lawsuit, whose plaintiffs are being represented by a lawyer made famous in the 1998 film “A Civil Action“, Jan R. Schlichtmann.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: asbestos lawsuit, California labor law, defective pacemaker, Goldman Sachs, guidant, Heparin, Nationwide Insurance, T-mobile, Week Adjourned, WR Grace
Posted in Defective Products, Drugs/Medical, Personal Injury | 154No Comments »Week+Adjourned%3A+5.15.092009-05-16+00%3A18%3A41LucyC

Week Adjourned: 5.8.09

May 8th, 2009. By LucyC

Top Class Actions: Hydroxycut, 3M

A Body Image to Die For? Last week we mentioned the Hydroxycut nightmare - people suffering permanent liver damage from using the product. Worse, so far one death has been associated with the use of this popular diet product. Sure enough, the class action lawsuits have started, filed in both the US and Canada by separate entities—this issue will be one to watch. Why? Because while drugs are very tightly regulated, over the counter supplements are not—the FDA in fact has very little control. Maybe these lawsuits will help change that.

Surprise Retirement Parties at 3M. Seems 3M’s been planning some retirements that were real surprises—even to those retiring. It’s just been slapped with a class action alleging violations of the Age Discrimination and Employment Act (ADEA). This isn’t the first time 3M has been sued for unfair employment practices. However the suit centers on the allegation that “3M fires or forces these older employees into retirement or resignation. And, in an effort to protect itself, the company has forced departing employees to sign releases that misrepresent their rights and fail to give them required information necessary to determine whether they have been the victims of age discrimination.”

Nice.

The complaint was filed in California, a state that sees more than its fair share, if there is such a thing, of employment law violations, including unpaid overtime for IT personnel, test engineers and quality assurance engineers.

Top Settlements: Aerotek, Costco, Wal-Mart, and Anna Mae Ahern

“Hasta la vista baby.” This week saw the ultimate pay day for disgruntled employees at Aerotek, as they announced the settlement of their employment class action for $1.25 million. This case involved more than 1,300 employees, past and present, who claimed that Aerotek had not reimbursed them for accrued leave when they were let go. That’s pretty good closure.

Big-Box Discounters…Big-Time Losers. A couple of big retailers were also in the news this week – Costco and Wal-Mart. Costco has agreed to provide up to 3 months free membership for people who had their renewed memberships unfairly backdated to the membership expiration date.

And remember that truly “Black Friday” last year – when a temporary clerk was trampled to death in a New York Wal-Mart when it opened its doors for the “sale event of the year”? Well, in order to avoid criminal charges, the retail giant has pledged $2 million to improve safety at its 92 outlets in the state. And it couldn’t have done this without the threat of criminal charges?

Talk about Betting the Farm. A pretty neat piece of justice took place this week. A 101 year old lady who just happens to live on a 93-acre golf course in a Chicago suburb will receive $25 million for her property—at least that’s what the jury said the developer must pay if he wants the land. Anna Mae Ahern was born on the property—her family owned it. Then in 1921 they converted it from a restaurant and farm to a golf course. She’s been living there her entire life. Needless to say it’s worth a pretty penny to property developers today. To her credit, Anna knew that and so did her lawyers, who are no doubt celebrating with her. Question is, where to now?

More to come next week. We’re off to the bar again (yeah, that one)…see you there!

Tags: 3M, aerotek, California labor law, Costco, Hydroxycut, Wal-Mart, Week Adjourned
Posted in Emerging Issues | 124No Comments »Week+Adjourned%3A+5.8.092009-05-09+00%3A33%3A30LucyC