Posts Tagged ‘ Unpaid Overtime ’

Metallica Drummer Accused of Stiffing P.A. Settles Lawsuit

November 17th, 2011. By AbiK

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich recently settled a wage and hour lawsuit that had been filed by a former personal assistant, Steven Wiig. Wiig claimed a whole bunch of labor law violations: years of unpaid overtime (years!) along with alleged state and federal labor violations, breach of oral contract and continuing wages.

Yep, your run-of-the-mill California overtime lawsuit… NOT! We’re talking METALLICA!

Now, “Metallica” tends to conjure up headbanging images—think Beavis and Butthead (heh-heh)—and a lot of what some folks would call noise. Case in point, their live “Enter Sandman” video showcases some of those whiplash-inducing moves the band is famous for—and famous they are with that video alone having over 52,000,000 views on youtube. They’re the stuff of (hard) rock legend…off to never-never land! (In fairness, they’ve got some memorable ballads in their repertoire as well—like “Nothing Else Matters” (see video above)).

Ok. So they’re rock stars. And unless much has changed in the last oh, fifty plus years, rock stars tend to be magnets when it comes to wannabes wanting coveted jobs like “personal assistant”. Hell, it’s a twenty year old’s fantasy…screw getting a desk job after 4 years of hitting the books. Hit drop/add with the emphasis on “drop” and hit the road. Yeah, you’re down with the roadies, groupies, parties and perks. The all-access pass to backstage glam and prestige…you’re with the band now, man…(& you can advertise that fact with the t-shirt at right, at zazzle.com).

Oh wait—you expected to be paid on an hourly basis as well? And given a bonus each year? Ahh, but see—as with any situation where supply exceeds demand, prices get driven down. Lots of available labor? Labor gets cheap, right? And maybe that’s when labor starts to get—or at least feel—abused.

Hey, you wanted to be with the band…

So here we are with Lars Ulrich getting sued by his personal assistant. It’s an interesting case—similar to the PR hacks complaining not long ago about their compensation—because clearly this guy, Wiig, put up with the deal for “years” (2001-2009). A decade. Why hang so long in a gig that you think is screwing you over?

According to the Marin Independent Journal, Wiig acted as Ulrich’s chauffeur, managed his art collection, handled his scheduling and “other tasks and errands” upon request. That translated to around 70 hours a week, which was upped to 80 hours a week when Metallica was on tour.

Wiig claimed he performed those duties for $45,000 a year. He also claims to have had a verbal agreement (red flag!) for annual bonuses. Of course, according to marinij.com, Ulrich’s side claims Wiig received $110,000 a year before bonuses, free rent and a free car. I suppose only the tax man knows for sure (wink-wink).

At any rate, the two sides have settled (terms not disclosed). My guess is that Wiig came out ahead on this one—but what to do now? Oh yeah, write a memoir “Snared: My Life with Lars Ulrich and Metallica”.

Tags: California labor law, Lars Ulrich, Metallica, Metallica Drummer, overtime lawsuit, Overtime Pay, Unpaid Overtime, Wage and Hour
Posted in Celebrity, Emerging Issues, Employment, lawsuits | 9069No Comments »2011-11-17+18%3A13%3A42AbiK

Week Adjourned: 10.28.11

October 28th, 2011. By LucyC

Top Class Actions

Blackout at BlackBerry. Well—it took a while—but it’s finally here—BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) is facing a potential class action lawsuit over the major service interruption which occurred on October 11, 2011. The consumer fraud lawsuit was filed on behalf of all US consumers who are currently under an agreement and using a BlackBerry device.

According to the legal counsel, although the users’ contracts are through Sprint and not RIM, they pay the company fees through the carrier. The lawsuit estimates that RIM takes in roughly $3.4 million in revenue per day from the services paid through the wireless carriers. Better SMS this one.

Hey Oreck, when the Light is on the Germs are…where? If all I need to get rid of the common cold or flu viruses is a vacuum—I wonder what untapped potential lurks within my food processor? Oh, hold on a minute…Oreck is facing a class action lawsuit alleging that claims the company makes about its “flu-fighting” vacuum cleaners and air purifiers are false and misleading. Really?

The federal consumer fraud suit claims that Oreck, in its advertising, states its Halo vacuum and air purifier can “eliminate common viruses, germs and allergens, thereby helping to prevent the illnesses they cause.” The lawsuit claims that Oreck “represented to consumers that the products used scientifically proven technology to eliminate common viruses, germs and allergens, thereby helping to prevent the illnesses they cause.” And, Oreck claims its products can prevent colds, diarrhea, stomach upsets, asthma and allergies. “Unfortunately for plaintiffs and the class, defendants’ claims are not adequately supported by credible, scientific testing or other substantiation, and are not true.”

Thelaw suit goes on to state that “… these representations were false, deceptive and inaccurate. As such, Oreck’s actions violated the Magnum Moss Warranty Act (‘MMWA’), breached express warranties made by defendants, breached implied contractual warranties imposed by law, violated numerous California consumer protection statutes, and violated New York consumer protection statutes and common laws.

Top Settlements

Unpaid overtime to be paid – at last. A $4 million settlement has been reached in an unpaid overtime class action against Sutherland Global Servies Ltd.

The lawsuit, brought by call center telemarketers in 2005, (yes – 6 years ago – not kidding) alleged that Sutherland didn’t pay its call center employees the overtime owed.

The lawsuit was originally brought by two Rochester employees of the Perinton-based process outsourcing company, and grew to 10 named employees and hundreds of unnamed workers, all of whom claimed they regularly worked more than 40 hours a week but were not paid overtime.

Although Sutherland denied the allegations, it agreed to a $4 million settlement to be divided among members of the class and U.S. District Judge David G. Larimer gave final approval to the settlement last week, ending the litigation.

Ok—That’s enough for this week. See you at the bar.

Tags: BlackBerry, Class Action, Lawsuit, Oreck, Oreck Air Purifier, Oreck Halo class action, Research in Motion, RIM, Sutherland Global Services, Unpaid Overtime, wage and hour lawsuit
Posted in Class Action, lawsuits, Settlement | 8983No Comments »Week+Adjourned%3A+10.28.112011-10-28+19%3A38%3A37LucyC

Week Adjourned: 6.17.11

June 17th, 2011. By LucyC

Top Class Actions

Logistical Error? Nothing like a lawsuit to improve your company’s standing—or attract quality employees—as FTDI West is about to find out. The company, located in California and Florida, got hit with an unpaid overtime class action lawsuit this week.

The gist of the lawsuit is labor code violations, well, that’s a no-brainer. Specifically, the lawsuit states that FTDI West Inc, violated: Sections 226.7 and 512 of the California Labor Code by failing to provide adequate meal breaks to employees involved, section 226.7 of the California Labor Code by failing to provide adequate rest breaks to employees involved, Section 510 of the California Labor Code by failing to pay proper overtime wages, Sections 203 and 226 (a) of the California Labor code by providing involved employees paystubs not in compliance with California law and not paying “waiting time” penalties, as well as two other causes of action as related to Business and Professions Code Section 17200 and the common law tort of unjust enrichment.

The overtime claims asserted deal with non-payment of “double time” wages. Double time wages are due for any work over 12 hours in a workday or any work beyond eight hours on any seventh consecutive day of a workweek.

The lawsuit defines its class members as “All current and former employees of Defendants who were employed as non-exempt employees at any of Defendants’ locations anywhere in California, at any time from four years prior to the initiation of this action until the present.”

Top Settlements

Drywall Might Settle but the Dust Surely Hasn’t… Remember all the defective Chinese drywall lawsuits of not so very long ago? Well, they are slowly making their way through the courts to settlement land. Case in point—Banner Supply has agreed a $54.4 million settlement of a class action lawsuit brought by homeowners in the Orlando, FL area. In fact, the agreement covers 2,000 to 3,000 homes south of Orlando.

According to Builderonline something like 95 companies have been implicated as distributors of the sulfur-tainted drywall and named in subsequent lawsuits filed against the Chinese manufacturers. The defendants are accused of being the source of tainted drywall. While Banner Supply tops the list, others suppliers reportedly include ProSales L&W Supply, ProBuild, Stock Building Supply, and 84 Lumber.

While $54.5 million might seem a large settlement, it may only work out to between $18,000 and $24,000 per home, and estimates suggest the cost of repairing the affected properties could reach $100,000.

Defective Boat Injury leads to $31M Award. Ok. There’s bad design, and BAD DESIGN. In this case, I’m not talking about an infraction of the Home & Garden variety, but rather something that warranted a $31 million award. Two women brought a defective product and personal liability lawsuit against MasterCraft, after suffering some pretty horrendous injuries that good design likely would have prevented.

Short version, in 2006 Nichollette Bell and Bethany Wallenburg were among 12 passengers riding in a MasterCraft X-45 wakeboarding craft. They were sitting on the bow of the boat when it was suddenly submerged as the driver of the boat went to retrieve a fallen wakeboarder. As a result the women were swept off the boat by the force of water and into the lake. The boat’s propeller struck Bell on the head, ripping out an eye and leaving her with brain damage. The propeller also slashed Wallenburg’s left elbow and lower back, resulting in muscle and nerve damage. In their lawsuit, the women alleged the boat was defectively designed. They also alleged the driver handled the boat negligently. Not surprisingly, the jury found MasterCraft 80 percent at fault and the driver 20 percent at fault.

OK. That’s it for this week. See you at the Bar.

Tags: Banner Supply, California Overtime, chinese drywall, Defective Product, Employment, Employment lawsuit, Florida, FTDI West, MasterCraft, Meal Breaks, overtime lawsuit, Unpaid Overtime, Wakeboarding, Week Adjourned
Posted in Week Adjourned | 8102No Comments »Week+Adjourned%3A+6.17.112011-06-17+20%3A48%3A20LucyC

US Open Food Servers Serve up Double Fault Class Action

March 11th, 2010. By AbiK

tennis racket bubbly US Open Food Servers Serve up Double Fault Class Action For all the presentation and promotion that attempts to position tennis as a pastime of the hoi polloi, it just can’t seem to get over a bit of an elitist image. It’s not the professional players that make it so—heck, many have come from the hoi polloi themselves and have in their own way given the finger to some of the elitism (recall Agassi’s earlier days…McEnroe’s outbursts…Venus and Serena’s new fashion rules). And this year, you—yes YOU—can even register to compete for a wild card into the US Open Qualifying tournament.

So what gives? Well, if you’re part of the army of food service folks who work the Open, you might be thinking the elitism comes from the country club set who show up at the US Open outfitted in Lacoste or Brooks Brothers toting a casual & sporty—yet appropriate!—Vera Bradley or Lily Pulitzer (LL Bean if quieter propriety’s your thing) bag as they head to their box seats at the Open. See, those food service folks actually work their tails off to serve—as the 2010 US Open site describes it—”innovative menus” that feature “superb cuisine of impeccable quality and freshness” to the social set sitting in the Luxury Suites at Arthur Ashe stadium. Yeah, you’re not seeing that fare if you’re sitting Loge. Luxury Suites, by the way, will set you back $10,000 – $63,000 for a package—hey, parking’s included, catering isn’t (that’s an $1,800 minimum).

Work their tails off? Oh, but surely they make decent money, right? Surely more than the peons working those concession stands outside on the “grounds”?

Well, according to a class action lawsuit filed on March 3rd in Brooklyn federal court, those servers may not be getting paid all that much for the hours they put in serving, as the New York Post calls them “celebrities, trust-fund kids and captains of industry”. The Post quotes one worker who’s also a plaintiff, Daniel Yahraes, as saying he worked more than 100 hours a week and was paid based on his $17 an hour pay rate—no overtime pay (that’s fault #1)—and, while clients were apparently charged an additional 21 percent “service charge”, that fee was not passed along to the “service” (that’s fault #2, and shades of Cipriani?). I have to imagine that some of those workers received cash tips, but still, overtime is overtime and for Yahraes, that would arguably mean he lost out on quite a bit of cash.

Five companies are named in the lawsuit, including Restaurant Associates and the suit covers the past six years.

Tags: Employment, New York, restaurant, Unpaid Overtime, US Open
Posted in Emerging Issues, Employment | 2965No Comments »2010-03-11+21%3A37%3A26AbiK