Employment laws and labor laws protect employee's rights. Employment laws such as harassment and discrimination can be violated by a manager, staff member, client or vendor. In many cases, the plaintiff is an individual or a group affected by the inappropriate conduct.
Employment lawsuits can be filed over hiring practices, health and safety hazards, unpaid overtime pay, wages and benefits, various forms of harassment or discrimination, union disputes, and other State and Federal labor policies. Employment lawsuits also involve furloughs: Employers may be in violation of labor laws if salaried employees do any kind of work during their forced time off.
Unpaid Overtime
Unpaid overtime is a huge issue facing thousands of employees. It can involve things such as not being paid for breaks, being asked to work "off-the-clock", or being "misclassified" as a Manager.
National Overtime Pay Laws
Overtime for Computer Programmers Some companies try to avoid paying employees overtime by categorizing them as "salaried" employees.
 Overtime for Stock Brokers Stock and commodities brokers are entitled to overtime compensation regardless of the dollar volume of commissions they earned.
Overtime, General
United States federal law is very specific about overtime pay, which is calculated at the regular hourly rate plus an additional 50%. If you work more than 40 hours per week, you may be entitled to overtime pay.
California Overtime Pay Laws
Overtime for California Managers In California, unlike the rest of the US, a manager or assistant manager must earn double the minimum wage to qualify for an exemption from overtime pay. If your title is "Manager" or "Assistant Manager", but you spend more than 40% of your work hours performing the duties of a regular worker, you may be entitled to overtime wages.
Overtime
California If you work in California and have worked for more than 6 consecutive days, or regularly work for more than 8 hours in a day, you may be entitled to overtime wages.
New York Overtime Pay Laws
Overtime
New York If you work in New York and have worked more than 40 hours per week (or more than 44 hours for residential employees), you may be entitled to overtime wages.
Harassment
Sexual harassment in any State is unwelcome conduct that can occur in a variety of circumstances, the harasser can be the victim's supervisor, a supervisor in another department, a co-worker, a non-employee or a client. The victim does not have to be the opposite sex and the victim does not have to be the person harassed but simply one person or one of multiple persons affected by the offensive conduct.
If you have been the victim of sexual harassment or a hostile work environment, particularly where there are multiple victims and/or witnesses and your complaints to the company have fallen on deaf ears, you may have a pattern or practice hostile work environment claim.
Previously, only someone who was a direct victim of sexual harassment could sue. However, the California Supreme Court recently decided that when sexual favoritism is frequent and obvious it may create a "hostile workplace" and be grounds for a lawsuit.
Employment Discrimination
Employment discrimination occurs whenever an employer or its representatives adversely single out employees or job applicants on the basis of age, race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, religion and a variety of other reasons, such as weight or smoking, according to the Employment Discrimination laws enforced by the The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commi (EEOC). If you have been illegally discriminated against, your employer must be in violation of a specific state or Federal statute.
The EEOC states that employers can't discriminate against you in any aspect of employment, such as:
- Hiring and firing
- Compensation, assignment, or classification of employees
- Transfer, promotion, layoff, or recall
- Job advertisements
- Recruitment
- Testing
- Use of company facilities
- Training and apprenticeship programs
- Fringe benefits
- Pay, retirement plans, and disability leave
Furlough
A furlough, either voluntary or involuntary, is a temporary leave of absence from employment or armed services, or from a prison term. Mandatory furloughs, which require employees to take time off without pay, are occurring across several industries and states, particularly involving IT workers in California.
Although a furlough can be an effective cost-cutting measure for employers, many employees who have been issued a long term furlough have been forced to seek employment elsewhere. And several lawsuits have been filed from California to New Jersey, claiming furloughs are illegal. |
EMPLOYMENT ARTICLES AND INTERVIEWS
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Hospitality Overtime Lawsuits Heating Up
Washington, DC: Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis plans to be more aggressive in enforcing federal employment laws such as the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and has asked for additional funding to hire hundreds of new compliance officers for the Department of Labor (DOL)'s Wage and Hour Division, which covers overtime issues. This would increase the size of the Division by a third..
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California Employers in Trouble for Not Paying Overtime
Los Angeles, CA: California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr has filed a lawsuit alleging that a California farm labor contractor did not pay his employees minimum wage and overtime as required by California labor law. The contractor, Juan Munoz, is also accused of not providing rest breaks, drinking water or shade to people who worked in the fields..
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Georgia Employees Allege Discrimination
Bainbridge, GA: Two Georgia employment lawsuits stemming from allegations of gender discrimination were recently settled out of court. The Decatur County government has agreed to pay $765,000 to three male plaintiffs, Steven Enfinger, Guy Yates and Jimmy Bellflower, and $600,000 to a female plaintiff, Cynthia Harrell..
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