LAWSUITS NEWS & LEGAL INFORMATION

San Francisco, CA When an employee brings a lawsuit alleging that they were not paid for all the time that they were lawfully owed under federal law, employers will frequently raise something called the de minimis doctrine in defense. This doctrine holds that working time that is trivially small, for instance a few seconds or minutes beyond working hours, may be disregarded (and unpaid). Recently, in Troester v. Starbucks, Starbucks attempted to raise this defense to claims brought under California state law, and the California Supreme Court rejected it—finding that a Starbucks shift supervisor should have been paid for work performed before and after clocking out for the day. Now, Plaintiffs in another California unpaid wages lawsuit, Ser Lao v. H & M, have filed a notice of “new authority” to support their claim, citing the Troester decision. The Troester decision could open doors for many similar lawsuits.
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Washington, DC: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has enacted a new rule to purportedly strengthen oversight on asbestos: it will review applications for using asbestos in consumer products. But the agency’s critics and consumer groups argue that this rule makes it easier for asbestos to be used in consumer products, from construction materials to plastic bags.
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Oakland, CA: A California judge has given the green light to settle several California labor lawsuits alleging the retail giant violated California’s Private Attorneys General Act by failing to provide seating for more than 90,000 cashiers.
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New Berlin, WI: Danell Behrens filed a proposed class action overdraft fees lawsuit in February 2017 against Landmark Credit Union (LCU), alleging the not-for-profit financial institution charged its members more than $2 million in overdraft fees, in violation of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (ETFA) and LCU’s own overdraft program contract. LCU has agreed to refund some of those fees and change its overdraft practices as part of the settlement agreement.
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Memphis, TN: A former Store Manager recently filed an employment complaint against First Cash and Cash America (also known as Cash America Pawn) for unpaid overtime compensation. “We estimate that 1,000 store managers nationwide have been misclassified and eligible for overtime,” says attorney Alan Crone, “and upwards of 3,000 employees may have an overtime claim against Cash America Pawn for violating the Fair Standards Labor Act.”
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Santa Clara, CA: As a disability claims consultant and former Unum employee, Linda Nee knows just about every trick in the insurance company’s books to dispute and deny disability benefits to claimants. She says that Unum, or First Unum is “nickel and diming” its policy holders by alleging overpayments associated with SSDI and other monthly earnings offsets, including Retirement Income.
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Hartford, CT: Imagine that an injury results in you being disabled and unable to return to work. You apply for long term disability but Hartford, your insurance company, denies your benefits. You don’t have any savings and no other source of income. And then you find out that Hartford, along with two other insurance companies, bails out the town of Hartford for millions of dollars – and not even their policyholders. Wouldn’t you want to be part of that payout? Wouldn’t you be angry, to say the least?
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