Cash America Pawn, or First Cash Management Facing Overtime LawsuitMemphis, 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.”
Hartford Insurance Denies Disability Benefits and Pays Millions to bail out a townImagine 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?
Drywall Contractor Fined $2 million; Is California Wage Theft Rampant?After workers at Fullerton Pacific Interiors Inc., complained about California labor law violations to the non-profit Carpenters Contractors Cooperation Committee, the California Labor Commissioner’s Office stepped in. Investigators found that the drywall company paid a daily rate that didn’t include overtime hours or rest breaks and 28 workers were not even paid minimum wage. Fullerton was fined nearly $2million for wage theft violations.
Ninth Circuit Says Pension Plan Participants Cannot be Forced to ArbitrateSan Francisco, CA On July 24, 2018, the Ninth Circuit held that the plaintiffs in a pension plan lawsuit could continue their legal fight as a class action, rather than having to arbitrate individually.
Munro v. University of Southern California is a major victory for ERISA plan participants who were required to sign individual arbitration agreements as a condition of employment. The Court likened these ERISA lawsuits to whistle blower lawsuits–essentially viewing the plaintiffs as public prosecutors acting in defense of the pension plan itself. This is a very broad argument that may ultimately have wider legal implications.
Monsanto Glyphosate Lawsuit: Expert Testimony Deemed Credible Enough for TrialSan Francisco, CA Roundup Weed Killer has been used by homeowners, schools, gardeners, and farmers since its development in the 1970s. Its usage has increased exponentially since the 1990s when genetically modified organisms (GMOs) were developed that can survive heavy applications of Roundup, enabling farmers to kill all types of weeds but not the desired crops. In 2015, an arm of the World Health Organization (France-based International Agency for Research on Cancer “IARC”), designated glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, as a probable human carcinogen. Thousands of Monsanto glyphosate lawsuits over alleged Roundup cancer followed. Now Plaintiffs have cleared a crucial hurdle. A judge has ruled that the preliminary opinions of three experts linking glyphosate and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma were not “junk science,” and should be permitted for a jury’s consideration.
SoCal Drywall Company Fined $1.9M for Wage Theft ViolationsFullerton, CA According to California’s Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, it is a known problem: construction companies often pay workers a flat rate rather than for all hours worked, in order to evade having to pay workers the rate required under state laws. This is wage theft, and it is a violation of California state labor laws. The state Labor Commissioner’s Office began an investigation into Fullerton Pacific Interiors Inc. (“Fullerton’s”) practices after employees reported the company to a nonprofit labor management organization, Carpenters Contractors Cooperation Committee. The outcome of that investigation was a $1.9 million dollar penalty, to be distributed primarily to the workers who were shorted pay.
Anthem Denials of Emergency Room CT Scans and MRIs; Patients Sent to ClinicsWashington, DC In July 2018, the American College of Emergency Physicians filed an insurance lawsuit against Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield over the insurer’s new policy of denying emergency room coverage after the fact. As a subpart of the strategy, Anthem refuses claims for in-hospital CT scans and MRIs ordered in the course of emergency diagnosis and treatment. The
lawsuit focuses on the harm the policy does to patients. But it also shines a light on the damage that Anthem’s plan does to hospitals and the wider healthcare system.
J&J’s Talc Appeal – Lack of Scientific Evidence and Jurisdiction ArgumentSt. Louis, MO: Johnson & Johnson plans to appeal the $4.69 billion verdict awarded on July 12 to 22 women and their families who alleged that ovarian cancer cases was caused by asbestos in the company’s baby powder, and that J&J failed to warn that its talcum powder raised the risk of ovarian cancer. Experts say that J&J will argue the verdict based on insufficient scientific evidence and jurisdiction. And this asbestos-talc case is one of about 9,000 that J&J is facing.
