School Bus Company Settles Wage and Hour Lawsuit with Drivers for $1.6M
A school bus company – First Student, Inc. – has just agreed to settle a wage and hour class action lawsuit brought by its drivers based on alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). According to the lawsuit, the bus drivers were illegally denied pay they deserve for maintenance duties performed both before…
Read MoreFiring Employee Day After Complaining Of Sexual Harassment May Be Grounds For Retaliation
Often, workers fear complaining about work place harassment because they think they may be fired or face retaliatory conduct. The good news is that federal and state anti-discrimination laws have been written to protect employees from just that type of conduct. In fact – retaliation claims may be easier to prove than the underlying discrimination…
Read MorePresident Obama Prepares To Issue Executive Order Barring Sexual Orientation Discrimination
Earlier this week President Obama issued a statement that he plans to issue an executive order barring federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Such an order would be a significant step in granting necessary protections to lesbian, gay and transgender employee. Last year the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA),…
Read MoreEmployee or Volunteer?
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) protects employees in several different ways such as providing that workers be paid minimum wage and non-exempt employees be paid overtime at a rate of one and one-half times their standard rate of pay for each hour worked in excess of 40 in any one work week. However, receiving…
Read MoreThe ADAAA Expands Definition of Disability
The Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA), was enacted five years ago with the goal of strengthening and broadening the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which made it illegal to discriminate against workers with disabilities. The ADA/ADAAA prohibits discrimination against “qualified individuals with a disability” in the terms and conditions of employment.” The ADA…
Read MoreRetaliation For Complaining About Misclassification May Violate The FLSA
One of the goals of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is to provide minimum protections to workers, such as minimum wage and overtime pay. In order to ensure that the workers can assert their rights, the FLSA also protects them from retaliation. “Retaliation” refers to actions taken by your employer that negatively affect your…
Read MoreCompany May Be Held Responsible For Co-Worker Harassment
Many workplace discrimination cases involve the situation where a supervisor harasses or discriminates against an employee. However, what happens where the harasser is a co-worker? A recent employment discrimination case – Velazquez-Perez v. Developers Diversified Realty Corp. – evaluated whether a man was wrongfully terminated based on his rejection of the human resources manager’s sexual advances. In Velazquez-Perez, a shopping…
Read MoreFailure To Promote Muslim Man May Be Grounds For Discrimination
In the last several years since 9/11, the United States has witnesses an increase in anti-immigrant sentiment – with the unfortunate by-product being a dramatic rise in the number of national origin discrimination lawsuits. The EEOC explains national origin discrimination as “treatment someone less favorably because he or she is from a particular race, because…
Read More“Unpaid” Summer Internships May Violate Federal Labor Laws
With the summer approaching, many college students seek out internships. Frequently these are “unpaid,” with the intended purpose that the student gain necessary experience in order to later obtain a paying job in his or her field of interest. However, stringent rules define just when an employer must pay an intern. The failure to follow…
Read MoreWho Is An Employer Under The ADEA?
A seemingly straightforward question has serious implications in many employment contexts – and can determine your right to recover damages if you have suffered illegal discrimination. That question – “who is your employer?” – was just evaluated in a significant Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) matter. In Holloway v. Water Works & Sewer Bd. Of…
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