A Judge in California recently approved a $2.7 million settlement between Rent-A-Center–the largest rent-to-own company in the U.S.–and 2,600 of its store managers. The settlement, which received preliminary approval three months ago, ends a lawsuit which began in late 2010 by Rent-A-Center employees alleging multiple violations of California labor law. One of the major legal violations […]

Recently, a federal judge in California approved a settlement between Burlington Coat Factory and hundreds of its current and former employees. This settlement resolves a class action suit initially filed in September of 2009 by assistant store managers who worked at Burlington. The initial suit alleged multiple violations of federal and state minimum wage and overtime

Recently, a Florida federal judge dismissed a portion of Lilli Morse’s lawsuit against international finance company JP Morgan Chase & Co. In her lawsuit, Ms. Morse alleged that J.P. Morgan failed to pay her overtime wages and fired her when she complained about this on her Facebook page. While the judge allowed the part of

Call centers (central, telephone-based customer service operations) are frequent violators of minimum wage and overtime laws. The U.S. Department of Labor has produced a helpful factsheet summarizing the wage and hour laws that apply to call centers. Call centers commonly violate the law by: (1) not paying their employees at least minimum wage for all hours

Last month, a federal judge decided not to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a group of bartenders employed by the nightclub Coyote Ugly. The bartenders’ lawsuit alleges multiple violations of minimum wage and overtime laws. As noted elsewhere on this blog, the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) requires that most employees be paid at least the minimum wage for

On July 18th, 2011, a Colorado federal judge issued an Order denying a motion to dismiss filed by Pizza Hut in a lawsuit brought by a group of Pizza Hut delivery drivers who are suing to recover unpaid wages. The drivers’ lawsuit alleges that Pizza Hut failed to pay them at least the federal minimum wage. The Fair

In a recent minimum wage and overtime case, a federal court judge ruled against an employee of the City of East Cleveland, Ohio who filed a lawsuit seeking compensation for unpaid wages. The employee, William Ellington, worked as the Deputy Clerk for the East Cleveland City Council. Apparently for political reasons, the City stopped issuing paychecks

Most American workers are legally entitled to earn at least the minimum wage for all hours worked in a workweek, as well as time-and-a-half for overtime hours (hours over 40 in a workweek). But minimum wage and overtime laws do not apply to all types of workers, as there are many exemptions to the FLSA’s coverage. Some

By law, most employees must be paid at least the federal or state minimum wage–whichever is higher–for all work they perform. Additionally, most employees must be paid one-and-a-half times their regular rate of pay for all overtime hours they work (all hours in excess of forty in any given workweek). But employers often violate minimum wage