Traverse City Personal Injury Lawyer - Workplace Discrimination

Unpaid Overtime Hours - a rising trend.

Timothy Smith — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 15:58:07 GMT

As the recession continues, it seems that we're seeing more and more employers getting into trouble by failing to pay overtime. As times get tough for area businesses, cutting overhead by limiting overtime is one way to increase your cash flow. But to force your employees to work for straight pay when overtime pay is owed.... well, that's illegal.

One angle we're seeing is employers who classify an employee as being "exempt" from overtime when in fact, they are "non-exempt" employees. Exempt employee classifications would include executives, administrators, professionals, outside sales persons or independent contractors. These employees are exempt from overtime pay. But, just because an employer calls you an "administrator" doesn't mean you are..... The title may sound nice and even impress your friends, but wouldn't you rather have time and 1/2 if you're working overtime.

We're also seeing area employers forcing employees to work "off the clock". Employees are asked to not record the time they actually worked or to work through their break or meal time. Other violations include:

1. failing to pay overtime for travel from shop to work-site and back,

2. not paying OT for time spent working while traveling,

3. failing to pay OT for attendance at lectures, training and meetings, or

4. failing to pay OT when the employee is required to arrive early to make necessary preparations for work.

Often times, the employee just does what is asked because they are just thankful to have a job and they don't want to rock the boat. There is a fear that if the employment boat is rocked, they might get fired. But the law protects you from that type of retaliatory behavior. It is illegal for employers to retaliate against employees who demand to be paid the OT that they are due.

Lastly, keep an eye out for employers who do any of the following:

1. deny OT pay because they say you didn't get permission or approval in advance,

2. incorrectly calculate OT pay by carrying one week's OT hours over into another week, or

3. grant employees time off in lieu of overtime pay.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Timothy Smith

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act: timely help for employees

Timothy Smith — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 11:28:54 GMT

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act have reached critical mass in Congress and looks to become law under our next administration. So, what are they and how does this affect you?

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was named after a female employee at Goodyear Tire named, Lilly Ledbetter. She had worked for Goodyear for nearly 18 years when she found out that men at the company, who did the exact same job, were being paid more money for the same work.

Well that doesn't seem fair?

Lilly didn’t think so either, so after talking with her bosses failed, she filed suit in 1998 alleging discrimination in pay based on gender which was prohibited by the 1964 Civil Rights Act. She alleged that Goodyear, as far back as 1992, was paying her less than men and it was discriminatory.

Goodyear argued that the 1964 Civil Rights Act required a claimant to file their claim within 180 days of the alleged discriminatory act and that if it occurred first in 1992, she was too late. Since she filed in 1998, Goodyear asked the court to throw her case out.

Lilly responded with common sense…… How was it possible to file in 1992 when she didn’t find out that her employer was discriminating against her till 1998?

The case wound it’s way up to the highest court of the nation, the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court in 2007, interpreted the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to hold that Lilly had 180 days, whether she knew about the discrimination or not. Our congress took immediate action to correct what they felt was a legislative error in the original act.

Congress felt that each and every time an employer discriminates against an employee by paying them less due to gender, that this was discrimination and a violation of the act. Accordingly, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act will restore the long standing rule that each and every discriminatory paycheck is a violation. This means that employees won’t be punished when their employer hides the discriminatory activity from them for more than 180 days which, under the old rule, would insulate them from any claim.

The Paycheck Fairness Act is another act that will level the playing field between employees and employers. This act will amend the 1963 Equal Pay Act and strengthen current laws prohibiting wage discrimination. It will also require that the federal government become more pro-active in identifying and prohibiting wage discrimination.

Once enacted, the Paycheck Fairness Act will strengthen the 1963 Equal Pay Act in the following manner:

1. It will strengthen the remedy provisions of the act to provide greater punishments for those employers that discriminate.
2. It will mandate that the EEOC survey available pay data and issue regulations which will increase their ability to discover violations of the law and improve their ability to enforce the laws.
3. It will bar employers from retaliating against employees who share wage information with fellow workers. Some companies actually do this! How else will an employee know if they are being discriminated against if they can’t ask a co-worker, “How much you getting for this job?”
4. The Act will mandate collection of gender-based information in the Current Employment Statistics survey and will standardize an analysis of systematic wage discrimination which will become an important tool for detecting violations in gender based wage discrimination.

As our economy continues to suffer, we are seeing more and more employers cutting costs at the expense of it’s employees. These two important bills, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the the Paycheck Fairness Act, will give employees the tools they need to identify discrimination when it’s occurring and give them the opportunity to take corrective action against their employers.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Timothy Smith

Mass Lay-offs and the WARN Act - you have a right to notice!

Timothy Smith — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 10:41:12 GMT

It seems that every week here in Northern Michigan, we're reading about layoffs. People are losing their jobs left and right. Many folks think that just because they are at will employees [they don't have an employment contract] that they have no rights when their employer institutes a massive lay-off.

But you do.

Under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, workers have an absolute right to a number of things including 60 days written notice prior to the lay-off. Workers deserve better than a 5pm Friday pink slip and you're out the door before you even know what hit you.

If your employers has more than 100 full time employees, federal law requires them to provide you with written notice, 60 calendar days in advance of plant closings and mass layoffs. This law was put into place to protect workers, their communities and more importantly, their families from the complications caused by a sudden plant closing.

This notice requirement includes not only low-level employees, but managers and supervisors as well - hourly and salaried alike. And, if the employer is running a union plant, notice is required to the employee's representatives, the state dislocated worker unit and the local chief elected official.

This notice gives workers and their families time to transition and adjust to the closing, and time to locate other employment - including the training needed to successfully compete in todays job market.

Times are tough for Michigan workers right now. Don't let your employer make them tougher. If you, your friends or family members are unemployed due to plant closures or lay-offs AND that plant or employer had more than 100 full time employees, AND you didn't get the legally required notice, you should contact an attorney immediately to determine what legal options you may have.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Timothy Smith

Wal-Mart Settles Wage and Hour Claims/FLSA Violations

Timothy Smith — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 14:38:24 GMT

On Christmas Eve 2008, Wal-Mart agreed to settle nearly 65 state and federal class-action lawsuits filed by current and former employees. The heart of the claims made by the plaintiffs included allegations that they were forced to work through breaks and denied overtime pay that they had rightfully earned under federal law.

According to sources, Wal-Mart agreed to pay as much as $640 million to settle these suits. While this may seem like a large number, it is less than .1% of Wal-Mart's $378.8 billion in revenue from 2008; revenue earned by multiple violations of Federal Wage and Hour laws and discrimination against it's own employees.

This settlement comes right on the heels of the 12/9/08 settlement in Minnesota where Wal-Mart agreed to pay $54.3 million to settle a case where the sitting judge found that Wal-Mart had committed more than 2 million wage and hour violations and ordered Wal-Mart to pay it's employees over $6 million dollars in back pay. This 12/9/08 settlement avoided a January 2009 trial where plaintiff's were ready to document nearly $2 billion dollars in unpaid wages owed by Wal-Mart.......

A smart move by Wal-Mart considering their trial record on these employment/wage and hour cases:

1. In 2006 a Pennsylvania jury awarded Wal-Mart employees $78 million in unpaid wages;

2. In 2005 a California jury ordered Wal-Mart to pay $172 million in wrongfully denied wages arising out of meal breaks owed to it's employees.

Wal-Mart isn't the only Fortune 500 giant who has put profits ahead of it's people. It seems that the worse this economy gets, the greater the lengths that employers will go to in an effort to earn a buck, including cheating it's own employees.

If you, a friend or family member has been denied wages or have been discriminated against by your employer, contact an attorney immediately.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Timothy Smith

Fair Labor Standards Act Violations - getting cheated out of overtime pay.

Timothy Smith — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:04:07 GMT

The Fair Labor Standards Act [FLSA] states very clearly that qualifying employees who work over 40 hours per work week are to be paid at time and one-half for that over time. Some employers have gone to great lengths to avoid this rule and many have paid the consequences.

Most recently, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta Georgia upheld a $35.6 million dollar judgment against Family Dollar Stores Inc. for denying employees overtime pay by re-classifying them as managers when they clearly were simple employees. In the original lawsuit which was tried in Alabama, nearly 1,500 employees were working 60-70 work weeks and were denied overtime pay.

Family Dollar claimed these employees who were stocking shelves, operating the cash register and mopping floors were "managers" in an attempt to avoid paying overtime. The jury and the 11th Circuit disagreed and found that it was clearly a wage and hour violation by defendant Family Dollar.

This wasn't the first time that Family dollar was caught with its hands in the over-time jar.....

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held in favor of the employees in Brown v. Family Dollar Store of Indiana. In this case, the Federal Appeals Court held that a more lenient standard of proof applies to an employee's claim for uncompensated overtime if the employer fails to keep accurate time records. The plaintiff in this case brought forth evidence that the employer had altered the time records to avoid paying overtime to its employees; a plan that evidently backfired on the defendant.

All employees should keep in mind the following:

1. Employers that are subject to the FLSA are required to keep detailed records for both non-exempt and exempt employees concerning wages paid.

2. For non-exempt employees, employers must keep track of total hours worked each workday and workweek as well as total wages paid for each period.

3. Employers are required to keep these records for two or three years depending on the type of record involved.

4. If you work more than 40 hours in any 7 consecutive 24-hour work periods, you are entitled to time and a half or "overtime" if you are a non-exempt employee under FLSA.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Timothy Smith