The lawsuit against Applebee’s is something restaurant bartenders and servers across the nation should be watching very closely. The case is another example of dining establishments across the country who do not want to be required to pay their workers the minimum wage, while employees feel that if they’re not earning tips for the duties they are performing, they should be making at least the minimum wage. Fortunately for employees, the Department of Labor agrees with employees in the Applebee’s case.

The bartenders and servers of Applebee’s claimed that they spend more than 20 percent of their time cleaning, keeping track of inventory, preparing silverware for diners, and stocking the serving areas. After a federal appeals court ruled that the lawsuit proceed, the National Restaurant Association and the United States Chamber of Commerce supported the appeal by Applebee’s.

If you find yourself like one of the more than 5.500 employees of Applebee’s who believe their rights are being violated under the Fair Labor Standards Act, contact us today.

The lawsuit against Skokie Maid cites that the company was not paying their workers for time spent at the office and the time it took commuting to their first job site. Further, their workers were not compensated for the first two weeks of work and days that were spent training. In some cases, employees saw less than the federal minimum wage rate. These workers were also working more than 40 hours per week, and did not receive the overtime pay they should rightfully receive as employees as in accordance with the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

In the case of Romeoville’s Super Maid, alleged violations in wage laws came on account of workers being paid a flat rate per house cleaned, regardless of the time that it took them to finish the job. As was the case with Skokie Maid, workers were also not paid for the time they spent traveling to job sites. The standard practices of Super Maid resulted in their workers receiving less than the Federal minimum wage rate.

These two Illinois companies are just another example of how wage laws are being violated and how workers are deprived of fair pay for an honest days labor. Industries that employ workers who are receiving low wages are historically more prone to violating wage laws. If you believe your rights under the FLSA are being violated, please contact us today.



The settlement comes in advance of likely consideration of the issue of pharma rep overtime pay by the U.S. Supreme Court.  There has been a split between lower courts that have ruled on the issue.  This settlement eliminates the risk to both sides, and guarantees that the workers will see some compensation as a result of the case.  If the Supreme Court determines that the reps are covered by the outside sales exemption to federal overtime law, the reps would be entitled to nothing.

Novartis said in a statement that while it believes it pays workers in accordance with applicable federal and state laws, “it is time to resolve these wage and hour claims.”

The plaintiffs in this case are pharmaceutical sales representatives who worked for the company between 2002 and 2007, and from Jan. 25, 2009, to the present.

A final approval hearing is scheduled for May 31.

The FLSA provides broad protection from retaliation and states that it is a violation for any person to “discharge or in any other manner discriminate against any employee because such employee has filed any complaint or instituted or caused to be instituted any proceeding under or related to this Act, or has testified or is about to testify in any such proceeding, or has served or is about to serve on an industry committee.”

What this means:

• Both oral and written complaints are protected.

• No current employment relationship is required – former employees are protected from retaliation by a former employer.

• Protection from retaliation applies to all employees, even where the employee’s work and the employer are not covered by the FLSA.

• Any employee who is “discharged or in any other manner discriminated against” due to filing a complaint or cooperating in an investigation, can pursue a claim by either filing a complaint with the DOL or by filing a private lawsuit.

• Remedies available to victims of retaliation include: employment, reinstatement, lost wages and an additional equal amount as liquidated damages.

The reality is that most employers, and particularly those with good competent legal counsel, almost never take any retaliatory action. They are well aware of the potential consequences and significant costs should they attempt to retaliate in response to complaints about their overtime pay / wage and hour practices. They understand that by retaliating they are likely turning a manageable wage claim into a claim that is far worse and that can quickly spiral out of control – costing them substantially more in the end.

We have seen a recent wave of these straight-time for overtime claims involving:

• Workers who are treated as Independent Contractors, but are really employees
• Workers who are employed through staffing companies and told they will be paid at straight time for all hours worked, instead of the time-and-a-half required under state and federal law
• Management and technology hourly-paid consultants, analysts and business analysts
• Construction workers
• Energy, Oilfield, Drilling and Petrochemical workers
• Civil engineering workers
• Shipbuilding workers
• Disaster clean-up and remediation workers

Many of these straight time for overtime cases involve an entire group or class of workers (ranging from 10 or 20 into the 1,000s) who have been unfairly and unlawfully deprived of their proper overtime wages.  The money owed to these workers can be very significant, individually and as a class.  In one recent case, the damages totaled almost $30,000,000 – with an individual recovery that averaged over $20,000, but ranged up to $200,000+ for a single worker.

Potential clients frequently ask if pursuing a claim for their unpaid overtime wages is “worth it”.  As the example above illustrates, the answer is almost always – YES.  Until we provide them with an analysis of their claim, many employees underestimate the value of their claim.  In addition to unpaid back overtime wages, we can assert claims for liquidated (double) damages, court costs, attorney’s fees and interest.

Don’t short-change yourself, the evaluation we offer is both Free and Confidential.

Cascom is a company that specializes in the installation of cable TV, Internet, and telephone services. More than 250 installers were classified as independent contractors.  The suit against Cascom seeks more than $800,000 in back wages for the installers, in addition to an equal amount in damages that were calculated by the Wage and Hour Division.

The outcome of this case is still waiting to be resolved, but the U.S. Labor Department’s commitment and that of private wage and hour lawyers, to enforcing the Fair Labor Standards Act is something that should make workers across the nation feel empowered. If all companies would keep in compliance with the FLSA, no one in the workforce would have to worry about being denied the overtime pay they deserve.

We believe that there has never been a better time for employees to present their cases against companies that have violated their overtime pay in accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act. In late September, the Labor Department began sharing information with the Internal Revenue Service in an effort to help keep employers that are abiding by the law competitive with employers that have violated overtime pay laws in the past.

Our experts fully understand the Fair Labor Standards Act, and can help you understand if you have a case against an employer violating your rights. If you believe – like the installation experts at Cascom – that your rights to overtime pay are being violated, contact us today.

When employees were not paid for the time they spent putting on and taking off gear, which the company required them to wear to protect their product and themselves, the workers of Tyson brought the case to the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. The Union helped employees understand that they deserved to be paid back wages for this time spent donning and doffing under wage laws.

The case is just another in a long list of examples that show how commonly the rights of workers are being violated. When a Georgia judge approved a settlement of $32 million dollars for Tyson Employees, workers around the country also won.  When cases like this get publicized, they hopefully provide many other workers a higher awareness of their rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Our expert legal team has been helping workers across the country with their overtime wage and hour claims for more than a decade. We will always fight until the end to win for our clients. If you believe you have a case similar to that of the workers of Tyson Food, or want to bring to light any other violation of wage laws, we are here to help.  Contact us today.

Many businesses wrongly believe they are simplifying and preventing FLSA claims by labeling employees as independent contractors.  Unfortunately for them, it is not that simple as “independent contractor” is more than just a label – there are legal requirements that must be met.   In actuality, wage and hour policies should be put in place by all companies. These policies should either prevent any employee for working longer than the standard 40 hours, or it should clearly label properly qualified workers as independent contractors. When employees are not classified as independent contractors, they have to be paid for all the time they work. This too isn’t as easy as it sounds. It is important for an employer to understand exactly how to properly calculate time spent working, so it can identify when to provide overtime pay, and how much as well.

One of the more common mistakes made by companies who are trying to stay within the boundaries of the Fair Labor Standards Act, but still commit violations, is that they don’t understand that overtime pay is more than time and a half. It is time and a half at the employee’s “regular rate of pay,” which can often be different from their base hourly rate.

Every business should take the time to understand the intricacies of the Fair Labor Standards Act, and more importantly, every employee should make an effort to understand the basics of overtime pay laws in order to know when their employer is violating their rights. If you ever feel as if your rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act are being violated, do not hesitate to contact us. We look forward to helping you receive the wages you have earned and deserve.

New York’s labor laws and the Fair Labor Standards Act, protect employees like the plaintiff who believe that they are not receiving their proper wages. When employees are legally “exempt” from overtime pay, they may work more than 40 hours a week without receiving overtime pay. However, in the case of the fund accountants in question, he and his fellow employees believe they were misclassified as “exempt” in order to help save the company money.

One of the plaintiff’s legal team members spoke to the frequency of worker misclassification saying, “HSBC is undoubtedly aware of its obligations, but as is often the case, it does not comply unless forced to do so by legal action.”

The frequency of misclassification to avoid paying proper overtime wages is troubling. We aim to help lower the rate of employees who are not receiving the overtime pay they deserve, by bringing companies that violate federal and state laws to justice. If you believe wage laws are being violated by the company you work for, contact our law firm to see how we can assist you in recovering the pay you have already earned.

Enforcement activity on behalf of food service workers has been significantly increased in recent years due to the widespread noncompliance with the federal minimum wage, overtime and record-keeping laws. A new focus has been on chains that operate using a franchise model. In this case, the Department of Labor went after the franchisor for wage and hour violations at 28 Huddle House restaurants in Georgia, Missouri and West Virginia. The result – the franchisor agreed to facilitate compliance among all its franchisees and pay overtime and minimum back wages in excess of $60,000 to 128 employees.

The case revealed practices that are all too common in the restaurant business – some employees didn’t receive at least the minimum wage because the cash wage paid by the employer plus tips received did not equal minimum wage for all hours worked, and others received only tips and no cash wage at all. In other instances workers’ pay dropped below the minimum wage because they were required to share tips with non-tipped employees, or because deductions were made for breakage, damages and check-cashing fees. Violations of overtime wage laws included tipped employees not receiving overtime at the correct rate and salaried nonexempt employees, such as cooks, not receiving overtime pay, as well as overtime paid to some employees after 80 hours in a two-week period vs after 40 hours each week as required by wage and hour law. The franchisor has committed to assist its restaurants in complying with federal labor regulations going forward.

The FLSA (Federal Fair Labor Standards Act) requires workers to be paid at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 to covered, nonexempt employees for all hours worked and mandates that employees receive time and one-half their regular rate, including commissions, bonuses and incentive pay, for hours worked beyond 40 per week. While restaurants that employ tipped workers are only required to pay $2.13 an hour in direct wages, this is only if that amount plus the tips received equals at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. If a worker’s tips combined with their direct wages do not equal the minimum wage, the employer must make up the difference.

About tip pools – restaurants are permitted to create a tip-pooling or sharing arrangement among employees who customarily and regularly receive tips, but a valid tip pool may not include employees who do not customarily and regularly receive tips, such as dishwashers, cooks, chefs and janitors.

About deductions from paychecks – when customers walk their tabs, when plates are broken or cash is short in the register, docking workers’ pay is not legal if it reduces their wages below the minimum wage.