The city of Los Angeles requires that certain workers in the hospitality industry be paid what’s deemed a “living wage.” Three employees of the Daily Grill restaurant near Los Angeles International Airport have filed a class-action lawsuit claiming that the chain breached the law. They’re seeking redress for themselves and more than 100 of their colleagues

They say the underpayment has been going on for years, depriving workers of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Grill Concepts Inc., owner of the 19 Daily Grills, says the problem has been corrected. But it declined to say how much it was planning to repay the ripped-off staff. And the attorney representing the workers has heard nothing from the restaurant about making good.

A survey in 2010 found that L.A. workers lost $26.2 million a week on average, or more than $1.4 billion a year.

The L.A. city council approved the living wage law in 2007 for hotels near the airport and their restaurants, reasoning that the businesses benefited from the constant supply of consumers, thanks to the city-owned airport. The ordinance now requires minimum pay of $12.16 an hour, without benefits; employers may pay less if they provide health insurance. The state minimum wage is $8 an hour, and is scheduled to rise to $9 in July.

The Daily Grill workers allege that they were paid 40 to 60 cents an hour less than the minimum; that’s about $1,000 in lost earnings per worker per year.

Read the whole story on LATimes.com.

Usually, the term “wage theft” refers to people in low-paying service jobs, such as housecleaning or food service, whose employers shortchange their compensation by paying unlawfully low wages, stealing their tips, forcing them to work off the clock, etc. But a high-profile lawsuit has introduced the concept of wage theft to white-collar workers.

“Wage Theft Across the Board,” an editorial in the New York Times, examined the antitrust lawsuit brought by 64,613 software engineers against Google, Apple, Intel and Adobe. The engineers claim to have lost as much as $3 billion in wages from 2005 to 2009 because the high-tech giants agreed not to recruit them from each other. That’s collusion, and it’s illegal. The nerds claim that it also held their pay down, due to lack of competition for their services.

The lawsuit, according to the editorial “has many riveting aspects, including emails and other documents that tarnish the reputation of Silicon Valley as competitive and of technology executives as a new breed of ‘don’t-be-evil’ bosses, to cite Google’s informal motto.”

“The engineers were not victimized by the usual violations of labor law,” the editorial points out, “but by improper hiring practices against their interests. The result, however, was the same: Money that would have flowed to workers in the form of wages went instead into corporate coffers and from there to executives and shareholders.”

A settlement is expect soon.

Read the whole story on NYTimes.com.

Last month, huge settlements were reached in New York with two related car wash chains that operated more than 20 such businesses in New York City. Totaling $3.9 million, the amount spoke to the widespread nature of the businesses’ labor law violations.

The resolution of the case was the result of an investigation by the state attorney general’s office into misdeeds including underpayment of employees, underreporting of employees on state unemployment insurance returns and failure to carry required workers’ compensation insurance for all employees.

The car washes failed to pay all of their workers overtime, and deducted pay for breaks that workers did not take. Some managers also  took some of the workers’ tips. In addition, the car washes didn’t pay “call-in pay,” which is required when workers must report to work but are dismissed soon after.

During most of the period when the investigation was underway, the minimum wage was $7.25 per hour; currently,  New York’s minimum wage is $8 per hour, will increase to $8.75 per hour at the end of the year and next year to $9 per hour.

The settlement requires the car wash owners to pay restitution of more than $2.2 million to about 1,000 car wash employees for underpaying them for almost six years. It also requires them to pay more than $513,000 to the state’s Unemployment Insurance Division, and nearly $1.2 million to the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board. The owners also must pay for independent monitoring of their labor practices for as long as three years. That includes unannounced on-site inspections and payroll audits.

Read the whole story on TimesNewsWeekly.com.

Hotel workers are often exploited for reasons including their lack of on-the-job authority, the circumstances of their hiring and the fact that they’re often immigrants unaware of or afraid to exercise their labor rights. Another alleged case of hospitality industry labor violations has been brought against the DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel in Santa Monica, Calif.

Eight workers filed complaints with the state, claiming that they don’t receive meal breaks and aren’t paid their rightful overtime. Additional complaints are expected to be filed, according the California Department of Industrial Relations.

California law allows workers two 10-minute rest breaks and a 30-minute meal break for every eight-hour shift. If a break period is missed, according to law, the worker is entitled to an hour of back pay.

The DoubleTree workers, many of whom work as housekeepers, claim they were denied a 10-minute break. One claimant said she had logged her overtime, but found that it was erased when she came to work the next day. She also said that many of her colleagues were hired through an agency, Hospitality Staffing Solutions, whose workers earn less than those employed directly by the hotel. Some, she said, have been making $8.50 an hour for 10 years.

Read the whole story on LosAngelesRegister.com.

New legislation that ensures that unpaid interns who work in New York City have the right to sue for harassment or discrimination by an employer will take effect in June. That right wasn’t protected in the city’s civil rights code.

The new measure was prompted by an unpaid intern working in the New York office of Phoenix Satellite Television, a Chinese news agency. She claimed she was harassed and groped by her supervisor, but the case was tossed out by a federal judge because the intern didn’t qualify as an employee, due to her unpaid status — so she didn’t have standing to sue under New York state or city human rights laws, which prohibit discrimination against workers.

The whole episode raises an interesting issue: If you don’t sign a contract, you can’t relinquish your rights, and usually, unpaid interns don’t sign contracts, as paid employees often do.

Many employment contracts include forced arbitration clauses that also prohibit class actions.  In those cases, if employees are sexually harassed, they don’t have the right to sue in court.

That sorry situation got prominent play recently when a class action was filed against Sterling Jewelers, parent company of 12 U.S. jewelry chain stores, for gender discrimination, sexual harassment and “vulgar behavior.” Even if  the women involved are certified as a class, that arbitration provision means they have to pursue their cases privately.

Read the whole stories on ThePopTort.com.

New York City’s paid sick leave law went into effect April 1, affording more than 1 million workers compensation for the first time when they’re ill and can’t (or shouldn’t) work. The law isn’t new, just expanded by Mayor Bill de Blasio.

A lot of people predicted economic ruin for many small employers, but — surprise! — the new fairness rolled out smoothly. New York became the largest city in the nation to guarantee that a vast majority of workers wouldn’t lose their jobs or part of their paychecks if they or their close relatives got sick.

Under the law, companies with five or more employees must provide as many as five paid days off to workers if they, or family members, fall ill. The longer an employee has worked, the more leave time he or she accrues.

One restaurant cook who earns $1,300 a month was out sick for a week in March. It cost the single mother $325, a huge hit to her budget that she hasn’t recovered from.

The restaurant owner pays his workers $10 an hour — $2  more than minimum wage.  Initially, he was concerned that the law would put him out of business. But when he learned that paid sick days are in effect only when a worker has been on the job for three months, he realized that he could absorb the cost.

The former Wall Street analyst remembered how he counted on paid sick leave when he was a white-collar employee, and now understands that his restaurant staff deserves the same.

Read the whole story on the New York Times.

A few months ago it was cheerleaders for the Oakland Raiders. Now, a cheerleader for the Cincinnati Bengals also has filed a complaint that she’s getting ripped off by the team she works for. The lawsuit seeks to include all members of the Ben-Gals squad since 2011.

The cheerleader alleges that the Ben-Gals worked more than 300 hours at mandatory practices, charity events and volunteer work, but were paid only the flat rate of $90 per game during the 10-game 2013 season. If a member didn’t cheer during a game, she was paid $45 per day to appear in the luxury suites. That worked out to $2.85 per hour; the minimum wage in Ohio was $7.85 per hour.

Cheering for the Bengals requires attendance at practices for six hours a week, and attendance at a minimum of of 12 charity events if a cheerleader wants to be considered for paid appearances. Members of the Bengals football team are paid $300 per charity appearance; cheerleaders get $75.

The Ben-Gals also must pose for and promote the Cincinnati Ben-Gals calendar. They don’t get paid, but the the franchise sells the calendar for profit.

The Ben-Gal lawsuit seeks to stop the Bengals from violating the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Ohio Minimum Fair Wage Standards Act. It also seeks unpaid wages for cheerleaders, attorney fees and court costs.

Read the whole story on JusticeNewsFlash.com.

Justin Miller, a former employee of Amelie’s French Bakery in Charlotte, N.C., has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor for what he calls unfair labor practices. He says employees are required to work off the clock and are not properly compensated for overtime hours.

But bakery owner Lynn St. Laurent is not reacting as someone who doesn’t follow — or believe in — the rules for fair compensation and worker treatment. She said that if the DOL launches an inquiry, the bakery will cooperate fully. She’s also hiring an independent third party to review its policies and procedures, including fair wage and compensation, fair hiring, promotion procedures and overall working conditions. And she has established an anonymous online suggestion box, managed by a third party, for employees to express concerns without fear of retribution. A few weeks ago, Amelie’s had a half-day meeting for employees  to air concerns.

Some employees supported their employer, and their working conditions, saying they felt no disrespect or exploitation. Still, a petition on Change.org, with several hundred signatures, asks Amelie’s to pay a minimum wage of $10; the bakery currently pays the federal (and state) minimum wage of $7.25.

Read the whole story on the Charlotte Business Journal.

Erika Williams, a former trainee for Wells Fargo, has charged the financial giant with violating labor laws when it tried to recoup more than $50,000 in training costs when she was “constructively discharged”  last year.  Not only did Wells Fargo violate the FLSA, she claims, but the practice is an undue hardship on minority trainees, who have high failure rates.

Williams is seeking class certification of the case, which  is one of the first to question this common practice among large firms with training programs, such as Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Edward Jones.

Wells Fargo trainees sign a five-year contract; most training agreements require trainees to stay at their companies for the duration of the program, and a subsequent period. Usually that’s two to four years. If people leave before that time, they’re often charged an amount commensurate with their tenure in the program. Statistics about how many trainees are held liable for the costs of their training are elusive, because most settle for amounts they agree to keep  confidential.

But with the recent emphasis on training, many former trainees have wound up in arbitration over disputes about training fee claims.

The fees are imposed to prevent new trainees from jumping ship to the competition, and the companies losing their manpower investment.

But Williams claims that Wells Fargo wants to recover more than the trainee’s salary and pursues claims when the trainee is let go for failing to meet standards. The amount Wells Fargo wants to recover from her is $5,000 more than her annual salary.

Read the whole story on InvestmentNews.com.

A provision of the Fair Labors Standards Act–the “amusement or recreational establishment” exemption–prompted a U.S. district judge in New York to dismiss the wage claims of a man who volunteered at the Major League Baseball All Star Weekend FanFest at New York’s Javits Center.

John Chen was lead plaintiff for about 2,000 other volunteers in a class-action lawsuit against Major League Baseball (MLB). Once they passed a background check and attended mandatory orientation, they were given event-related items in return for stamping attendees’ wrists, handing out paraphernalia and directing attendees. Chen claimed that these duties made him an employee of MLB, and not being paid violated both the FLSA and the New York labor law.

But  the FLSA exempts individuals who volunteer to provide services if: they don’t receive or expect to receive any compensation in consideration for their efforts, except for expenses, reasonable benefits or a nominal fee; they have a civic, charitable or humanitarian purpose for providing their services; they provide the services without pressure or coercion; and they render the services different from those they would render if they were employees of the same entity.

Read the whole story on National Law Review and Forbes.com.