New York City Employment Law News
CITIGROUP LOSES FINRA ARBITARTION TO FINANCIAL ADVISORS, OWES $24 MILLION
Jan 24
In one of the largest FINRA arbitration awards ever, Citigroup was ordered to pay two financial advisers and their assistant $24 million in unpaid commissions. In 2002, brothers James Bryan Minchello and Robert Vincent Minchello were hired by Citigroup Smith Barney. The brothers had previously worked for Bank of America and brought a large book of business, including several venture capital firms and a large communications company to Citigroup. Pursuant to an employment agreement with Citigroup, the brothers were to receive certain commissions based on revenue generated. The FINRA arbitration panel ruled for the brothers and their assistant, awarding $15.8 million in compensatory damages, 6% interest for over 7 years and $1 million in sanctions. This case illustrates that financial advisers should be very diligent in obtaining a written employment agreement and keeping track of their hours worked and commissions earned and paid.
| Print article | This entry was posted by bschaffer on January 24, 2012 at 3:52 pm, and is filed under Employment Law. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
LADY GAGA OVERTIME LAWSUIT
Jan 17
On December 14, 2011, Jennifer O’Neill filed an unpaid overtime lawsuit against Lady Gaga, one of the most successful recording artists of all-time, for failing to pay her time and one half when she worked over 40 hours per week. The Plaintiff, Ms. O’Neill was employed as Lady Gaga’s personal assistant from 2009 until March 2011. Rather than being paid an hourly rate plus overtime, Plaintiff was paid a salary regardless of the number of hours actually worked. The complaint alleges entitlement to over $350,000 in unpaid overtime. In order to defeat the case, Lady Gaga will have to show Plaintiff was exempt and therefore not entitled to premium overtime pay. Exemptions are affirmative defenses and carry a high burden. Generally speaking, a personal assistant would not be exempt under the administrative exemption, this entitling them to overtime pay.
The facts of the case illustrate a common misconception in the business community, namely that if employees are paid on salary, they are not entitled to overtime pay. This is simply not true. If a person works over 40 hours a week, they should call an employment lawyer to determine if they are owed overtime.
| Print article | This entry was posted by bschaffer on January 17, 2012 at 7:20 pm, and is filed under Employment Law, FLSA, Overtime. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
NLRB RULES CLASS ARBITRATION AGREEMENTS ARE ILLEGAL
Jan 9
In a monumental decision, the NLRB has ruled that forcing employees to sign class-action waivers is illegal. In this case, the employer, DR Horton, forced employees to sign arbitration agreements stating they could bring individual claims, not class action claims in arbitration. The employee wanted to file a collective action under the FLSA to recover unpaid overtime. The decision is significant because the Fair Labor Standards Act allows employees to bring a case on behalf of themselves and all others who are similarly situated to vindicate their rights for non-payment of minimum wages and overtime. This collective action provision allows employees to hire attorneys to pursue their case on a contingency fee, in order to assist the employee and all others who with to join the suit. Employers favor individual claims, rather than class actions, knowing that the time and expense would be too great for lawyers to take these cases. As a result of this decision, which will likely be appealed, employees can bring class actions, even if their arbitration agreement contained a class waiver.
| Print article | This entry was posted by bschaffer on January 9, 2012 at 3:28 pm, and is filed under Class Action, Employment Law, FLSA. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
BENJAMIN STEAKHOUSE LAWSUIT
Dec 22
Click Here to view the Complaint- Scanned Complaint_11 Civ. 9401 (PKC)
Fitapelli & Schaffer filed a class action lawsuit in the Southern District of New York, against Benjamin Steakhouse, an upscale steakhouse in Manhattan. The restaurant is owned by Alban “Benjamin” Prelvukaj, a former employee of Peter Luger. We allege that our client and similarly situated hourly, tipped employees, such as servers, bussers and bartenders were not paid full minimum wage and overtime for all the hours they worked. Even though tipped employees clocked in and out for every shift, their paychecks grossly underestimated the hours they actually worked. We also allege that tipped employees are entitled to full minimum wage, rather than the reduced minimum wage, because the tip pool included non-tip eligible employees, such as glass polishers and silver polishers. If somebody worked for Benjamin Steakhouse within the past 6 years, they should contact Fitapelli & Schaffer to join the case.
| Print article | This entry was posted by bschaffer on December 22, 2011 at 9:34 pm, and is filed under Class Action, Employment Law, FLSA, Gratuities, Minimum Wage, Overtime. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
