As people find it increasingly difficult to obtain employment in the midst of the great recession, a new trend has emerged: Employers are using the poor job market as an excuse to test the boundaries of privacy laws regarding prospective candidates.  Knowing full-well that individuals are desperate to secure employment, companies are attempting to secure private information as a way of screening potential applicants.  For example, companies have begun requesting that potential hires provide their facebook username and password at the interview.  Of course, potential hires are hesitant to provide this information, as one’s facebook page likely contains private and personal information, as well as potentially embarrassing photographs.  The National Labor Relations Board will likely issue guidance on this issue, which will request that employers not request facebook information.  Please read this blog regularly, as Fitapelli & Schaffer will provide frequent updates regarding this hot button issue.

Mario Batali has settled a putative class and collective action lawsuit covering his restaurants in New York.  The lawsuit covers tipped employees who worked for the restaurants over the past six years.  The bulk of the settlement deals with tip misappropriation under New York State Law.  The lawsuit alleged that Batali’s restaurants deducted the equivalent of 4-5% of each shift’s wine and beverage sales from the tip pool.  In essence, the deduction amounted to stealing tips from the tipped employees such as waiters, bussers and runners.  The $5 million settlement appears to be the largest unpaid wages settlement against a group of restaurants.  Tip misappropriation is common in New York City restaurants, as tipped employees routinely have to tip-out managers and other non-tip eligible employees such as silver polishers, expediters, cooks and dishwashers.  If you are a restaurant worker who has not been paid properly, please call our firm for a free consultation.