› $580,975,000 verdict in consumer fraud case
The U.S. District judge for the District of Kansas ruled this week that thousands of meatpacking workers may move forward against Tyson Foods, Inc. as a class action suit. The workers allege that they were denied overtime and other forms of compensation by the company. The ruling was a positive development for the workers, comprised mainly of Latin American immigrants who couldn’t afford to proceed individually.
Kim Bobo believes that employers in the United States are stealing from their workers. Not just nickels and dimes and not just in isolated incidents. She claims that the theft is rampant — that it has become a “national crisis at this moment in our nation” to the tune of $19 billion per year in unpaid overtime alone.
The U.S. Department of Labor has fined Hy-Vee, Inc., a Des Moines, Iowa-based grocery chain, with multiple violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, including a number of child labor violations in four of the company’s Nebraska stores.
A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a $35.6 million judgment against Family Dollar Stores Inc. originally handed down by a Tuscaloosa, Ala., federal jury in 2006. The jury said the company violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by wrongly classifying employees as store managers in order to deny them overtime pay.
Three federal judges this week upheld a $35.6 million ruling against Family Dollar Stores Inc., saying the chain denied employees overtime pay by classifying them as store managers.
A three-judge panel in Tuscaloosa agreed with a 2006 jury that found the Matthews, N.C.-based company in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and awarded back pay to 1,424 employees, who routinely worked 60 to 70 hours a week. Their duties often included mopping floors, unloading trucks, stocking shelves and running cash registers.
With the holidays bringing a time of togetherness and giving, it also brings a time of bargain shopping and the craziness of holiday sales. It’s a shopper’s dream, but a retail worker’s nightmare. Black Friday begins the Christmas shopping rush and stores extend their hours to accommodate the last-minute shopper, right up until Christmas Eve.
Working for Justin Timberlake’s posh “Southern Hospitality” does not exempt you from unfair treatment and pay. According to an article from Fox News, the former Southern Hospitality bus boy, Felipe Ramales, filed a lawsuit against Timberlake’s restaurant for not compensating him for the overtime he accumulated while there. “Southern Hospitality” is not the first to be sued over overtime hours, and it certainly won’t be the last.
A bill introduced to the U.S. Senate on Sept. 12, 2007, by Sen. Barack Obama, S.2044, commonly called the Independent Contractor Proper Classification Act of 2007, would amend the Revenue Act of 1978. Goals of the bill are to require employers to treat workers misclassified as independent contractors as employees.
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was created by the United States government in 1938. This act was set to protect the rights of workers and encourage ‘fair play’ between the management and labor. This act established a national minimum wage, created overtime pay and installed regulations for minors in the workplace.
At one moment, Jeanine Brown is selling Ronco knives. Five minutes later, she’s answering questions about the secrets of getting rich from real estate foreclosures.
