News Tagged ‘independent contractors’

California maid company fined for ignoring 2007 ruling

cleaning woman 100x100Violating the rules of employment set forth in the Fair Labor Standards Act can be an expensive way to do business. In August of 2007, a federal judge in the U.S. Central District Court for California in Santa Ana ordered Southern California Maid Services Inc. to pay nearly $3.5 million in back wages and another $1 million in liquidated damages to 385 of its employees. The court ruled that by improperly classifying their workers as independent contractors, Sergio Maldonado and Lorenza Rubio, the company owners, avoided paying minimum wage and , which the FLSA requires.

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Will the great recession mean more FLSA lawsuits?

independent contractor 100x100An attorney representing a healthcare worker who is suing his employer for denied says that lawsuits filed under the Fair Labor Standards Act may become more common during the economic recession. The plaintiff alleges that his employer, Delta-T Group and Delta-T Group Social Service Staffing, Inc. denied him compensation by wrongly classifying him as an independent contractor. Because he is not appropriately classified as an employee of the company, the plaintiff cannot receive the same benefits that regular employees of the company received.

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Woman crusades against epidemic of wage theft

iwj 150x150Kim 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 alone.

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Obama bill seeks to clarify contractor employee classification

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.

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They pitch sales in their pajamas

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.

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