Category: Wage & Hour Litigation

Wow, that’s a lotta pasta! Yep, how many plates of his world famous delectable delights will Mario Batali have to sell to pay the $5.25 Million settlement? (read entire settlement agreement here – courtesy of Huffington Post). Plenty. What’s It All About? Well, the lawsuit alleges that Batali, and his partner Joseph Bastianich, violated the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act by (1) pocketing tips owed to the staff that were equal to as much as 5 percent of nightly wine sales, (2) not paying the federal minimum wage, and (3) failing to pay overtime. Did Mario Break The Rules? If the allegations are true, then, yes. Employers… Read More

You have to follow rules at work, right?  Well your boss has to follow rules, too. This post is all about the itemized statement that you are legally entitled to get with your payroll check (or cash payment) and the penalties that your boss may have to pay to you for failure to follow these rules. California Law Code Section 226 requires your boss (and by “boss” I mean an individual employer or a huge company) to give you an itemized written statement every two months or at the time of each wage payment.  This applies whether you’re being paid by check OR… Read More

Great news everyone! The Department of Labor is aggressively assisting employees in their quest for justice — i.e. not getting ripped off by their employers who brazenly cheat them out of their earned wages and overtime. See the press release below which, in sum, describes the new iPhone App created by the Department of Labor for YOU! Click the App Store Button on your iPhone or iPad and search “Department of Labor”and the “DOL – Timesheet” will appear. Download it and call or e-mail me if you’ve got questions, concerns or are finding that you’re a victim of Wage & Hour… Read More

BAKERSFIELD – Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced that his office has secured back pay for more than 200 workers who were “routinely denied” fair wages and overtime pay by Charles Evleth Construction, Inc., a Bakersfield-based drywall company. “To boost its profits and underbid competitors, Charles Evleth Construction routinely denied its hardworking employees a fair wage and overtime pay,” Brown said. “Today’s judgment secures back pay for more than 200 employees and prohibits this company from violating workers’ rights.” In addition to providing back wages for more than 200 construction workers, today’s settlement prohibits Charles Eleventh Construction from:… Read More

Answers to Questions About Your Wage & Hour Rights Do you wonder if you have a claim against your employer for failure to pay you proper wages? The Law Offices of Lowell Steiger and the Law Offices of Steven Waisbren would like to provide answers to some of the more common questions, and we are happy to discuss your particular situation at your convenience. Question – What is the general rule about payment of overtime wages? Answer – Under California law, a “nonexempt” employee 18 years of age or older shall not be employed more than eight hours in any workday, or more than 40… Read More

Denial of Proper Pay for Employees is Rampant THE PROBLEM –  With the economy on a persistent downturn, and the business community feeling the impact, employees are increasingly being denied proper compensation for the work they perform. This either arises because employers mistakenly believe that their employees are not entitled to compensation guaranteed by the California Labor Code or mislead their employees with respect to such entitlement. Unfortunately, most employees are unaware that they were, or are, entitled to additional compensation under California law until either well into their employment, or until after their employment has ended. California law provides employees with considerable… Read More

Time Off to Vote Must your employer give you time off to vote?  See the chart below for a state by state analysis! State Time Allowed to Vote Paid or Unpaid Applicable Statute Alabama The necessary time off shall not exceed one hour and if the hours of work of the employee commence at least two hours after the opening of the polls or end at least one hour prior to the closing of the polls, then the time off for voting as provided in this section shall not be available. Unspecified 2006 Alabama Laws Act 2006-545 (H.B. 141) Alaska… Read More

Answers to Questions About Your Wage & Hour Rights Do you wonder if you have a claim against your employer for failure to pay you proper wages? The Law Offices of Lowell Steiger and the Law Offices of Steven Waisbren would like to provide answers to some of the more common questions, and we are happy to discuss your particular situation at your convenience. Question – What is the general rule about payment of overtime wages? Answer – Under California law, a “nonexempt” employee 18 years of age or older shall not be employed more than eight hours in any workday, or more than 40… Read More

California Attorney General Brown is clearly a friend of the wage & hour worker. When people fear for their jobs, especially in our ever-declining economy, shark like employers step up their unreasonable demands and cheat employees out of their fair compensation by misclassifying them as “independent contractors” or “exempt employees.” These are terms that must meet certain legal criteria in order to be binding as to the worker. Just because your boss says you’re an “independent contractor” or are “exempt from overtime” doesn’t make it so. Read the press release below and e-mail me at lowell@steigerlaw.com if you have any questions OR… Read More

Is your boss a Leona Helmsley type? Hopefully not BUT, as hard as it may be to believe, some employers take advantage of, and abuse, their employees in a myriad of ways. One way is by making them sign a release that states that they have been paid all of their owed wages and/or taken all of the breaks to which they are entitled before they will agree to pay them!!! How angry does this make you? Well, apparently it got Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s attention and he has attempted to right this egregious wrong by signing AB 2075 (details below). The bill was… Read More