Articles Posted in Overtime

Personal trainers everywhere work hard to provide many of us with the best services as possible. They deserve every penny of their paychecks and maybe even some pay for putting in overtime. Unfortunately, recently there has been an alarming number of personal trainer lawsuits because the trainers claim they were not properly paid wages or overtime they are entitled to under the Fair Labor Standards Act. If you or someone you care about has been denied proper wages and overtime pay because of being  misclassified or other unethical business practice, you need to speak to a wage and overtime pay lawyer with The Higgins Firm. We know you work hard for your paycheck and we will do everything we can to make sure that you are compensation for all the hours you have worked.

In this particular case, several personal trainers that worked at Gold’s Texas, a franchisee group of Gold’s Gym International, claim that they were misclassified as exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act or FLSA.  The issue is whether payments received by the trainers constituted commission under 29 U.S.C. 207(i), a provision in the FLSA. Gold’s Texas denied it violated any provisions of the FLSA in an answer filed to the complaint in February 2014.

The class action lawsuit is seeking a jury trial to award actual and liquidated damages for the unpaid overtime wages under the Fair Labor Standards Act, liquidated damages as provided by the FLSA,reasonable attorney’s fees under the FLSA, pre-judgment and post-judgment interest as provided by law, all costs of court and any other entitled relief.

After a string of business friendly rulings, the Supreme Court has handed a victory out to the working men and women.  In this case, employees at the meat processing facility, Tyson Foods, filed a lawsuit in 2007 claiming that they were entitled to overtime pay and damages because they were not paid for their time spent putting on and taking off protective equipment and walking to their work stations. Tyson Foods challenged this almost 5.8million class action lawsuit and on March 22, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the employees in a six to two ruling by Justice Anthony Kennedy. Thus ruling upheld a 2014 appeals court decision in favor of the employees.

This was one of three  closely watched class action cases to come before the court during its current term. In January, the court ruled six to three against advertising firm Campbell-Ewald, saying a lawsuit could proceed over claims the company violated a federal consumer law by sending unsolicited text messages on behalf of the U.S. Navy.   In the Tyson case, the court was considering an objection to the use of statistics to determine liability and damages. Critics in the business community have described such use of statistics as “trial by formula” that violates defendants’ due process rights, instead of assessing each claim individually for the more than 3,000 current and former employees who are suing.

This ruling was also decided in part because of a 1946 Supreme Court precedent that said plaintiffs can rely on averages in such situations to determine claims under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. Justice Kennedy stated that, “While corporate defendants may urge adoption of broad and categorical rules governing the use of representative and statistical evidence in class actions, this case provides no occasion to do so.”  He also stated that, “The ruling does not undercut the court’s major 2011 ruling in favor of Wal Mart Stores Inc., which made it harder to bring class action cases.

GREAT NEWS FOR HOME HEALTH WORKERS! The Court of Appeals has decided that the previous exemption of the Fair Labor Standards Act for third-party employers of certain home health care workers no longer applies. The decision Home Care Association of American v. Weil has made it possible for the government to enforce minimum wage and overtime pay laws for a home health care workers that used to be exempt from such benefits. The decision means that there could be potential change in this industry because it make third-party home health care employers to take another look their pay practices and how they will conduct their businesses in the long-term.

The Fair Labor Standards Act except with specific exemptions requires employers and businesses to pay minimum wage and time and a half for overtime pay benefits to all of their workers. One of these exemptions previously applied to “companionship services” provided by “domestic service” workers who provide basic care for the elderly, ill, or disabled in their homes. A domestic service worker used to be exempt from these benefits no matter what company or business employed these workers. Domestic services increasingly have been provided by employees of third-party health care providers.

The Department of Labor which enforces laws and regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act has issued a rule that third party employers could no longer invoke the “companionship services” exemption for its domestic service employees. Health care companies challenged this new rule by the Department of Labor and had it overturned. The District of Columbia District Court overturned the rule stating that the Department of Labor could not overturn the exemption because it has operated that way for decades. Then on August 21, the DC Court of Appeals reversed that decision stating that the Department of Labor has the authority to make changes to the exemption such as excluding third party providers.

Whether you are going to a forty an hour a week job that you have been employed in for many years or whether you are working at an internship for maybe a little pay and some more experience the Fair Labor Standards Act and minimum wage laws still need to be followed. Unfortunately, many companies and businesses find ways around paying their employees what they deserve and what they should be paid by law by not properly logging the hours they work, telling them to take parts while not on the clock or classifying improperly so they are exempt from overtime pay laws and requirements. If you or someone you work with feel that you have been improperly paid the wage you earned or were not paid properly for overtime hours, then you should speak to a Tennessee employment and overtime pay lawyer with the Higgins Firm. We will work with you to see to it that you get the compensation you deserve for the hard work you have done.

According to this lawsuit, the plaintiffs worked as much as forty hours a week for free on programs like the Howard Stern Show and other Sirius programs. This was a violation of their rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act and state minimum wage laws. The company stated that it still believes its internships were legal, but settled to avoid costly litigation according to reports. Representatives for either side of the lawsuit were not available for comments.

This proposed settlement comes a month after the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals discussed the applicable test to determine whether unpaid internships are legal in lawsuits against Fox Searchlight Pictures Inc. and Fox Entertainment Group Inc. In this case involving unpaid internships, Sirius XM Radio Inc. has agreed to pay as much as $1.3 million to settle litigation by some 1,800 ex-interns. The Sirius settlement must still be approved by a judge before it is finalized.