On March 3, 2010, Judge Harold Baer, Jr. of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York granted class action status to a suit brought against a construction company for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.  The suit, filed by current and former employees of Raines & Welsh & Sons, Inc., claims the company did not pay its employees for all hours worked and failed to pay them one and a half times their regular rate for overtime.  The plaintiffs also allege that the company failed to pay prevailing wages to employees working on government contracts, as required by state and federal law.  The action applies to individuals who worked for the company as far back as July 8, 2006, and covers at least 60 employees.  The case is Ferrer et al. v. Raines & Welch & Sons Inc., et al., and a copy of the certifying order is available here.

For more information on The Employment Law Group® law firm’s Non-Payment of Wages Practice, click here.

Staples has agreed to a $42 million settlement to resolve 12 wage-and-hour class action lawsuits related to its misclassification of assistant store managers.  The settlement comes after several years of litigation, and the claims of unpaid overtime go back to 2002.  The settlement includes an agreement that Staples will not appeal a February 2009 jury decision awarding $4.9 million to 343 Sales Mangers.  It also resolves a pending case in Massachusetts state court, as well as 10 other cases previously centralized in the District of New Jersey under by the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation.  The settlement is subject to court approval.

For information on The Employment Law Group® law firm’s Non-Payment of Wages Practice, click here.

Late last week a class action suit brought by UPS delivery drivers against their employer was settled for $12.8 million.  The suit alleges that the drivers were misclassified as independent contractors and wrongfully denied benefits and overtime as a result.  At least 83% of the $12.8 million is to go to the approximately 660 employees.  The plaintiffs are expected to request about $2.02 million in costs and fees.  A copy of the complaint is available here.

For information on The Employment Law Group® law firm’s Unpaid Overtime Practice, click here.

The settlement was reached in a putative class action suit originally filed on April 17, 2008.  The suit, Danieli et al. v. IBM Corp., alleged that IBM misclassified thousands of employees as exempt from the Fair Labor Standard Act’s (“FLSA”) overtime pay requirements.  The plaintiffs claim that as a result of this misclassification, they were underpaid and failed to receive credit for overtime compensation for their retirement plan as required by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.  The settlement provides $7.5 million including up to $2.5 million going towards attorney’s fees and $150,000 for litigation expenses.  The settlement also stipulated that employees in California will receive a higher share due to the stronger claims made under California state law.

According to the settlement agreement, the motivation for the settlement on both sides included the uncertainty in the duration of future litigation as well as amount recovered.  Excess costs predicted and accounted for but not spent as well as un-cashed settlement checks will be donated to the Habitat for Humanity.

A copy the Settlement is available here.  For information on The Employment Law Group® law firm’s Overtime Practice, click here.

In Coque v. Wildflower Estates Developers, Inc., the Supreme Court of the State of New York Appellate Division held that illegal aliens injured on the job can recover damages for lost wages from their employer, where the employer failed to properly verify the employee’s eligibility to work.  In reaching its decision, the court concluded that employees should not forfeit their right to recover lost wages simply because they submitted a false document when applying for a job.  Instead, recovery for lost earnings should be barred only where the plaintiff’s submission of fraudulent documents actually induced the employer to hire the plaintiff.  Finding that the defendant hired the plaintiff despite knowledge of the employee’s undocumented status and ineligibility to work, the court permitted the plaintiff to sue the defendant and recover damages for injuries sustained on the job.  For more information about claims for lost wages, click here.