Walmart App-Based Delivery Driver Accuses Company of Wage Theft
On November 27, 2023, a class action complaint filed in Washington State court was moved to federal court alleging Walmart improperly misclassified its app-based delivery drivers as independent contractors as opposed to employees, who must receive minimum and overtime wages and other benefits depending on which State an individual resides. ...
Biden Executive Order Makes a Head Start on AI Regulatory Framework
In the past few years, the presence of artificial intelligence has boomed in the workforce with little to no formal regulation directly addressing its impact. This week, President Biden signed a broad executive order aiming to provide a framework for protecting consumers and workers from the potential downsides presented by artificial intelligence. ...
FLSA Pleading Standard Is Specific But Not Strict, Says Court of Appeals
The New York Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has issued new guidance on how to properly plead wage and hour claims against employers. On October 16, 2023 the Court in Abbott v. Comme Des Garcons, Ltd. reversed a district court decision that required an excessively strict level of detail in pleading overtime claims, ruling that so long ...
District Court For The Southern District of New York Declines To Extend Securities Liability To Defendants Involved In The Uniswap Lab Crypto Exchange Because They Are Not Issuers Or Sellers Under The Statutes
On August 29, 2023, the court in in Risley v. Universal Navigation Inc. et al, Case No. 1:22-cv-02780 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 4, 2022), dismissed claims under Section 12(a)(1) of the Securities Act of 1933[1] and Section 29(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,[2] against Defendants running a decentralized cryptocurrency trading platform called ...
Nurse Sues Rehab Center for Unpaid, Interrupted Meal Breaks on 12 ½ hour Shifts
Last week, a nurse sued a rehabilitation center for automatically deducting 30-minute meal breaks from her and other employees' wages, even though their breaks were routinely interrupted to care for patients. The Center at Lincoln, a rehabilitation center in Colorado, "serves patients needing physical rehabilitation and/or complex nursing ...
New Lawsuit Alleges Costco Disclosed Consumers’ Medical Information to Meta
On October 25, 2023, a California resident filed a lawsuit against Costco Wholesale Corporation ("Costco") for allegedly disclosing consumers' confidential medical information to unauthorized third parties such as Meta, Google, and Adobe. The plaintiff alleges that Costco installed on its pharmacy website various tracking tools – including ...
California Increases the Minimum Wage for Health Care and Fast-Food Workers
On October 13, 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law that will raise the minimum wage for hundreds of thousands of Californian health care workers to $25.00 per hour by June 2028. Specifically, the law will gradually increase the hourly wage of medical technicians, nursing assistants, custodians, and other support staff ...
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Releases Proposed Updated Enforcement Guidelines on Workplace Harassment
On September 29, 2023, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission released a long awaited draft of updated enforcement guidelines regarding workplace harassment. The draft is the first document the EEOC has issued on harassment since it issued "Enforcement Guidance on Vicarious Liability for Unlawful Harassment by Supervisors," in 1999, ...
NY State Court Allows $17.96 Minimum Wage for App-Based Food Delivery Workers to Go Forward – First Law of Its Kind In U.S. – Denying Motion for Preliminary Injunction By Uber, DoorDash and Grubhub
Last week, a New York State Court rejected a motion by Uber, DoorDash and Grubhub for a preliminary injunction to stop a minimum wage of $17.96 from taking effect for those companies' app-based food delivery workers in NYC. This minimum wage was previously set to take effect on July 12, 2023 and is scheduled to rise by $1 per year, up to $19.96, ...
New York Enacts New Criminal Penalties for Wage Theft
Despite a range of civil penalties in New York, employers continue to engage in widespread wage theft of employee's earned wages amounting to, according to one estimate by Cornell University's Worker Institute, nearly $1 billion dollars in lost wages per year. New York's Wage Theft Accountability Act (S2832-A/A154-A), signed by Governor Kathy ...
NLRB Issues Decision Clarifying Employee-Employer Test
In June 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (the "Board") issued a decision clarifying the test used to determine whether a worker is an employee under the National Labor Relations Act ("NLRA") or an independent contractor. The decision is significant because the NLRA provides employees (not independent contractors) with important protections, ...
The Rush to Wield Ripple Labs: Coinbase’s Argument that their Digital Tokens are Not Securities
The SEC continues to push its position that certain digital assets should be treated as securities that are subject to SEC rules and regulations. The inquiry to determine if the structure of the economic arrangement should be treated as "security" is fact intensive because it amounts to an "investment contract." While there is no Act of Congress ...
Second Circuit Holds Whether Employer Knows Employee Is Not Being Paid Is Irrelevant To FLSA Liability
On August 25, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that whether an employer knows an employee is not being paid is irrelevant to liability under the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") in Perry v. City of New York. Rejecting the City of New York's argument that they cannot be held liable because they offered workers an ...
Second Circuit Affirms Multi-Million Dollar Verdict for NYC EMTs Who Inspected PPE and Gear Before Shifts
On August 25, 2023, the Second Circuit upheld a $17,780,063 jury verdict in favor of 2,519 EMTs and paramedics who sued the City of New York for overtime, alleging that the City required them to perform work before and after their shifts without compensation. Before clocking in and responding to calls, EMTs and paramedics were required to ...
Seventh Circuit Affirms $5.2 Million Judgment Against Credit-Monitoring Business for Deceptive Advertising
On August 30, 2023, the Seventh Circuit affirmed a district court decision reinstating the a $5.2 million judgment against Credit Bureau Center and its owner ("CBC") for their deceptive online advertising. The Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") initiated this lawsuit against CBC in 2017 for the company's use of an online marketing device known ...
U.S. Department of Labor Proposes New Rule to Increase Overtime Salary Threshold
On August 30, 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a proposed rule that increases the salary threshold under which employees are eligible for overtime pay under federal law. Currently, employees who earn less than $35,568 per year or $684 per week must be paid overtime, or one and one-half times the employee's regular rate of pay for ...
CLASS CERTIFICATION DENIED FOR CLASS OF PURCHASERS OF UNSPONSORED ADRs
On January 25, 2022, Judge Dean Pregerson of the Central District of California issued a decision denying class certification in the case Stoyas v. Toshiba, 2:15-cv-04194-DDP-JC, 2022 WL 220920 (C.D. Cal. Jan. 25, 2022). The decision hinged on whether the plaintiffs had purchased Toshiba securities in the United States, and thus satisfied ...
Courts Are Grappling With The Application Of The Supreme Court’s Howey Decision to Digital Currency
As the SEC and private investors continue to push on with civil litigation under the Securities Act of 1933 ("Securities Act") and the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 ("Exchange Act") against developers and marketers of digital assets, the courts must rule on a threshold issue – whether the digital asset is a "security" that is subject ...
Wayfair or WayUnfair? Customer Service Reps Sue For Unpaid Wages Booting Up Computer Programs
Customer service representatives may be entitled to compensation for time spent logging into and out of computer programs and apps before their shifts. For example, a recent lawsuit against Wayfair alleges that its customer service representatives ("CSRs") spend an average of 10-15 minutes before each shift: "turning on and logging into…computers; ...
Senate Moves to Mandate AM Radio in Attempt to Ensure National Emergency Alert System's Efficacy
Over a quarter of the United States Senate moved to co-sponsor a bill that would preclude auto manufacturers from removing AM radios from their vehicles. The bill, the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act, is being framed as an important public necessity which allows the government to reach the public in cases of natural disaster or national emergency. ...