employment lawyer new york Tag Archives

British Politician Says Women Should Ride in Separate Train Cars to Avoid Harassment

September 28, 2015 | by Joseph & Kirschenbaum LLP

Sometimes people dream up solutions to serious problems that are so bizarre, they literally take your breath away. To wit, in England, a socialist Member of Parliament recently suggested that in order to solve the problems of sexual harassment and assault on public transportation, trains should have separate cars that are only for women.

The immediate reaction from the pundit class was, unsurprisingly, outrage, with critics calling the idea “old-fashioned sexism” and a form of “apartheid.” One activist compared it to the time when a local mass murderer had been killing women, and one politician suggested that all women should stay home to avoid danger.

Women shouldn’t have to restrict or change their movements when criminals violate laws. That clearly and obviously places the responsibility on the wrong party. The solution is to stop the illegal behavior – and/or to eliminate its root social, cultural and institutional causes — not to normalize it and compel would-be victims to change their behavior and restrict their movements. A saner strategy would involve enforcing laws against sexual assault and harassment and to deter men (and women) from violating them in the first place.

New Statistics Reveal Wage-and-Hour Cases on the Rise: What Do the Numbers Mean for Workers?

September 7, 2015 | by Joseph & Kirschenbaum LLP

According to an analysis from the Federal Judicial Center (FJC), more workers than ever are filing wage-and-hour lawsuits. These cases are brought pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which establishes standards for private and government employees pertaining to overtime, youth employment, and minimum wage.

Many FLSA cases involve debates about whether a worker (or class of workers) should be classified as “exempt” from overtime rules. (Per the Department of Labor’s website, “Covered nonexempt workers are entitled to a minimum wage of not less than $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009. Overtime pay at a rate not less than one and one-half times the regular rate of pay is required after 40 hours of work in a workweek.”)

The employment lawyers at Joseph & Kirschenbaum have brought many high profile FLSA matters over the past several years. However, our firm is obviously not solely responsible for the flourishing FLSA activity!

Sexual Harassment and Text Messaging: When Does an Unfortunate Turn of Phrase Constitute Harassment?

July 6, 2015 | by Joseph & Kirschenbaum LLP

Workplace sexual harassment cases in New York (and beyond) often appear pretty cut and dry to objective observers. For instance, a boss may make outrageous comments in the office or grab or grope an employee, sometimes to horrific effect.

That said, when it comes to more impersonal modes of communication, like text messaging, it can be more challenging to prove misconduct or wrongdoing. Was a weird comment or awkward picture harassment… or a glitch or typo?

Context is crucial. If your boss has a habit of ogling you at work, asking you out and making inappropriate comments about your boyfriend… and then he texts you a nasty picture or veiled sexual innuendo… such text messages could likely be considered evidence of harassing behavior.

L.A. Road Department Investigated for “Excessive” Overtime

June 15, 2015 | by Joseph & Kirschenbaum LLP

Los Angeles officials are pointing fingers at the city Department of Transportation, alleging department employees in the traffic paint and sign division might have padded their overtime wages to the tune of $3.3 million. An initial audit of department figures revealed a superintendent employed by the division received $155,310 in overtime pay, about twice his annual salary of $78,000.

According to Los Angeles City Controller Ron Galperin, four division supervisors were paid $70,000 in overtime pay. Overall, workers in the division were paid an average of $48,000 in overtime pay, compared to the average of $8,300 in overtime pay received by employees in other city departments, including employees in the city’s police and fire departments.

What triggered the audit? The City Controller’s office received a tip that employees in the division were claiming overtime pay for hours they did not actually work. And indeed, once the audit was initiated, overtime claims declined by 40 percent, according to the officials who completed the audit.

Class Action Suit Against TGI Friday’s Restaurant Focuses on Racial Discrimination

March 9, 2015 | by Joseph & Kirschenbaum LLP

Here’s a New York discrimination story that’s sparked thousands of conservations (and no doubt many arguments as well) among residents of the entire Big Apple.

The chain restaurant, TGI Friday’s, recent closed its Manhattan location and opened another restaurant only a block away. Workers from the old location claim that management told them they would have a chance to apply for positions at the new store. They never got the opportunity.

Critics claim that the TGI Friday’s new location opened with new, lighter skinned workers. Just one black employee from the old location successfully transitioned to the new location. According to a New York Daily News article, former employees allege that managers consistently and openly “referred to the old location as ‘the ghetto store.’” They also say that, in response to protesting Hispanic employees, management told them to “work harder.”

Gap Between Employment Openings and Number of Workers Being Hired Has Labor Economists Scratching Their Heads

January 6, 2015 | by Joseph & Kirschenbaum LLP

Our New York wage and hour attorneys strive to pay attention to trends in the labor market not only to help our clients understand their situations in context but also to measure the fundamental forces driving employers to raise wages or, conversely, to withhold wages and tips from workers.

To that end, we were fascinated by a powerful New York Times editorial from early December: “Employers Will Have To Raise Wages. They Just Don’t Know It Yet.”

The piece includes some seriously head scratching data from the Labor Department. Reports from October 2014 found that employers had been trying to fill nearly 5 million job vacancies. Curiously, though, the unemployment rate has stagnated; it remains relatively high at 5.8%, and that figure doesn’t even take into account the veritable army of freelancers and under-employed laborers who fly under the radar of these types of statistical analyses.

Fair Employment Rights in Israel: New Law Prohibits Employers from Nabbing Paychecks from Employees

November 3, 2014 | by Joseph & Kirschenbaum LLP

A viral Facebook post inspired Israeli legislators to alter that country’s labor laws, making it illegal for employers to seize portions of employees’ paychecks.

Here’s how the exciting story (with a happy ending) played out, according to local media.

A Jaffa Port club called The Container hired a woman named Anat Kamrad as a server, but she opted out of working at the restaurant because of the establishment’s radical rules regarding customer returns. Per Kamrad, if a customer didn’t like a dish and sent it back, the server would have to pay half the cost of the meal. If a customer left without paying, the server would have to pay the entire cost of the meal, no matter how much the meal itself cost.