Tennessee Employment Lawyer Blog

Tragically the Goodyear Tire & Rubber plant in Union City Tennessee closed this month. To help these employees a career center has been set up. We have also received more bad news that the Borders is closing La Vergne, TN

When benefit that some of these employees may have to help through the tough times could be found in the workers compensation act. Specifically, if an employee has a work comp injury and subsequently losses their job through no fault of their own the workers compensation case can be opened. It is know as reconsideration of a workers compensationc claim. There are very specific time limits on reopening a case so if you have been laid off and had a prior work comp claim you should contact a Tennessee workers compensation lawyer quickly.

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Attorney Jim Higgins discusses changes to the Tennessee Work Comp Act. Mr. Higgins is the lead lawyer for the firm work comp litigation division. You can watch the interview here:

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Tennessee workers and workers all over the country deserve to be paid overtime pay when they work more than forty hours in one week. Unfortunately, some companies try to find ways around paying their workers the overtime pay they are entitled to. Some companies even deny not paying their workers overtime pay. If you or someone you know has worked your overtime hours and failed to receive overtime pay, then you should talk to a Tennessee employment overtime law firm as soon as possible. They will hear your case and make sure you get the compensation you are entitled to by law.

According to this lawsuit, security agents that were employed by the Las Vegas Sands gaming Corporation, claim that they worked over forty hours a week and often over one hundred and fifty a week and the driver, Kwame Luangisa, claims he is owed more than $100,000 in unpaid overtime. However, the Las Vegas Sands Corporation and their CEO Sheldon Adelson deny these allegations and their attorneys claim that Luangisa was a salaried employee who was fired in March of this year.

The Corporation stated that the "Plaintiff has been paid all wages due and the plaintiff was properly exempt from federal overtime requirements." The Corporation also claims that Mr. Luangisa did not speak with any of the defendants about the subject of the lawsuit before filing the lawsuit. The defendants only first heard about the lawsuit after it was published in the newspaper, according to the lawsuit.

Also, the corporation and their attorneys claim that Luangisa was never individually employed by Adelson yet he chose to name him as a defendant in the lawsuit. Attorneys for the corporation claim that including Adelson in the lawsuit was an attempt to create negative publicity about him as shown by how quickly it was published in the newspaper and that Luangisa is also currently involved in two other lawsuits against Adelson and that Luangisa’s claims have nothing to do with his Fair Labor Standards Act claim and have to do with allegations about Luangisa resigning in March after an abusive outburst by Adelson.
Defendants are seeking to have Adelson dismissed from the case and claim that any claims about violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act were not intentional.

Continue reading " Gaming Company Denies Allegations about Worker Overtime Pay" »

In Tennessee and all across the country when we go to work, we expect to be treated with respect by our supervisors and co-workers. However, in some situations the co-worker or supervisor may be in a position of power which may make reporting harassment more difficult. If you or someone you know feels that you have faced harassment while on the job, then you should speak with a Tennessee employment harassment lawyer right away. They will hear your case and make sure you get the compensation you are entitled to by law.

In this lawsuit, Mikki Kalina, Becky Sirmans, and Christy Strawn claimed that James Blackstock, a former court at law judge and former head of the court’s Juvenile Probation Board , hugged, groped, kissed, and fondled them and had sent them sexually based pictures by e-mail. Also, according to the lawsuit, Blackstock had “for many years preyed upon women in a sexually inappropriate manner" while the local officials did nothing despite knowing about his behavior.

The jury awarded Mikki Kalina and Becky Sirmans $50,000 in actual damages and Christy Strawn received $100,000 in actual damages. They also received $1 million each in punitive damages. Blackstock resigned from his board position in 2008 after a Class A criminal misdemeanor charge of official oppression and four Class C counts of assault by offensive and provocative physical contact involving several women to which he plead no contest. He was given a fine of $2,150.

Continue reading "Harassment Lawsuit against Ex-Judge Results in $3.2 Million Award " »

The FLSA allows employers to pool some tips of restaurant servers. However, often these tip pools are illegal and take money from the servers that earned the money. If this occurs the servers may have a right to claim the lost money, unpaid wages and overtime.

Tennessee Employment Lawyer Jon Street discusses tip pooling:

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In Tennessee and across the United States when employees need to take a leave to care for a loved one or a child they should be allowed to do so under the Family Medical Leave Act without fear of facing harsh treatment or being fired after returning from the leave. However, in some situations employees are still fired after taking this leave or they face unfair treatment upon their return. If you or someone you love feels like your Family Medical Leave Act rights have not be upheld, then you should speak with a Tennessee employment FMLA lawyer as soon as possible. They will help you get the compensation that is rightfully yours for what you have been through.

According to this lawsuit, Tomeka White, a black female, was employed by the Department of Aging and Disability Services from June 2009 to October 2010. White’s son suffers from autism and White had asked for intermittent leave so she would be able to take her son to and from his doctor’s visits. According to White, she was allowed to take her son to his therapy early on in her career. Based on information from the lawsuit, White’s supervisor stopped allowing her this privilege after White wrote a “less than positive” elevation about her supervisor’s management style which including racial discrimination allegations.

White asked for intermittent FMLA leave in August of 2010 to take her son to and from his therapy. The human resource manager for her employer turned down her request stating that it was not believed autism was covered under FMLA. White was fired by her employer on November 18th due to ongoing request for intermittent FMLA leave.

White’s employer is accused of violating the Family Medical Leave Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as White’s civil rights. White is seeking an award for actual damages including lost income and health benefits as well as liquidated damages, attorney fees, punitive damages and interest.

Continue reading "Mother of Autistic Child Files a Lawsuit against Employer after Losing Job for Taking Leave " »

In Tennessee and all across the country, workers deserve the pay they receive and in some workplaces, this may include the receiving of tips from customers at food service businesses. However, sometimes some businesses get around paying their employees what they are actually owed by illegally pooling tips and then the company receives the benefits instead of the employee. If you or a loved one feels that you have not received the wages you deserve while at work, then you should speak with a Tennessee employment rights lawyer right away. They will hear your case and make sure you get the compensation you are entitled to for the work you do.

In this case, two Hard Rock Café employees have filed a lawsuit against the restaurant claiming that the restaurant did not properly pool tips and that they received tip credits which is against the law. The employees are seeking class action status for their lawsuit and claim that because of the tip pooling the Hard Rock Café was not entitled to receive tip credits to make up for parts of minimum wages that the company was required to pay their servers and bartenders from January 14, 2006 to July 2009. When tips are illegally pooled or illegally given out to managers and kitchen staff, this violates the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

The Fair Labor Standards Act states that tip sharing or pooling should only be to those employees who are usually tipped by the public and this causes issues when some employers have given out the collected tips to other staff or to managers. In this case, the employers were in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act because they gave out the pooled tips to kitchen staff who did not usually receive tips from the public. This case is different from other tip pooling lawsuits because it deals with minimum wage laws. In some states, employers are allowed to pay their employees who receive tips less than minimum wage” only if the requirements for the tip credit under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act are met,” according to this lawsuit.

Continue reading "Hard Rock Restaurant Faces Lawsuit over Tip Pooling " »

Recently, our very own employment law attorney, Jon Street, discussed common overtime issues on WSMV. You can watch the video here:

The Higgins Firm has handled FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act) cases in a multitude of courts. Overtime pay cases can be difficult and very expensive to litigate. As such, it is important that you obtain a firm that has both experience with FLSA cases and the resources to pursue the cases.

Continue reading "Tennessee Attorney, Jon Street, discusses overtime claims in Tennessee" »

I have handled workers compensation case in Tennessee for the past 18 years. One thing I have learned over the years is that it is important to consider more than just the Tennessee Workers Compensation Act when determining what benefits are out there to help a client.

The most common laws that arise to help injured workers, in addition to the TN work comp act, are:

The Americans with Disabilities Act
The Social Security Act
The Fair Labors Standard Act
The Family Medical Leave Act

Each of these Acts contain laws that can either help an employee get back to work or obtain benefits for employees that just cant return to work because of their injury. Because these Federal Employment Laws arise so often in Tennessee Work Comp Cases we started an employment law section in our firm a few years ago. It is our hope that with an experienced work comp litigation staff and employment law staff we can offer a wide range of services for our clients.

Continue reading "Tennessee Workers Comp and the Federal Employment Laws" »