Tennessee Employment Lawyer Blog

According to this lawsuit, the owner of the T.J. Maxx retail chain store is facing claims that salaried shift supervisors at a local warehouse have been improperly classified as managers and have been denied overtime pay. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Carolyn Dunn Luksza and Patricia Foser who are seeking class-action status to represent themselves as well as all T.J. Maxx employees in similar situations. The lawsuit shows that those eligible to join in the lawsuit are T.J. Maxx supervisors in Nevada including forty to sixty supervisors at the Las Vegas distribution warehouse.

The claims state that Carolyn Dunn Luksza and Patricia Foser usually worked over forty hours per week for the T.J. Maxx retail Company but were not paid all of their earned wages for their time worked over the forty hours in each individual work week. They were also misclassified as “exempt” from receiving overtime pay which is in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The shift supervisors in this lawsuit are required to supervise line workers and must maintain a quota which represents the number of packages shipped per shift, per shift supervisor. The supervisors are not professionals, executives, or administrators according to federal law and do not have the authority to make independent decisions or to make policies.

The lawsuit alleges violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and of state wage and hour statutes including alleged misclassification of positions of being exempt from overtime pay as well as alleged entitlement to additional wages for off the clock work by hourly employees. The lawsuit is seeking unspecified monetary damages, injunctive relief, and attorneys’ fees.

Employees all over the United States go to work every day with the understanding that they will paid properly for the hours they work and for what job position they have. Unfortunately, however, many companies find ways around paying employees the way they should by misclassifying them as employees of a certain position and also failing to pay them overtime pay. If you feel that you have not received the overtime pay you are entitled to at your workplace, then you should speak to a Tennessee employment overtime pay lawyer as soon as possible. They will hear your case and make sure you get the compensation you deserve for the hours you have worked.

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In this case, The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit against the Starbucks Company for allegedly denying Elsa Sallard, who has dwarfism, reasonable accommodations and firing her from one of their locations. According the EEOC and the lawsuit, during an orientation, Sallard suggested that she could use a stool so she could more easily perform some of the tasks of her job. Later that day, Sallard was fired because the Starbucks Company claimed that she would put customers and employees “in danger.” The EEOC claimed that this action by the Starbucks Company violated The Americans with Disabilities Act. The Starbucks Company agreed to pay $75,000 to Sallard and to provide ADA training to all Starbucks managers and supervisors.

It is always puzzling to me as to why an employer will choose to fire a good employee instead of complying with the ADA and providing a reasonable accommodation. Not only is it against the law to treat someone this way but it is just wrong. It is all to common that a company abandons common sense and places profits over their people. Sad.

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Nashville Workmens Compensation Lawyer discusses a persons rights under the Tennessee work comp act. You can watch Jim's interview here:

The work comp act has gone through some major changes in Tennessee this year. It seems that each year the legislature meets they strip the act a little bit more. The benefits remaining are there to protect employees and help them get back to work. If you have a work injury it is important to know how the law can help you reach these goals.

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In general, if an employee works any hours over forty in a one week they are entitled by law to receive overtime pay. However, many companies try to get around paying their employees overtime or just fail to pay them overtime at all. If you or someone you know has worked overtime hours and failed to receive your overtime pay, then you should speak with a Tennessee employment overtime pay lawyer right away. They will work with you to make sure you get the overtime pay you are entitled to by law.

In this case, a lawsuit was filed against Tennessee’s Metropolitan Security Systems also known as Walden Security and against officer Curtis Hoosier, by the Labor Department claiming that guards were not pay wages and overtime pay. The Labor Department is seeking to block the companies from obtaining government contracts for a three year period of time.

The lawsuit is also seeking recovery of $510,991 in back wages and benefits for two hundred and thirty-one current and former employees employed by Walden Security at Fort Sam Houston. Walden Security was given this contract by the U.S. Army Installation Management Command Headquarters in order to allow armed security guard services at “access control points” at Fort Sam Houston.

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In Tennessee and all over the country when employees work for more than forty hours in one work week, they are entitled to receive overtime pay. Unfortunately, many businesses only pay their employees some overtime pay or fail to pay them for overtime hours altogether. If you or someone you know has worked overtime hours but failed to receive overtime pay, then you should speak with a Tennessee employment overtime pay lawyer as soon as possible. They will work with you to see to it that you get the overtime pay you deserve.

According to this lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Labor against Kinder Morgan and Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, the U.S. Department of Labor claims that the pipeline transportation and energy storage company violated federal wage and hour laws. The U.S. Department of Labor filed the lawsuit after an investigation that found “systemic violations” of federal overtime laws at eleven of Kinder Morgan’s locations.

Also, according to the lawsuit and the U.S. Labor Department, the Kinder Morgan Company improperly rounded hours in the company’s favor and failed to pay their employees at several locations, who attended meetings before their shifts started. The company also failed to include bonuses paid to employees when they calculated overtime compensation which is another violation of federal law according to The Fair Labor Standards Act. Kinder Morgan and Kinder Morgan Energy Partners have agreed to pay $830,000 in back wages to 4,659 current and former employees. The Kinder Morgan spokesman said, “We have reached a settlement with the DOL that we believe is in the best interest of the company and our employees.”

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In this case, a class action lawsuit was filed for former and current Kansas City employees who are emergency medical technicians and paramedics. The lawsuit claims that the “city has had a policy of failing and refusing to compensate its EMTs and paramedics straight time for all hours worked and overtime compensation for all hours worked over forty hours per week.” The lawsuit claims that this city’s overtime pay policy is in violation of federal law for some employees.

The Kansas City Fire Department has approximately one hundred and forty paramedics and over one thousand emergency medical technicians and the City Attorney Galen Beaufort stated that, “there have been recent changes in shift assignments for some paramedics and EMTs, but officials think they are in compliance.” The president of the local 42 of the International Association of Fire Fighters also claims that the system was carefully researched and he did not think that the fair labor standards act (FLSA) was being violated.

In Tennessee and all over the United States when employees work more than forty hours in a single week they are entitled to receive overtime pay. However, many businesses try to find ways around paying their employees overtime pay or just fail to do so completely. Sometimes some of these failures even go against federal law requirements for overtime pay.

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Tennessee workers and employees all over the United States go to work and expect that if they follow the rules and do their job, they will get paid appropriately for the hours that they work and they will be paid accordingly for any hours worked over forty in a week. However, many companies fail to pay their employees overtime pay or find ways around it by misclassifying them so that they are exempt from the pay. If you or someone you work with feels that you have not been given the overtime pay you are entitled to, then you should talk to a Tennessee employment overtime attorney as soon as possible. They will hear your case and make sure you get the compensation that is rightfully yours by law.

According to this lawsuit, Amber Salazar and other business banking specialists had been required to work off the clock on designated “call nights”. Also according to this lawsuit, the job of a business banking specialist requires helping business customers open accounts and get small business loans. The lawsuit claims that these Wells Fargo employees had to work on these call nights.

Wells Fargo denied these claims and submitted statements from twenty-two business banking specialists and branch managers stating that the specialists had been paid in full. Wells Fargo also claims that Salazar lacked credibility because she knew it was the bank’s written policy that employees have to report all the hours they work and claimed it was Salazar who falsified her time cards. Wells Fargo also added that in the forty-seven weeks she worked in 2009 as a business banking specialist, twenty-six of those weeks Salazar recorded working less than forty hours and also took seventeen days of paid time off during this time because she “admits she struggled as a business banking specialist and that she was a poor performer."
Since the attorneys for the class action lawsuit were claiming hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages and legal fees, Wells Fargo agreed to pay a settlement of $100,000 plus $5,000 in order to give payments to the plaintiffs. The agreement was made with the understanding that Wells Fargo was denying the claims. Notice of the settlement has been mailed to 186 potential class-action plaintiffs, but just 64 filed claims.

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