Last week, Uber settled a class action employee misclassification suit in California and Massachusetts that, had it lost, could have forced the company to reevaluate its core business model. At the center of the case was whether drivers are indeed independent contractors, as Uber would have it, or should be classified as employees. The main distinction is that if drivers are employees, then …
The most significant exposure an employer faces in employment litigation is a class action lawsuit. Whether it is a class asserting claims for discrimination, harassment, or overtime, the potential damages can quickly escalate when there are multiple employees all asserting the same claim. Matters only get worse when those claims are decided by juries, which will generally be predisposed to …
A class action lawsuit against Bose Corp. for alleged violations of a California law designed to protect consumers’ privacy and personal information may be moving toward a resolution as lawyers for both sides have had cooperative discussions about the case, the plaintiffs’ attorney said. “They have not admitted any fault,” attorney E. Elliot Adler of the Adler Law …
Uber drivers made news last week when the company settled class-action suits that could pay drivers as much as $100 million, but court documents show that most eligible drivers will probably get less than $25. The suits covered Uber drivers in California and Massachusetts who said they were not independent contractors, as Uber claimed, but employees. Uber contends its app is merely a conduit …
Two trainers have filed a class-action lawsuit against Crunch, New York City, over unpaid wages, according to a New York Post report. Arielle Jernigan, a former trainer at the New York City Crunch on East 59th Street, and Kadeem Johnson, who remains employed at the club, filed the suit in New York state Supreme Court in Manhattan on behalf of 30 to 40 other Crunch trainers, according to the …
Flint, Michigan, residents have filed a $220 million class-action lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, claiming it was negligent in the toxic water crisis that contributed dangerous levels of lead to the city’s water supply. An administrative complaint representing 513 residents was filed Monday claiming property damage consisting of “irreparable impairment” of water …
The federal complaint filed last September alleged civil rights violations and sought class action status, as well as federal oversight of use of force by the Philadelphia Police Department. In a 20-page order, District Court Judge Stewart Dalzell dismissed several of the allegations in the complaint, including those related to the class action. However, he …
Kansas is fending off multiple legal challenges from voting rights activists, and just months before the state’s August primary, the status of the “dual registration” system remains unclear. Federal judges in separate voter-registration lawsuits unfolding in Kansas and Washington, D.C., could rule at any time. There’s also greater urgency because registrations typically surge during an election …
A Chicago federal appeals panel has given the P.F. Chang’s restaurant chain a case of legal indigestion, by reversing a district court’s dismissal of a class action suit brought by two diners, who claimed they were vulnerable to identity theft, because the chain’s allegedly poor data security allowed hackers to obtain diners’ debit and credit card information. The decision was delivered April …
Uber agreed last week to settle two class action lawsuits for $100 million. The legal actions were filed by drivers in California and Massachusetts to determine if they could be reclassified as employees instead of independent contractors, to receive benefits they lack now. Had the lawsuits proceeded to trial and Uber had lost, the …