Tag: labor
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Court Refuses to Certify Wage and Overtime Class Action Against Steak ‘N Shake
A federal court in Georgia has denied a request to certify a nationwide class of Steak ‘n Shake hourly employees in a dispute over alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, finding that class members are not similarly situated to the named plaintiffs or to each other. Beecher v. Steak ‘n Shake Operations, Inc.,…
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Celebrity Chef Settles Restaurant Employee Wage Claims for $1.15 Million
A federal court in New York has dismissed with prejudice claims that Mario Batali’s Del Posto restaurant allegedly retained portions of workers’ tips in violation of federal and state labor laws after approving an agreement requiring the defendants to pay $1.15 million into a settlement fund and provide workers with training and paid vacation time…
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Documentary Short on Prosecutorial Conduct Highlights Kosher Meatpacking Plant Executive’s Case
A recently released documentary short, titled “Unjustified: The Unchecked Power of America’s Justice System,” focuses on the fallout from a 2008 immigration raid on a kosher meatpacking plant in Iowa. Former Agriprocessors executive Sholom Rubashkin was later charged with numerous violations, including violating child labor laws, identity theft and bank fraud. He was convicted on…
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Migrant Farmworkers Seek Damages for Alleged Forced Labor and Debt Peonage
Four migrant farmworkers have filed suit against farm labor contractors who allegedly “recruited undocumented field workers in Mexico and the United States to work on farms (‘growers’) and relied on a pattern of threats, violence, harassment, and indebtedness to force Plaintiffs and other migrant farmworkers to perform grueling, back-breaking manual labor as Defendants transported the…
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EEOC Charges Burger King with Religious Discrimination
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has filed a Title VII civil rights action against a Burger King restaurant claiming that it failed to accommodate the religious beliefs of a Pentecostal Christian woman who sought to wear skirts or dresses to work instead of uniform pants. EEOC v. Fries Rest. Mgmt., LLC, No. 12-3169 (N.D. Tex.,…
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Trade Groups Challenge DOL’s New Tip Pool Rule for Restaurant Employees
Restaurant trade organizations, an Oregon restaurant and one of its employees, a server, have filed a complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief against the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), alleging that its interpretation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, forbidding restaurants from distributing a share of tips to non-tipped employees, regardless of whether the restaurants…
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Report Examines U.S. Food Sector Workers
The Food Chain Workers Alliance has issued a report claiming that most U.S. workers across the food sector—from production, processing, distribution, retail, and service—earn low wages with few health benefits, a situation that can pose safety risks to both employees and the public. Titled “The Hands That Feed Us: Challenges and Opportunities for Workers Along…
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Lawsuits Concluded: No Trademark for “Texas Toast,” No Class Claims for Joe’s Crab Shack Employees, No Racial Discrimination Class Claims Against McDonald’s, No Wrongful Death Suit Against Dole Food, No Antitrust Action Against Whole Foods
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has determined that the Roskam Baking Co. did not infringe a trademark by using the term “Texas Toast” in selling its packaged croutons. T. Marzetti Co. v. Roskam Baking Co., No. 10-3784 (6th Cir., decided May 25, 2012). Marzetti apparently began using the Texas Toast mark for its frozen garlic…