The year 2017 has seen two big-number settlements of workers’ class action lawsuits, one brought against TGI Friday’s and another against JP Morgan.
TGI Friday’s
According to a press release from an involved law firm, in October U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York Analisa Torres granted preliminary approval to a revised $19.1 million settlement of a wage suit brought against restaurant chain TGI Friday’s Inc. by a class of 28,000 tipped workers. The settlement would provide restitution for 28,000 TGI Friday’s workers who had claimed violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the state and federal labor laws of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey and New York.
The workers, according to bigclassaction.com, alleged TGI Friday’s improperly took a “tip credit” from their paychecks and paid them a reduced minimum wage, which in this case was not allowed under the FLSA and state laws. The plaintiffs also claimed the restaurant owners failed to pay them all owed overtime and uniform-related expenses, misappropriated tips, and took unlawful deductions for customer walkouts.
JP Morgan
In November, JP Morgan Chase & Co. agreed to a $16.7 million settlement of a class action lawsuit concerning unpaid overtime. Assistant branch managers of the company claimed that Chase misclassified them as exempt from overtime, in violation of federal and state employment laws. Four classes of plaintiffs brought claims against the company, one under the FLSA and three that claimed violations of New York, Connecticut and Illinois laws respectively. Under the proposed deal, reported bigclassaction.com, the approximately 5,400 employee plaintiffs would receive more than $3,000 per class member representing unpaid overtime dating back to 2012.
Under federal and state employment laws, employers of non-exempt employees are responsible for compensating workers who work more than 40 hours in a week. A number of lawsuits in the past few years have claimed that employers misclassify such workers and fail to pay out overtime wages due.
Richard Manger, principal of Manger Law Firm, has extensive experience in litigation and settlements, with a focus on personal injury and workers’ compensation law. We are proud of the strong relationships of loyalty and trust we develop with our clients. We go above and beyond to achieve the best possible outcome in your case. You can contact Richard Manger via email at ram@mangerlaw.com, or by calling (336) 882-2000.