Last week, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed a law making some significant changes to the overtime exemption rules in the Buckeye State. SB47, which the legislature passed last month, exempts certain activities from overtime pay if they are preliminary or postliminary to the principal word activities. For example, traveling to or from the actual place…
Read More »You know about the unionizing issues that Starbucks is confronting, but it also has been hit with a class action lawsuit alleging that the company’s youth recruitment program equated to “a blatant campaign of age discrimination in hiring”. A 59-year-old former manager filed a proposed class action to include all individuals over the age of…
Read More »A class action lawsuit was filed this week in Chicago against McDonalds alleging the company hasn’t acted sufficiently to protect its employees in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. If you take the longer view, you can see the allies lining up and checking the requisite boxes over the past few months to initiate such…
Read More »Last week, we advised that the U.S. District Court gave final approval to a $5.54 billion settlement in the class action lawsuit against VISA, MasterCard and the largest card-issuing banks over card swipe fees and overcharges to businesses since 2004. We also reported that DDIFO is in discussions with Class Action Refunds to possibly provide…
Read More »In mid-December, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York granted final approval of a $5.54 billion settlement in the lawsuit brought by merchants against VISA, MasterCard and the largest card-issuing banks. The class action lawsuit was initiated on behalf of merchants that accepted VISA or MasterCard since January 1, 2004 and…
Read More »For several years now, businesses have been plagued by litigation alleging violations of the American with Disabilities Act (whether violations existed or not) in order to extract a financial settlement (small enough to be worth settling, but large enough to be a problem) from the business owner. Such lawsuits become known as “drive-by lawsuits”. For…
Read More »Before the ink was even dry on the California Governor’s signature on Assembly Bill 5 (the sweeping worker classification law that codified the Dynamex decision) last week, rideshare company Uber was hit with a class-action suit alleging the company had illegally misclassified its drivers as independent contractors rather than employees. The plaintiff’s attorney, Shannon Liss-Riordan…
Read More »The bulk of the news on Dunkin’ this week focused on the name change dropping donuts that was announced in Las Vegas. There are other items to note however. First off, we want to congratulate Dunkin’ franchisee (and current CFA Chairman) John Motta on his reelection last week as the President of the USA Adult…
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You have a lot of people with their eye on your money,” Attorney Christopher Menihan warned franchisees attending the DDIFO National Conference. “If your network happens to get hit, one of these is enough to topple everything you’ve been working for.” Menihan is an associate with Lisa & Sousa, DDIFO’s General Counsel. And, he was…
Read More »By a 5-4 decision released earlier this week, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) confirmed that employers have the right to require employees address grievances through arbitration and not class action litigation. With so many recent frivolous issues being litigated against small business employers recently (butter v. margarine, real blueberries v blueberry filling,…
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