December 2011: Lloyd Ambinder is asked to return as a contributor to the Polska Gazeta to continue his popular series of articles on employment law. The Polska Gazeta is distributed in New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey, and has a readership of approximately 13,000 people.
December 6, 2011: Virginia & Ambinder, LLP is one of four organizations being honored at the annual New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE) gala for its "pro-bono services to NICE and many sister organizations to ensure that immigrant workers get paid their fair wages."
August 2, 2011: Kara Miller (formerly Belofsky), Esq. of Virginia & Ambinder, LLP is interviewed by LionClubJobSearch.com on the legal rights of "at-will" employees in New York State.
July 29, 2011: New York's brasserie king, Simon Oren, is accused in a just-filed federal class-action suit of underpaying workers at his Upper West Side Parisian-style bistro, French Roast. The workers claim that they were required to regularly work more than 40 hours a week without overtime and received below minimum wage pay in violation of the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act and New York State Labor Law. "Employers, such as French Roast, frequently ignore the wage laws simply to cut costs hoping that their employees, may of whom are often foreign-born, will refrain from enforcing their rights in fear of retribution," said Lloyd Ambinder, a partner at Virginia & Ambinder, LLP.
June 2011: Due to overwhelming interest from the readers of the Polska Gazeta, Lloyd Ambinder is asked to extend his series of articles on employment law. This month, the series explains issues such as tip pooling in the restaurant industry, the new overtime regulations for nannies, and the prevailing wage and hour rights for construction workers. Polska Gazeta is a local New York City newspaper, with distribution in Connecticut and New Jersey, and a readership of approximately 13,000 people.
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June 10, 2011: Lloyd Ambinder authors an article for the Albanian-language newspaper "Illyria" on the rights of workers in the restaurant industry, specifically addressing issues such as the minimum wage, tip credits, overtime pay, tip pooling, and uniform maintenance. Illyria is the only bilingual independent Albanian-American newspaper in the United States.
June 8, 2011: A group of former servers brought suit against a legendary Upper East Side bistro, Demarchelier Restaurant, alleging that they were paid less than minimum wage and forced to work more than 40 hours a week without overtime pay. The servers also alleged that managers regularly and unlawfully withheld a portion of their tips. The lawsuit covers as many as 60 current and former employees of the 30-year-old Demarchelier Restaurant, including servers, hosts, hostesses, bartenders, bar-backs, busboys, runners, dishwashers and cooks.
May 24, 2011: Previously, carpenters, bricklayers, masons and other workers in construction-related trades filed a lawsuit alleging that employer Abax Incorporated underpaid them on wages, overtime, and benefits during the course of their employment on public works contracts. A few days ago, the Appellate Division, First Department issued a decision, stating in part that Virginia & Ambinder, LLP "has demonstrated its expertise and zealous representation of the plaintiffs here, as well as in prior class action cases which have reached this court on appeal.
"May 17, 2011: Former employees of a New York unit of French insurance giant AXA Group filed a federal class-action suit alleging that thousands of U.S. employees worked as many as 60 hours per week but weren't paid minimum wages or overtime. The suit alleges that AXA Financial, AXA Advisors and other related entities hired unlicensed financial product marketers, made them pay for training materials and registration fees, and required them to work without compensation while studying for exams. Virginia & Ambinder, LLP is co-counsel in this action.
May 2011: Lloyd Ambinder of Virginia & Ambinder, LLP authors a series of articles for the Polish language daily "Polska Gazeta," explaining the rights of workers in the workplace, overtime payments, tip credits, unemployment compensation, and prevailing wage and hour rights for construction workers. Polska Gazeta is a local New York City newspaper, with distribution in Connecticut and New Jersey, and a readership of approximately 13,000 people.
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December 14, 2010: Lloyd Ambinder of Virginia & Ambinder, LLP was part of a panel that gave a legal presentation to a large group of mostly Chinese-Americans in Flushing, New York. The panel discussed topics such as the rights of workers in the workplace, overtime payments, tip credits, and unemployment compensation. The discussion was attended by both workers and employers.
November 17, 2010: Former and current employees of Charlie Brown's Restaurant started a class-action lawsuit against the chain in March, alleging that Charlie Brown's failed to properly distribute tips and pay employees for overtime. Notices were recently sent out to Charlie Brown's 9,000 employees, and so far more than 100 have agreed to join the suit. Lloyd Ambinder, of Virginia & Ambinder, LLP, represents the workers in the case. Among the allegations is that waitresses were asked to show up at 11 a.m., but would not be clocked in until their first customers showed up for lunch. Since the start of the lawsuit, Charlie Brown's has closed almost half its eateries, shrinking the popular family chain to 29 locations.
July 1, 2010: WSBTV, an Atlanta area and North Georgia news station, reports that V&A clients are finally getting checks for overtime pay that they say they should have received years ago. It's the result of a settlement of a class action lawsuit against a contractor accused of paying some workers overtime in cash or not at all."
August 19, 2010: Former Penthouse Executive Club cocktail waitress and other employees file a class-action complaint in Manhattan federal court, alleging that they weren't paid minimum wages or overtime for all the hours they worked.
August 18, 2010: Local 78 has lodged a lawsuit against New York Insulation in New York State Supreme Court for allegedly failing to pay adequate wages and benefits to workers in May 2008. The union is represented by Lloyd Ambinder of Virginia & Ambinder, LLP.
May 22, 2009: An Appellate Division panel holds that defense counsel cannot ask plaintiffs about their immigration status during discovery in a putative class action suit alleging an employer cheated its workers out of just compensation and overtime pay.
May 28, 2008: In a sweeping class action lawsuit, several workers suing on behalf of hundreds of New York City construction workers have charged various construction corporations with failure to pay workers the legally required prevailing wage and benefit rates, as well as overtime rates, on dozens of New York City construction projects.
June 6, 2008: New York workers have a common law right to sue for breach of contract to recover payments that they are denied by the nonpayment of prevailing wages on federal public works projects, the Court of Appeals determined on June 5, 2008. Lloyd Ambinder, of Virginia & Ambinder, LLP, represented the workers in the case. The ruling should apply to workers on all federally assisted projects in New York State, not just those involving the housing authority. "There are hundreds and hundreds of workers in existing lawsuits who will also benefit from this decision," Mr. Ambinder said in an interview.
March 5, 2008: New York City construction workers of bankrupt Cema Construction Corporation are granted class certification by a state court. The company is accused of failing to pay its workers prevailing wages and supplemental benefits set fort by the NYS Department of Labor.
January 25, 2007: A state judge rules that several illegal immigrant workers may proceed with a lawsuit against a city construction company for back wages they say were withheld as part of a money laundering scheme. Lloyd Ambinder, attorney for the workers, said that his clients were paid half of what they should have received on projects that included two schools in the Bronx, one in Staten Island, and a housing project in Brooklyn.
Spring 2004: As part of the campaign for justice at the Everest Construction company, workers contacted Lloyd Ambinder to file a suit in 2000 for back pay they rightfully earned. In 2001, Everest's bonding company settled the case, and agreed to compensate the workers $250,000.
April 15, 2003: In an article about affordable housing in New York City, City Limits magazine, an urban affairs news source, quotes Lloyd Ambinder of Virginia & Ambinder, LLP: "We often will bring a lawsuit against as many as seven or eight alleged employers on one project site because the employees simply don't know who they worked for," says Lloyd Ambinder, a labor lawyer who represents construction workers. "It's not uncommon for a worker to come to us and show us nothing more than a couple of business cards and a couple of delivery tickets from supplies that were dropped off at the site, with the name of a contractor on it, and they think that's who their employer is or was."
