Virginia & Ambinder in the Press

A New York federal judge said Amazon cannot dodge a former employee's paid military leave suit... U.S. District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis denied Amazon's bid to dismiss Caonaissa Won's proposed class action, saying the reservist made a plausible comparison between jury duty and military leave because, in both cases, employees don't know when they will be out of work.

"Military leave is compulsory in the way described by Won because 'guardsmen have no individual voice in selecting the weeks they will be on active duty,' rather, '[m]ilitary superiors set the time for training which is both compulsory and short,'" Judge Garaufis said.

"In a unanimous, unpublished opinion, the panel revived Savannah Barrows' suit against Brinker Restaurant Corp., which owns Chili's Grill and Bar. The panel said the former server did present enough evidence through her declaration denying she ever signed an arbitration agreement with the company to move her suit forward, despite the lower court's concern that Barrows' testimony alone could not survive Chili's bid to compel arbitration and summary judgment... James Emmet Murphy of Virginia & Ambinder LLP, who represents Barrows, told Law360 on Tuesday that his team is pleased the court found that, at minimum, an arbitration agreement can only be enforceable if a worker actually agreed to it. 'All too often employers are able to prevent workers from vindicating their rights through the use of mandatory arbitration agreements that workers do not understand, assent to nor are even aware of,' Murphy said... Barrows is represented by James Emmet Murphy and Michele A. Moreno of Virginia & Ambinder LLP."

But Won, represented by Virginia & Ambinder, says that since at least 2004 Amazon has refused to pay workers who take 30 days or less of military leave even while it covers the wages of employees who take short-term, non-military leave.

"Benjamin worked at a Manhattan CVS from February 2019 through October. She was paid the minimum wage in New York City of $15 an hour. Jack Newhouse, an attorney for Benjamin, told Law360 on Friday that she did not leave the job for reasons related to the lawsuit."

"In a one-page order Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman backed a November arbitration win for the New York City District Council of Carpenters and trustees of related benefit funds that awarded them over $3 million for unpaid contributions from New Jersey-based J.H. Reid General Contractor."

“Sometimes communicating online there may be a tendency to be more casual with communications,” said LaDonna Lusher, New York-based partner with Virginia & Ambinder LLP, whose practice focuses on employment and discrimination law and who represents employees. “They need to be conducting business with the professionalism they would normally. Hopefully.”

"I believe that there is a culture at the Bloomberg NYC location that is not adequately addressing discrimination and employee complaints," said Kara Miller, a lawyer representing former Bloomberg employee Andreea Orent, who sued the company in August 2017 alleging discrimination and unlawful retaliation over disability. "That's causing more lawsuits than another company might face, which might have more procedures."

Miller said she's aware of other "actions" and "allegations of discrimination" at the company, though declined to go into detail, citing confidentiality.

"Although defendant and the Union entered into a memorandum of agreement (MOA) in February 2016 that modified the CBA to mandate arbitration for Labor Law claims, plaintiff's employment with defendant ended on approximately August 24, 2015, and neither she nor any other class member who was not employed by defendant when the MOA was entered into is bound by the MOA's arbitration provision"

"Tiara Jocko, a banquet and catering server at the Syracuse hotel since 2013, alleges in the lawsuit filed May 21 in state Supreme Court in Onondaga County that the hotel adds a 22% “service charge” onto banquet customers’ bills but does not give any of the money to its restaurant and catering employees."

"Moosnick said this will be an opportunity for her to gain more experience in traditional union representation to build on her previous work in union employee benefits."

“We hear these stories routinely,” LaDonna Lusher, a lawyer who frequently represents home health aides, tells LaborPress. “It’s really common for them to have to sleep in armchairs next to the patient.” She argues that as aides are required to be at the workplace for 24 hours straight and that care protocols often dictate that they have to turn the patient over every couple hours at night, they are effectively on duty for the full 24 hours.

"Named plaintiffs Savannah Barrows and Michael Mendez allege that since 2013, Chili’s Grill & Bar parent company Brinker International Inc. has failed to pay them the correct minimum wage, withheld their tips and has not provided "spread of hour" compensation, which entitles any restaurant employee whose workday runs longer than 10 hours to receive one hour's pay at the basic minimum hourly wage rate under New York Labor Law."