Atlanta Employment Attorneys Blog

Claim Preclusion and the Impact It Potentially Can Have on Your Unpaid Overtime Lawsuit in Georgia

November 9, 2021 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

Having the right Atlanta unpaid overtime lawyer on your side can be priceless. In addition to all of the things your attorney will do, he/she may also provide incalculable value in the mistakes that he/she helps you avoid.

There are actually multiple ways that you can steer your case badly. One way is by taking action, but then taking the wrong action.

Although not from Georgia, a driver’s recent unpaid overtime case is a good example. Two months after leaving her job with a transportation services company, the driver sued. Her lawsuit stated that she was seeking compensation for “monies arising out of nonpayment of wages.”

A Fired Hospital Executive Recovers a $10M Discrimination Award After Accusing His Employer of Firing Him for Being White and Male

October 29, 2021 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

The discrimination that women and people of color have historically faced is well-known. Many employers are aware, too, and have sought to take steps to increase the diversity of their workforces. As with almost anything, however, there’s a right way and a wrong way. Employers whose diversity initiatives fall into the “wrong way” column may find themselves in violation of laws banning race or sex discrimination. If you are someone who’s been harmed because your employer impermissibly discriminated against you based on sex and/or race, you may be entitled to significant compensation, even if you’re male and white. Regardless of your race or gender, you owe it to yourself to get in touch with an experienced Atlanta employment discrimination lawyer and discuss your legal options.

Earlier this week, the outcome of a discrimination case made headlines across the country, receiving coverage from major sources like The New York Times, CBS News, CNN, and Newsweek. What made the case newsworthy to many of these publications was the fact that the plaintiff was a white man.

The employee, who was the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications for a network of physician clinics and hospitals, started his job in August 2013. According to his lawsuit, on July 30, 2018, just five days shy of his fifth anniversary with the company, the vice president was summoned into a meeting and, without any prior notice, fired immediately.

Compensable Idle Time, Unpaid Meal Breaks and Your Unpaid Overtime Case in Georgia

October 22, 2021 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

In a line from a popular 1999 workplace comedy film, the main character described his workweek thusly: “I just stare at my desk, but it looks like I’m working… I’d say in a given workweek I only do about 15 minutes of real, actual work.” Idle time at work is a reality at many jobs. How your employer does (or doesn’t) credit that idle time when it comes to paying you — including overtime pay — potentially can be a basis for an employer’s legal liability under the Fair Labor Standards Act. If you think your employer has underpaid you in violation of the law, get in touch with an Atlanta unpaid overtime lawyer right away.

Determining pay for workers’ idle time sometimes can present challenges. As an example, consider this unpaid overtime case involving employees of a federal government contractor.

The employer was an entity tasked with providing security on the flights the U.S. government provides to take certain deported immigrants back to their home countries. The employees were the security officers on those flights.

What the ‘Economic Reality Test’ Is and How It May Impact Your Unpaid Overtime Case in Georgia

October 15, 2021 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

For many people who need to pursue legal action for unpaid overtime, one of the biggest hurdles they must clear is establishing that they are employees and not independent contractors, as independent contractors are not entitled to overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Success in this regard involves utilizing the “economic reality test” established under federal law. Utilizing this test to your maximum benefit can be critical to your success, so it is vitally important that you have an experienced Atlanta unpaid overtime lawyer on your side from the very start.

To get an idea of this “economic reality test” in action, there’s this recent FLSA case from the federal court for the Northern District of Georgia. The plaintiffs were maintenance workers who alleged that, over an extended period, they were deprived of substantial amounts of overtime pay.

The group of handymen did maintenance work for an entity created to provide maintenance and property rehab services to a residential property management company. R.K., one of the workers, alleged that he “worked an average of ’60-plus hours a week'” during the period from April 2018 to January 2019 but did not get paid any overtime.

The Georgia Court of Appeals Revives the Case of a Whistleblower Who Exposed Alleged Impropriety at the County Jail

October 8, 2021 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

One of the more stressful things you can encounter at work is discovering hidden wrongdoing by others. Even more stressful is when you’re a public employee and it becomes incumbent upon you to disclose that misconduct. If you’ve done so and you’ve been fired as a result, you have suffered a wrongful termination in violation of the Georgia Whistleblower Act. Contact a knowledgeable Atlanta whistleblower protection lawyer right away to begin taking the necessary steps.

A.B., an employee of a north Georgia sheriff’s department from 2001 until his firing in July 2014, alleged that he was one of those wrongfully terminated whistleblowers. That 2014 termination was preceded by a January 2014 incident where a jail officer used excessive force against an inmate. A.B., the supervisor on duty, prepared a written report. Concerned the excessive force incident might get swept under the rug, he also reported the occurrence to a lieutenant with the Office of Professional Standards (OPS).

Just a few weeks later, A.B.’s supervisor disciplined him, ostensibly for “neglect of duty.” Allegedly, the supervisor cautioned him never to contact OPS because “we’re going to take care of our own in the jail.”

You May Be Entitled to Overtime Pay in Georgia, Even if Your Job Title Says You’re a ‘Manager’

September 30, 2021 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

Your employer may engage in various tactics that result in your not getting the total pay you deserve, including when it comes to overtime pay. Those techniques may be intentional or they may be negligent but, either way, they may be a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and may entitle you to receive compensation. Time to act and seek that compensation is limited, however, so make sure you contact a knowledgeable Atlanta overtime lawyer right away if you think you have been illegally denied the overtime you deserve.

A case from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is a prime example. What started as an investigation into improper employment practices at a single golf driving range eventually expanded… by a great deal. By the time the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division finished, a Texas-based employer was on the hook for $750,000 in improperly unpaid overtime wages to more than 250 employers in 25 states. That group included 11 driving range employees here in the Atlanta area.

Of the $750,000, nearly $50,000 went to those 11 Georgia employees, including $16,000 to four employees at the Alpharetta driving range and nearly $33,000 to seven employees at the West Midtown location.

A North Georgia Woman’s Lawsuit Accuses a Major Pharmaceutical Firm of Discriminating Against Older Job Applicants

September 24, 2021 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

One of the bigger challenges many older workers face in seeking out new jobs is competing against younger applicants. Some employers may subtly (and sometimes not-so-subtly) tilt the hiring process toward those younger applicants, culling the older applicants at the initial stage or, at least, very early in the process. If that has happened to you, the employer may have engaged in illegal age discrimination. Here in Georgia, you potentially have the option of both state law and federal law claims for age discrimination. By working with the right Atlanta age discrimination lawyer, you can develop a plan best tailored to generate success in your case.

G.E. was one of those older workers. The Suwanee-based sales professional was in her early 50s when she began applying for available sales representative jobs with a major pharmaceutical company’s diabetes and primary care areas in 2018. After each application, the employer allegedly summarily rejected G.E. or rejected her after only an initial interview.

According to G.E.’s age discrimination lawsuit, none of this happened by accident or coincidence. The employer allegedly had a policy of skewing toward “Millenials” and “Early Career Professionals” in its hiring for positions like the ones G.E. sought. In fact, the employer allegedly had extreme hiring quotas, where managers sought to fill some sales positions with at least 40% Millenials, all the way up to 100% Millenials for other jobs.

A New Federal Court Minimum Wage Ruling Could Offer Huge Benefits for Some Tipped Workers in Georgia

September 17, 2021 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

If you work in many parts of the service industry, you know the importance of tips to your overall income. That’s because tipped workers’ base minimum “cash wage” is only $2.13 per hour under the Fair Labor and Standards Act. There are circumstances, though, where your employer is not entitled to pay you this lower wage, even if your job position is that of a tipped worker. If you think that you’ve been unfairly denied your proper wages, you should act without delay to contact an Atlanta minimum wage lawyer.

Some places have state laws that impose higher minimum wage obligations on employers than the FLSA does. Georgia is not one of those states. The federal law, though, does erect some rules to safeguard tipped workers. As a recent minimum wage case reminds us, one of those things is that, even if you work as a tipped restaurant server, your employer cannot pay you the tipped worker wage and then assign you to tasks that do not allow you to earn tips.

L.R., the plaintiff, worked as a server at a diner. According to the server, the employer required her to perform various tasks other than serving guests. These jobs included an array of things, ranging from re-stocking the salad bar to cleaning the restaurant to rolling silverware inside napkins. None of these tasks involved interacting with customers so none of the time spent on them presented an opportunity to earn a tip.

11th Circuit Court Says that Farm Workers Were Entitled to Overtime for the Hours They Spent Transporting Other Workers to and from Work

September 10, 2021 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

There are many ways in which a Fair Labor Standards Act violation can occur. One of those is when your employer fails to pay you overtime for the work you did in excess of 40 hours in a week. This failure could mean missing out on a substantial amount of pay. Your employer may try to avoid paying and avoid liability by arguing that the FLSA does not entitle you to receive overtime pay. When that happens to you, fight back with an experienced Atlanta unpaid overtime lawyer.

You probably already know that certain groups of workers are described as “exempt” when it comes to the overtime provisions of the FLSA. In other words, employers do not violate the law when they fail to pay those workers overtime. Generally, a lot of folks associate “exempt employee” jobs with “white collar” salaried positions. These workers aren’t the only ones who are exempt. Another group of exempt workers is agricultural workers.

As the overtime case of a fruit harvesting and hauling company based in Florida reveals, though, not all work done in connection with an agricultural operation is, in fact, covered by the agriculture exemption to the FLSA. In other words, just because you work in the agriculture business, that does not automatically mean you cannot be owed overtime pay.

A New Ruling from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Means a New (and Lower) Hurdle for Federal Workers Pursuing Age Discrimination Actions

August 30, 2021 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

A new ruling from the federal appeals court based in Atlanta is good news for federal government workers – especially for those who incur age discrimination on the job, as that recent ruling has lowered the hurdle you need to clear to succeed. As is true of any type of discrimination you suffer on the job, age discrimination is potentially devastating. Don’t try to take on your legal action alone. Instead, reach out to and retain an experienced Atlanta age discrimination lawyer to represent you.

The underlying age discrimination case that spawned this ruling was one pitting a pharmacist against her employer, the Department of Veterans Affairs. The agency allegedly had instituted a system for granting promotions that discriminated against older workers and female workers. The pharmacist testified on behalf of two colleagues after they filed complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and later filed her own EEOC complaint.

After going all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court last year, the pharmacist’s case returned to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this year. In that most recent ruling, the 11th Circuit clarified what the proper standard of analysis was for cases involving federal government workers who alleged claims of age discrimination and/or retaliation.