Michael Palitz, Author at Shavitz Law Group

December 16, 2021December 16, 2021

Call Center Representatives Score Big Win

In a case handled by attorneys at the Shavitz Law Group, Call Center Representatives recently won a major victory at the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Call Center Representatives performed work each shift while starting up their computers and loading the necessary computer programs to perform their duties.

The employer did not pay for this work which happened on every shift. The employer argued that it did not have to pay for such work.

The Court ruled that the Call Center Representatives are entitled to pay for these tasks, scoring a major victory for the workers in the case.

The case will soon head back to the lower court to determine the amount of damages owed to the workers.

Shavitz Law Group is proud to represent the Call Center Representatives in this case.

If you experienced any unpaid wage issues, please contact us at 800-616-4000 and we can provide a free case evaluation.

August 20, 2021August 23, 2021

Truck Drivers – Are You Being Paid Overtime Wages?

Many companies treat truck drivers and delivery drivers as independent contractors and do not pay them overtime wages. In recent years, courts have held that drivers are employees who are entitled to the protections of state and federal wage laws. That means that many drivers are eligible for overtime pay, health benefits, and workers’ compensation insurance.

Companies like FedEx and Amazon have paid substantial settlements to resolve independent contractor misclassification claims. Some companies exercise so much control over the drivers like setting quotas on deliveries and restrictions on schedules that the drivers are effectively employees. In such situations, courts have found drivers, who were treated as independent contractors by the companies, to be employees who are eligible for protection under state and federal wage laws.

If you worked as a driver and were treated as an independent contractor, please contact the Shavitz Law Group at [email protected] or 800-616-4000. We are available for a free consultation to discuss your rights.

March 5, 2021March 5, 2021

Not Paid Overtime Wages? How Far Back Can You Sue For Damages?

Employees who are the victims of unfair wage practices often wonder how much they can claim in damages. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, which is a federal law that applies to minimum and overtime wage claims, employees can sue for claims arising within the past two years. If an employee can prove that the company willfully violated the law, then they can sue for damages arising within the last three years.

This “willfulness” issue is a big part of any litigation involving unpaid wage claims because an employee could receive an additional year’s worth of damages if they can prove a willful violation of the law. You may be wondering what does “willfulness” mean and how can an employee prove it. An employee just needs to show that an employer knew or should have known that it was violating the law. Employees can prove willfulness if the evidence shows that the employer did not look into the law or whether the employer was complying with the Fair Labor Standards Act.

As you can see, willfulness is a fact-specific issue and varies by case. Some employers are more proactive in their compliance measures and others are not. It is important to aggressively pursue evidence relating to the willfulness issue because significant wages and damages for the employees can be at stake.

Given these two or three year time constraints, it is important to speak with an attorney promptly so your claims do not expire. Please contact the Shavitz Law Group, P.A. at 800-616-4000 or [email protected] if you were the victim of unfair wage practices and would like a free evaluation of your legal claims.

YOU EARNED IT, NOW LETS GO GET IT.

Gregg Shavitz, Shavitz Law Group, 951 Yamato Rd Ste 285, Boca Raton, FL and 800 3rd Ave, Suite 2800, New York, NY. Lawyers licensed in states including FL, NY, NJ, and TX. The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based on advertisements alone.

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February 10, 2021February 10, 2021

Are you being paid for your on-the-job training?

Many companies require employees to take training courses and complete training modules during their employment. Some companies require their employees to complete this training while they are at home and not on the clock. Employees will log into websites and complete required training courses without being paid for the time.

This practice is especially common in the retail, insurance, technology, food service, and medical professions. Employees spend substantial time reviewing training materials and studying for exams and quizzes. They also learn new policies and practices and complete training modules on company websites to demonstrate their knowledge of the materials. However, companies often do not pay employees for this time.

The Fair Labor Standards Act and state wage laws require payment for all time worked. This includes time spent completing required training courses or assignments. If an employer violates these laws, it could be required to pay for all time worked — plus double damages and your attorneys’ fees and costs.

The Shavitz Law Group, P.A. has represented employees who were not paid for all of their training time and achieved significant settlements for them. If you believe that you were wrongfully denied pay for training time, do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected] or at (800) 616-4000 for a free evaluation of your claim.

YOU EARNED IT, NOW LET’S GO GET IT.

Gregg Shavitz, Shavitz Law Group, 951 Yamato Rd Ste 285, Boca Raton, FL and 800 3rd Ave, Suite 2800, New York, NY. Lawyers licensed in states including FL, NY, NJ, and TX. The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based on advertisements alone.

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January 20, 2021January 20, 2021

Are you a salaried worker who is not paid overtime wages?

Many people mistakenly believe that salaried workers are not entitled to overtime pay. However, whether or not salaried workers are owed overtime wages all depends on their job duties.

For example, retail managers are often salaried but perform the same duties as their hourly co-workers like cleaning the store and stocking shelves. Similarly, bank managers spend a lot of time performing customer service and working on the teller line. The same holds true in the restaurant industry where managers cook food, clean the restaurant, and serve customers. In these examples, if a salaried “manager” spends most of their time doing non-management work, they then may be owed overtime wages because their duties are not primarily management.

Over the last ten years, salaried workers have sued companies for overtime pay and recovered tens of millions of dollars in settlements and judgments.

If you are a salaried worker and believe you may be entitled to unpaid overtime overtime wages, Shavitz Law Group is here to help. Please contact the Shavitz Law Group at (561) 447-8888 or visit us at www.shavitzlaw.com for a free, no obligation review of your circumstances and consultation regarding your rights.

YOU EARNED IT, NOW LET’S GO GET IT.

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January 13, 2021January 13, 2021

Are you getting paid when you work through your meal breaks?

No matter which industry employees work in, taking a complete and uninterrupted meal break is nearly impossible. This is exacerbated in our modern world where it seems like everyone is constantly on call and connected. Co-workers email and text each other nearly all day. Employees may stop to take a meal break but then get interrupted by a co-worker who needs help addressing a work issue or customer matter. But, that employee never completes their meal break. Employees often take unpaid meal breaks and do not get paid when they work during those breaks.

Did you know that employers must pay employees for meal breaks that are interrupted for work? Employees must be completely relieved from duty for the purposes of eating their meals. If you work during a meal break, your employer must pay you for that time.

If you are made to work during any part of your unpaid meal break – including communicating with co-workers about work matters – or if you have any other issues with not being paid for all time you work, we are here to help. Please contact the Shavitz Law Group at (561) 447-8888 or visit us at www.shavitzlaw.com for a free, no obligation review of your circumstances and consultation regarding your rights.

YOU EARNED IT, NOW LET’S GO GET IT.

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December 9, 2020December 9, 2020

Looking Forward to Potential Employment Law Changes in 2021

2020: it’s been a very tough year. Our country is still suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic. Unemployment levels are high and people cannot return to work “as normal” given the challenges of the virus spread and containing it.

There’s reason to be optimistic for the future, though. Recently, multiple companies announced vaccines that appear to be very successful in controlling the virus. If these vaccines prove successful, we can look forward to getting the coronavirus under control next year and returning to life as it was pre-pandemic.

What does that mean for employment law? With the new administration entering the White House, you can anticipate that many new employee-friendly laws will be proposed. Some potential laws that we predict are:

● Mandates for businesses to provide personal protective equipment to employees to keep them safe going forward;
● Protections for workers who are working from home to ensure that they are being paid for all time worked and companies are accurately tracking their hours worked;
● Preventing companies from forcing workers to give up their rights to bring cases in court through one-sided arbitration agreements;
● Laws eliminating the gender pay disparity between men and women; and,
● Laws creating universal paid sick days and 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave.

We also anticipate a large-scale investment program to bolster small businesses that suffered during the pandemic. This investment will allow small businesses to get back on their feet and grow the local economy, which, in turn, will lead to increased employment and a stronger economy.
This year has brought enormous heartache and pain to countless Americans. Yet, the future remains bright. Together, we will overcome this virus, stronger and more resilient than ever.

If you have questions about whether your employer is violating the new federal requirements, or if you have any other employment concerns, please do not hesitate to call the Shavitz Law Group for a free consultation at (800) 616-4000.

YOU EARNED IT, NOW LETS GO GET IT.
Gregg Shavitz, Shavitz Law Group, 951 Yamato Rd Ste 285, Boca Raton, FL and 800 3rd Ave, Suite 2800, New York, NY. Lawyers licensed in states including FL, NY, NJ, and TX. The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based on advertisements alone.
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November 11, 2020November 11, 2020

Are You Paid When You Work Through Your Lunch Breaks?

Have you ever sat down to eat your lunch and have a co-worker interrupt you with a work question? Have you ever clocked out for lunch only to be interrupted by a customer needing help?

Before you know it, you’ve spent your lunch period working and you never got a break. Even worse, your employer required you to clock out for lunch so you never got paid for your work. When you work during a lunch break, the law requires that employers pay for such time. However, many workers never get paid for this time.

In order for a meal break to be unpaid time, the law requires that the employee be “completely relieved of duty.” For example, eating at your desk while continuing to respond to e-mails or doing other computer tasks is work for which you should be paid.

This unpaid wage issue is prevalent in many different industries. Retail and restaurant workers frequently get interrupted to help customers during their breaks. Drivers, installers, and delivery workers typically travel from location to location during the day and never have time to take a full meal break. Office workers face the same issues with e-mails, phone calls, and supervisors’ demands interrupting their lunch break time. Nurses and other medical workers frequently get called to help patients during their lunch breaks.

Shavitz Law Group is here to help. When facing lawsuits for these claims, employers have paid substantial amounts of money to settle the claims. If you worked through lunch breaks without being paid, please contact us at [email protected] or 800-616-4000.

YOU EARNED IT, NOW LETS GO GET IT.

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August 27, 2020September 2, 2020

Gig Economy – When “Independent Contractors” Are Eligible for Employee Benefits

Many people work in the “gig economy.” They drive for Uber or Lyft; they provide food delivery services for Postmates or Grubhub; they also deliver groceries through Amazon. Many gig workers have “independent contractor” agreements with these companies which provide them with terms of compensation. Oftentimes, these agreements do not include overtime pay or benefits. In fact, not paying overtime and providing benefits is one of the reasons companies have these agreements — they save big bucks by not paying workers what they’re rightfully owed.

Recently, employees have challenged their “independent contractor” status, arguing that
the agreements closely control the employees’ work. For example, these companies
often dictate to which customers they deliver and when they must work. Depending on
the level of control, courts have found that many “independent contractors” are really not
independent contractors, but rather that they are employees and must be compensated
accordingly with overtime pay, unemployment benefits, and appropriate breaks.

Shavitz Law Group, P.A. has successfully helped many employees who have challenged
their classification as independent contractors. If you work as a driver, courier, or other
type of independent contractor and you’re curious whether you should be paid overtime
wages and other benefits, please contact us at [email protected] or 800-616-4000.
We have will provide a free consultation and assess whether you are properly classified.

YOU EARNED IT, NOW LETS GO GET IT.

Gregg Shavitz, Shavitz Law Group, 951 Yamato Rd Ste 285, Boca Raton, FL and 800
3rd Ave, Suite 2800, New York, NY. Lawyers licensed in states including FL, NY, NJ,
and TX. The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based on
advertisements alone.
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July 1, 2020July 1, 2020

Call Center and Customer Service Representatives: Are You Being Paid for All Time Worked?

Many call center and customer service representatives are not paid correctly. These employees arrive at work before the start of their shift to allow time to boot up their computers, load the necessary programs and software to perform their tasks, and review e-mail correspondence to be ready to take calls. However, many call center and customer service representatives do not start getting paid until they clock in after performing all of these tasks.

Companies often tell these employees not to clock in until they are “call ready.” However, the call center and customer service representatives spend about 5 to 10 minutes each shift working to become “call ready.” They are not paid for this time. These employees often clock out and finish up paperwork while off-the-clock and without being paid. Over the course of a month, this adds up!

The U.S. Department of Labor stated that call center and customer service representatives must be paid for the time spent starting the computer to download work instructions, computer applications, and work-related emails. Some states have even stronger workplace laws protecting these employees.

However, companies still do not comply with the laws and these workers get shorted out of hundreds or thousands of dollars per year.

In addition, many call center and customer service representatives work unpaid time during their training period. Companies often require these workers to study training materials and company policies and procedures at home. Yet, these companies do not pay these workers for this time in violation of the wage laws.

In recent years, our law firm has represented hundreds of Call Center and Customer Service Representatives in unpaid wage cases. We take on the largest companies in America who try to take advantage of our clients.

If you worked in a call center or customer service representative role and want to learn about your rights, please contact The Shavitz Law Group at [email protected] or at 800-616-4000 for a free consultation. We would be happy to assist you in a free consultation to discuss your employment concerns.

YOU EARNED IT, NOW LETS GO GET IT.

Gregg Shavitz, Shavitz Law Group, 951 Yamato Rd Ste 285, Boca Raton, FL and 800 3rd Ave, Suite 2800, New York, NY. Lawyers licensed in states including FL, NY, NJ, and TX. The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based on advertisements alone.
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