Long Island Employment Law Blog

New York employers may believe that a worker is exempt from overtime pay if he or she is given a management title. However, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that a man who worked as a building manager could be entitled to such pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The man claimed that 90 percent of his duties while working for Total Management Solutions involved cleaning outside of his role as building manager.

While a district court found this claim to lack merit, the 2nd Circuit disagreed with that court's findings. It relied on testimony from the man, who claimed that TMS did not give him the authority to hire or fire workers. He also claimed to lack authority to promote workers or discipline them. While the 2nd Circuit never said that the man proved his claim, it did say that there was enough evidence to hear the case.

Female workers in New York and throughout the country may be victims of the wage gap. Research has shown that this gap exists in almost all sectors of the economy, and both the domestic and global economies could be larger if it were eliminated. It is estimated that the American economy would grow by $512 billion according to data from the Institute for Women's Policy Research. The global economy could grow by $12 trillion if everyone were paid equally for equal work.

On average, a women has to work 15 months to earn what a man earns working for 12 months. This is because a typical female worker makes 80.5 cents for every dollar earned by a male. However, black and Latina workers make only 63 and 54 cents for each dollar a man makes. If paid equally, it could make it easier for female employees to pay bills, save for retirement and be a larger part of a community's tax base.

According to a lawsuit filed on behalf of a former employee of Red Rooster, the fine-dining location in Harlem discriminated against black men. The plaintiff began employment as a porter in 2014 and earned a promotion to bartender in 2016. He said that he usually represented the only member of his race among the ranks of bartenders at the restaurant where he believes that management wanted to avoid placing black people in that position.

The man further alleges that his lawful request to take a leave to care for his ailing mother prompted his dismissal. He had gained approval to take two months off for family leave, but then the company fired him two days after granting the leave. A statement from the company attributed his dismissal to repeated warnings about the way he poured drinks.

People in New York who fly United Airlines might be interested to learn that the airline has been successfully sued for age discrimination. The flight attendants, who are now 59 and 66, were terminated five years ago. At the time, they had a total of 70 years of experience with the airline. In 2015, they filed an age discrimination lawsuit against United in Denver.

On March 5, a jury awarded $800,000 to the two. United will also be required to pay all legal fees, so the total cost to the airline will be around $1.5 million.