Federal Magistrate Judge Orders Chewy to Produce CEO Emails

In a hearing before a Federal Magistrate Judge this week, Chewy, the pet product company, was ordered to turn over certain emails of their CEO, Sumit Singh.

The case involves a lawsuit for employment discrimination against Chewy. Michael Krumpak of Oakland Park, Florida was a former Director at Chewy until he was terminated. His lawsuit claims that he was terminated because of his age and his sexual preference. The lawsuit alleges that he was shunned by management after he attended a party with his husband.

Krumpak’s attorneys at Coane and Associates of Hallandale Beach, argued that emails of the CEO relating to Krumpak’s termination were relevant and the judge agreed. The company had objected to turning over the emails, but was ordered to do so this week by the Federal Magistrate Judge in Fort Lauderdale.

The case is expected to be set for trial later this year.

Bruce Coane is is a lawyer handling wrongful termination cases throughout the United States for over 30 years. He is a 2020 Super Lawyer selected by Thomson Reuters company, with offices in Texas and Florida. He may be reached at bruce.coane@gmail.com or 713.850.0066 or 305.538.6800. The law firm website is http://www.coane.com.

Employee Rights: Exceptions to Employment at Will

Here is a video where I talk about exceptions to employment at will. So many people tell me that they were fired or suffered wrongful termination and never talked to an employment lawyer because their state has employment at will. They are shocked when I tell them that there are EXCEPTIONS to employment at will, and many employees have recourse where they thought they had none. As a lawyer who has handled wrongful termination cases across the United States for over 30 years, I can tell you it is certainly worthwhile to talk to a wrongful termination lawyer or employment lawyer about your legal rights.

At Coane and Associates, PLLC our wrongful termination lawyers represent individuals in discrimination cases under federal law, throughout America. We can be reached at 713.850.0066 or 305.538.6800, or by email, bruce.coane@gmail.com.

U.S.Department of Labor Enforces Overtime Pay Laws

I attended a luncheon today of the National Employment Lawyers Association and the speaker was an Asst. District Director of the U.S.Department of Labor.

She spoke about enforcement actions. Their agency investigates complaints about violations of wage and hour laws. In particular, she talked about enforcement actions and investigations particularly concerning restaurants and funeral homes. She also talked about the misclassification of workers.

Workers can be misclassified by employers in two ways. One, they can be called independent contractors, when in fact they should be an “employee” entitled to overtime pay for hours worked in excess of 40 in a week.

Second, some workers are classified as exempt from overtime when they clearly are non-exempt. This happens especially when an employee is paid a salary. Some employees think that if they are paid a salary, they are not entitled to overtime pay. This is NOT the law. While being paid a salary is one piece of evidence, the key is whether the employee is performing non-exempt job duties, such as menial or routine tasks.

While the Department of Labor can investigate such issues, the speaker noted that they are swamped with complaints and often suggest the individual get a private attorney. At our law firm, we often represent individuals who have overtime claims against an employer.

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About the author: Bruce Coane is an attorney who specializes in labor and employment law, and, immigration law, with offices in Florida and Texas. He may be reached at houstonlaw@aol.com, 713-850-0066 or 305-538-6800.

Facebook Users Talk About Giving Employers Their Passwords

NBC-Miami interview of me regarding employers asking for Facebook passwords

Read the full article here.

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About the author: Bruce Coane is an attorney who specializes in labor and employment law, and, immigration law, with offices in Florida and Texas. He may be reached at houstonlaw@aol.com, 713-850-0066 or 305-538-6800.

Facebook Password Required at Job Interview?

Is a prospective employee required to give their Facebook password at a job interview? Clearly an invasion of privacy? Well, believe it or not, there is no law about any of this.

Last week, members of the U.S.Senate, asked for an investigation, but the truth is, the matter had never been addressed. Employers are always coming up with new and creative ways to fire employees, and now they have a new method to use in the hiring process. Will Congress or state legislatures stop them? I sure hope so!

I noticed that one senator asked the EEOC to look into the matter. However, the EEOC investigates complaints of discrimination based on age, race, sex, etc., but certainly no issues involving privacy. I guess the senator was looking for some avenue, and the EEOC is about the only avenue for wronged employees. Unfortunately, the EEOC would have to make quite a stretch to link a Facebook password with unlawful discrimination against a particular group.

It will be interesting to watch how this new area of employment law develops. No doubt, soon enough, I’ll have clients coming in with these issues.

photo from: Forbes.com
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About the author: Bruce Coane is an attorney who specializes in labor and employment law, and, immigration law, with offices in Florida and Texas. He may be reached at houstonlaw@aol.com, 713-850-0066 or 305-538-6800.

Employee Rights: Pregnancy Discrimination is Illegal

Employers and companies all have anti-discriminatory policies, unfortunately even if this is so, there are still cases where employees experience and endure this. One form of employment discrimination that does not get much publicity, is pregnancy discrimination where employers are bias over their pregnant workers, forcing them to take a leave, work shorter hours or even discharging them because of their pregnancy. My law firm, Coane and Associates, handles a few of these cases every year.

Here is an interesting article about pregnancy discrimination : Pregnancy Discrimination in America.

photo from: Babble.com
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About the author: Bruce Coane is an attorney who specializes in labor and employment law, and, immigration law, with offices in Florida and Texas. He may be reached at houstonlaw@aol.com, 713-850-0066 or 305-538-6800.

Coane & Associates settled claim for overtime pay

A sushi chef in Miami, recently settled his claim for overtime pay. Our client had worked as a sushi chef at Yukihana Japanese Restaurant in Miami. He was paid a salary, but he was working over 40 hours a week. He never received overtime pay.

Many workers believe that, if they receive a salary, they are prohibited from getting overtime pay. Quite simply, that is not true. In fact, even if an employee gets paid with a salary rather than an hourly wage, they could be entitled to overtime pay for hours worked in excess of 40 in a week. The key is whether the employee is administrative, professional,executive or a manager. If the employee does not work in an administrative capacity, or is not a professional, manager or executive, then he could be entitled to overtime pay.

In some cases, it could be argued that a sushi chef or other chef supervises workers and is a manager, therefore not entitling them to overtime pay. And, that is true, that if someone works as a manager and supervises all day, then they may not be entitled to overtime pay. On the other hand, if the majority of the chef’s duties are preparation and cooking, then a case could be made that they are entitled to overtime even though they do some supervision.

In this case, we reached a settlement with the employer, and our sushi chef client received pay for the overtime hours he worked while he was at the restaurant.

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Bruce Coane is a leading lawyer with 30 years of experience in the field of immigration law and employment law. He may be reached via email at houstonlaw@aol.com or his website at Coane and Associates.

Answer YES if your employer is not a…

Answer: YES….if your employer is not a government agency.

Many employees think that they are protected by “freedom of speech” found in the First Amendment to the Constitution. This may be true if your employer is a government agency, however, the first amendment does not otherwise apply to non-government employers. If you work for a big corporation or a small company, they CAN fire you if you criticize them on Facebook or elsewhere. The reason for this is that most states have “employment at will” which allows an employer to fire employees at any time for any reason, or no reason at all. Facebook postings are NOT protected speech under the First Amendment when it concerns a job with a non-government employer.

If a non-government employer fires you for Facebook comments, you may still be able to collect unemployment, because your exercise of free speech (especially if true) is typically not a legitimate grounds for termination. As such, the unemployment board will often allow unemployment compensation in this situation.

Because of “employment at will”, an employee will often have no remedy for being fired due to a Facebook posting or any other critical comment about their employer. In most states, the only remedies come from federal and state civil rights statutes, namely, discrimination based on age, race, sex, national origin, religion or disability. Unless you can connect your termination due to a Facebook posting to discrimination, there will generally be no valid claim for wrongful termination.

It is important for employees to keep these general rules in mind when they seek to express their feelings about work, over the internet.

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Bruce Coane is a leading lawyer with 30 years of experience in the field of immigration law and employment law. He may be reached via email at houstonlaw@aol.com or his website at Coane and Associates.