California OKs class-action suits for unpaid overtime
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Arbitration policies can't stop litigation The California Supreme Court ruled this week that employees who claim they've been cheated out of overtime can sue their employer, whether or not the company's arbitration policy forbids class actions.â¦
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(InfoWorld) - Washington State's highest court on Thursday let a class-action lawsuit alleging overcharging by Cingular Wireless go forward. The state Supreme Court said a clause in Cingular's contract that prevented subscribers from starting class-action suits was unfair and sent the case back to the trial court in King County where it began. The suit was filed in 2004 on behalf of a small number of Washington customers of Cingular Wireless, now part of AT&T Inc. It said the carrier advertised free roaming in areas covered by AT&T Wireless, which was then a separate company, but hit the customers with roaming charges anyway. It also said customers were improperly charged for long distance on some calls, said Douglas Dunham, an attorney representing the plaintiffs. They alleged Cingular had overcharged customers between $1 and $40 per month. The plaintiffs' attempt to start a class-action suit was blocked by a clause in the Cingular customer contract, which said disgruntled subscribers couldn't form or join classes to sue the carrier. As a result, they didn't even get to the stage of finding out how many customers in Washington or nationally may have been affected, Dunham said. Now that they have won on appeal, the plaintiffs will pursue a class action, he said. AT&T is studying the ruling, spokesman Walt Sharp said. The carrier could appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, according to F. Paul Bland, staff attorney at Public Justice, a public-interest law firm in Washington, D.C., that helped argue the plaintiffs' case. In cases involving small amounts of money, consumers need to be able to pursue class actions, Bland said. "Cingular was trying to write a contract term that would make it impossible for their customers to vindicate their legal rights ... if Cingular cheated them out of small sums of money," Bland said. "Even though Cingular broke its contract and engaged in a bait-and-switch that netted it millions of dollars, almost no individuals would ever be able to take their claims forward and get justice." The decision will make it harder for other companies, such as credit card issuers, to introduce similar bans on class-action suits in Washington, Dunham predicted. In the Cingular case, it will probably take several months to get the class of plaintiffs certified and to gauge damages, he said. The case might not go to trial for two years, he added.
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State courts in Missouri and New York split on whether worker lawsuits claiming unpaid wages should be granted class-action status.
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The Supreme Court ruled Monday that home care workers are not entitled to overtime pay under federal law.
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An appeals court has reinstated 23 class-action lawsuits brought by more than 150 writers who alleged that television networks, Hollywood studios and talent agencies have discriminated against those over age 40.
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The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that individual participants in the most common type of retirement plan can sue under a pension protection law to recover their losses.
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LAWSUITS BILL: The Senate overwhelmingly passed a bill curbing multimillion-dollar class action lawsuits by a vote of 72-26 on Thursday. The House will take it up next week and send it to the president to sign into law.
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Overtime pay matters to American workers and their families, and this week millions more of them gained overtime rights. Until now, outdated regulations left millions of workers without the guaranteed overtime protections they deserve.
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The New Jersey State Supreme Court on Thursday certified a class-action lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. filed by employees who allege the retailer deprived them of rest and meal breaks while forcing them to work "off the clock."
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The Supreme Court ruled today that home care workers employed by agencies are not entitled to overtime pay.
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These are among the actions taken by the Supreme Court on Monday:
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International Business Machines Corp. settled a federal class-action lawsuit Wednesday, agreeing to pay a total of $65 million to 32,000 technology workers who claimed the company illegally withheld overtime pay.
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By Nicole C. Wong, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.  Mar.
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Several major insurance companies are named in a class-action lawsuit alleging they conspired with California insurance broker Universal Life Resources to steer business the broker's way in exchange for kickbacks, according to court papers.
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The U.S. Senate approved a bill on  Thursday that was sought by business to curb class action  lawsuits and is part of President Bush's drive to overhaul the  civil justice system.
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A group of California cities and counties on Friday filed a class action lawsuit against Microsoft Corp.(MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) , saying that the world&#39;s largest software maker overcharged government agencies for
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The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a bill to punish lawyers who file lawsuits deemed meritless by a judge, and bar them from shopping around for a sympathetic court.