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about lawsuits by national employee rights law firm seeking to
halt discrimination in the workplace (based on age, race, or gender),
overtime pay and wage and hour violations, and breaches of fiduciary
duties by pension fund and 401k plan managers. |
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Employment
Discrimination, Overtime
Pay and ERISA Litigation
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| Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, is a law firm
that represents employees. Our lawyers have been at the
forefront of protecting the legal rights of employees in employment discrimination
lawsuits and class actions across America, along with cases involving overtime
pay and employee pension fund fraud. Each lawyer in the Lieff Cabraser Employment
Group has represented scores of employees seeking to vindicate their statutory
and common law rights. |
| Federal and state anti-employment discrimination
laws prohibit discrimination in the work place based on an
employee's race, color, religion, age, gender, or disability.
Lieff Cabraser has helped employees nationwide challenge
discrimination in the workplace and initiated lawsuits to
compensate the victims of discrimination. |
| Notable successes by Lieff Cabraser on behalf
of employees in employment discrimination class action lawsuits
include the representation of a class of approximately 25,000
female employees of, and applicants for employment with,
Home Depot. In 1998, the Court approved a settlement of the
case in which Home Depot agreed to modify its hiring, promotion
and compensation practices, and paid $87.5 million, one of
the highest amounts ever paid in a gender discrimination
case. |
| Joined with leading civil rights organizations,
we successfully prosecuted a class action lawsuit in federal
court alleging that the hiring
and employment practices of Abercrombie & Fitch Co.,
one of the nation’s largest clothing retailers, discriminate
against Latino, Asian-American and African-American applicants
and employees. |
| Lieff Cabraser is currently prosecuting
several employment discrimination cases against major corporations,
including Federal Express (race), Citigroup's Smith Barney
Division (gender), CostCo (gender), Best Buy (race and gender),
Cintas (gender), McCormick & Schmick (race), and Morgan
Stanley DW (gender and race). |
| Lieff Cabraser also represents employees
in overtime pay lawsuits. |
| Sometimes employers misclassify their employees
as "exempt," "managers,"
"executives" or "independent contractors" as
a way to prevent those employees from receiving benefits
and overtime. Examples include people who work in chain restaurants
as managers yet are also required to wait tables and work
at the cash register, and IT tech workers who install and
maintain computer software and equipment. |
| Lieff Cabraser has obtained lost wages and
benefits for employees in overtime pay lawsuits, including
the successful representation of employees of IBM, Computer
Sciences Corp., Wells Fargo, A&P/Food Emporium, Denny's,
Carrow's, the advertising firm TMP Worldwide, the California
State Automobile Association, and Longs Drug Stores. |
| Wage and hour suits
also arise when employers do not pay employees for
all hours worked, even though the work performed
is required by the employer and benefits the company.
These cases can involve claims the employer forces
employees to work "off the clock." |
| To contact an
employment lawyer at Lieff Cabraser, click
here. |
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| For example, Lieff Cabraser represented
assembly line workers in the Perdue Farms chicken plants
who had to don, put on and take off and sanitize certain
protective equipment. The company for many years did not
compensate the employees for this work on the job. In 2002,
the Court granted final approval to a $10 million settlement
of the case. |
| Lieff Cabraser has also represented employees
who are misclassified as "exempt" from overtime,
when they should have been "non-exempt"
and received overtime. For example, Lieff Cabraser represented
IBM workers who install, maintain or support computer software
or equipment and who were denied overtime because they had
been classified as exempt. The court granted preliminary
approval to a settlement of this case worth approximately
$65 million in January 2007. |
| Lieff Cabraser litigates claims on behalf
of employees and/or retirees alleging interference with their
interests under the federal Employee Retirement Income Security
Act (ERISA). Among its provisions, ERISA recognizes that
pension and 401k plan trustees owe fiduciary duties to the
participants and beneficiaries in these plans. |
| We represented former Pacific Telesis Group
and SBC Communications, Inc. employees who became participants
in 401k plans administered by SBC Communications, Inc. The
plaintiffs alleged that SBC liquidated plaintiffs' AirTouch
stock from the 401k plans without providing them with adequate
notice of their rights to retain the AirTouch stock. In 2002,
the court granted final approval to a $10 million settlement
of the case. Lieff Cabraser is currently representing employees
or retirees with ERISA claims in several cases, including
against Caterpillar, Prudential Insurance, and RJR Reynolds
Tobacco Co. |
| For a list of our current overtime pay,
employment discrimination, unfair employment practice and
ERISA cases, click here. |
| To contact an employment attorney at Lieff
Cabraser, click
here. |
| Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, is a 50-plus attorney law firm with offices in San Francisco, New York and Nashville. Our firm is committed to protecting the rights of employees nationwide to equitable treatment and fair wages. Lieff Cabraser employment attorneys have represented thousands of employees seeking to vindicate their rights in cases involving gender and race discrimination, overtime pay and wage and hour violations, and the mishandling of funds in pension and 401k plans. |
| We served as counsel in a class action suit against Abercrombie & Fitch, which led to a novel, precedent-setting settlement in 2005. The settlement required the retail clothing giant to pay $40 million to Latino, African-American, Asian-American and female applicants and employees who charged the company with discrimination. In addition, Abercrombie was required to promote diversity among its workforce and to prevent discrimination based on race or gender. |
| We served as class counsel for approximately 25,000 female employees of, and applicants for employment with Home Depot. In 1998, the Court approved a settlement of the case in which Home Depot agreed to modify its hiring, promotion and compensation practices, and paid $87.5 million, one of the highest amounts ever paid in a gender discrimination case. |
| Lieff Cabraser has obtained lost wages and benefits for employees in overtime pay lawsuits, including the successful representation of employees of Denny's, Carrow's, the advertising firm TMP Worldwide, the California State Automobile Association, as well as several corporations in the computer industry including IBM and Computer Sciences Corporation. |
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LIEFF CABRASER HEIMANN & BERNSTEIN, LLP |
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| Notice: Lieff
Cabraser attorneys provide legal advice and practice law for clients in
federal district courts throughout the United States and in state courts
where we are licensed to practice. In states in which our lawyers are not
licensed to practice, we have affiliations with local attorneys who serve
as co-counsel with our firm. Please read our disclaimer. |
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Copyright © 2008 Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein,
LLP |
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Read how we hold employers liable for discrimination and other unfair workplace practices. |
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