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Nice Nails, Awful Jobs: Part 2

Nail salons may offer a dose of beauty, glamour, and pampering to their customers. However, by and large, nail salons take on a much uglier look once you scrape away the polished facade and examine the experiences of the largely female, immigrant workforce that toils away there. Last year, the New York Times ran a […]

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Overtime Could Be in Jeopardy for 5 Million Workers

Bureaucracy is boring. “Regulatory Plans,” “Notice and Comment,” “Final Rules”—the Administrative State tends to glaze eyes. But for a moment last July, the media set its gaze on bureaucracy. That’s because a bureaucratic agency, the Department of Labor, proposed a rule that could increase the wages of millions of workers. Specifically, the DOL proposal makes […]

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Independent Contractors, Uber, and Employees

On September 1, a federal judge certified a class action brought by three Uber drivers who asserted that they are employees and not, as the company had argued, independent contractors.   If the court’s decision it holds, it could be a big deal.  This employee vs. contractor determination may sound like arcane law speak, but […]

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Nice Nails, Awful Jobs

In New York City, nail salons are ubiquitous, and many women who live or work in the City routinely partake in the affordable luxury of cheap manicures.  But a shocking exposé by the New York Times (posted here and here) shows that cheap manicures come at a very high price for the women who toil […]

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White-collar exemptions for blue-collar workers

Did you know that a worker can make wages below the federal poverty line (currently $23,850 for a family of four), work long hours performing mostly manual labor, and still not necessarily qualify for overtime pay?  Strange but true. The federal wage and hour law (the Fair Labor Standards Act, or “FLSA”) celebrated its 75th anniversary […]

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Forced Arbitration: Overriding Civil Rights

A few days ago, when Kate K wrote about Hobby Lobby, she also mentioned forced arbitration.  This is a cause I’m particularly passionate about.  My focus comes from seeing so many of my clients forced to make an impossible decision.  Whatever those that support forced arbitration may like to pretend, employees do not have equal bargaining power with […]

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