Union Wins More Money, But No Attorney’s Fees

Welder Wants Overtime Pay for Travel

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 30, 2011
Tags: Judge M. Hannah Lauck, Labor, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A welding company employee states a claim for overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act with allegations that he was not compensated for travel time to job sites for his work as a structural steel welder, and the Richmond U.S. District Court denies the employer’s motion to dismiss and motion for Rule 11 sanctions. [...]

Union Has Not Waived Arbitration

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 22, 2011
Tags: Judge Henry E. Hudson, Labor, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

The Richmond U.S. District Court dismisses for lack of subject matter jurisdiction union’s suit to enforce a 2009 settlement agreement entered to resolve alleged violations of a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) requiring arbitration; the alleged violations – employer’s failure to provide timely lists of employees leaving the bargaining unit and collect dues – are not [...]

Tow-Truck Company May Be FLSA ‘Enterprise’

By Deborah Elkins
Published: October 17, 2011
Tags: Judge James C. Cacheris, Labor, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A tow-truck driver suing for extra pay, who tows vehicles between private lots in Virginia, may have not have individual coverage under the Fair Labor Standards Act, but there is a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the towing company has the requisite $500,000 gross sales volume for coverage as an “enterprise” under [...]

No Injunction for Retirees’ Health Benefits Suit

By Deborah Elkins
Published: August 29, 2011
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge G. Steven Agee, Labor

In plaintiff union members’ lawsuit challenging defendant aluminum manufacturer’s decision to terminate retirees’ health care benefits for employees over 65 who retired between 1985 and 2006, the district court did not err in denying the retirees a preliminary injunction, the 4th Circuit says. Defendant operated a plant in Ravenswood, W.Va. In 2007, it began experiencing [...]

New Hire Has No FLSA Retaliation Claim

By Deborah Elkins
Published: August 17, 2011
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Paul V. Niemeyer, Labor

A woman who alleges a job offer was withdrawn after the company that hired her learned she sued her previous employer under the Fair Labor Standards Act cannot sue under the statute’s anti-retaliation provision, says the 4th Circuit. Plaintiff alleges defendant Science Applications International Corporation (SAI) retaliated against her in violation of the FLSA, 29 [...]

No Vacation Pay Award After Plant Closure

By Deborah Elkins
Published: August 4, 2011
Tags: Judge Norman K. Moon, Labor, U.S. District Court - Western District

A Lynchburg U.S. District Court vacates an arbitrator’s decision that awarded a union local pro rata payment of vacation benefits under the union’s contract with Intermet, which owned the Archer Creek foundry, which filed for bankruptcy. The arbitrator acknowledged the unambiguous language of the parties’ agreement said that a bargaining unit employee must be actively [...]

Medical transport drivers say they weren’t paid for overtime – $80,000 Settlement

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: August 1, 2011
Tags: Federal Courts, Labor

Plaintiffs were employed by defendants’ medical transport service as drivers earning $80 per day to drive defendants’ customers to and from medical appointments. Plaintiffs claimed they worked 10- to 12-hour-days, but were not compensated for the hours they worked beyond 40 in each workweek. Defendants claimed that plaintiffs did not work more than 40 hours [...]

Arbitration Award on Union Sign-Off Grievance Upheld

By Deborah Elkins
Published: July 27, 2011
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Andre M. Davis, Labor

In a challenge by a Treasury Department employees’ union to a partial remedy for its grievance alleging the IRS was processing members’ dues revocation forms without a union sign-off that would allow the union to contact members opting out, the 4th Circuit affirms the Federal Labor Relations Authority decision upholding an arbitration award that gave [...]

Employer Couldn’t Change Retiree Health Benefits

By Deborah Elkins
Published: July 13, 2011
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, Labor

A union contract did not allow defendant Volvo Trucks to unilaterally change retiree health benefits after expiration of the contract, and the 4th Circuit upholds a district court order restoring benefits lost from the company’s changes and enjoining the company from making such changes in the future. On Dec. 31, 2008, Volvo announced it would [...]