Date: January 25, 2010By: Richard Celler

Greetings again American Workers-

A story with a purpose-

I was eating at a national chain restaurant this past weekend with my lovely wife and struck up a conversation with our server. She was complaining that this was her third job in the last year at a restaurant where they charged her for patrons who walked out on a tab without paying. She also told me that she was often required to come to work prior to her shift to prepare for the day and assist in the kitchen but was not being paid for that time. This is the common/classic example of "off the clock work."

Two things to consider-

You have rights. Protect them, because if you don't, employers will continue to engage in these illegal pay practices.

On an unrelated note, we recently secured a fantastic decision from the court on one of our large collective/class action lawsuits pending in New Jersey, finding that the employer's pay practices were illegal. We are in the process of calculating damages now for the class. We have similar cases pending against other companies in the inspection industry that we anticipate will proceed in the same manner based upon this decision. Stay informed my friends and I will chat with you soon. As always, feel free to email us with any questions at any time of the day as our labor investigators are available 24/7.