California residents who are looking for work may be able to find it at 24 Hour Fitness. However, former employees have filed many complaints about the company in the past 20 years. One former manager said that the company was more focused on bringing in members than making a difference in anyone’s life. In response, it has tried to curtail the ability of its workers to file such claims in the future. However, their actions may have violated federal labor law according to the National Labor Relations Board.
The NLRB takes issue with the fact that employees are required to sign employment agreements that strip their right to file class action lawsuits. While these agreements aren’t unusual, it is unusual for a company to defend the right to have one so aggressively. The Supreme Court may hear oral arguments in the cased during its next term.
Currently, there are about 60 million workers who are covered by some sort of arbitration clause in their employment contracts. There are roughly 25 million workers who are covered by class action lawsuit waivers in their employment contract. In 2013, 24 Hour Fitness settled a case for $17.5 million involving 900 employees charging that it violated the Fair Labor Standards Act . It settled another case involving California employees for $38 million in 2006.
If an employer does not properly compensate its employees, it may be possible for those workers to take legal action. This may be true whether an employee didn’t receive a minimum wage or was denied overtime pay. An attorney may help in an overtime dispute or any other dispute involving unpaid wages.
