The Dave & Buster’s restaurant chain recently settled a class action lawsuit claiming it violated ERISA’s “discrimination” rules by reducing hours of various employees to cause them to lose eligibility for the company’s group health plan. After over three years of litigation in the Southern District of New York and suffering some procedural losses along the way, Dave & Buster’s agreed to settle the matter for $7.425 million. After attorneys’ fees and costs, we estimate the employees will receive about $2,100 each.
Dave & Buster’s took the action in response to the “employer mandate” provisions of the Affordable Care Act, which require large employers to offer compliant and affordable group health coverage to full-time employees, generally defined as those working an average of at least 30 hours each week, in order to avoid potentially substantial tax penalties. The saga took a long time to play out. The law passed in March 2010. Dave & Buster’s started reducing employees’ hours in mid-2013. The lead plaintiff worked a reduced shift and lost eligibility for group health insurance in March 2014. She filed suit in May 2015. The court approved the settlement in December 2018. The class members have to be notified, the plaintiffs’ attorneys will seek their fees and the court is expected to approve everything once and for all in mid-May 2019. After that, class members will be paid, likely well into late-2019. Continue Reading
“He’s making a list and checking it twice. He’s going to find out who’s naughty or nice… performance evaluations are…” Coming to town? Indeed. The end of year is not only holiday season, but also the time of year when a number of employers complete performance evaluations of their employees.
Thank you for being a subscriber. We hope that BeLabor the Point has brought you important information throughout the year and a few smiles along the way. Speaking of smiles, check out our department 
With the New Year right around the corner, office holiday parties are in full swing. While many enjoy celebrating the season, these festivities can sometimes turn into an HR disaster. To help ensure your celebrations are jolly, check out my tips on planning a fun, festive and inclusive holiday party 
$1.5 Trillion-that is with a T. That is the amount of student debt currently owed by more than 40 million Americans, about 70% of whom are college graduates. 
HR folks – Have you ever had an employee tell you that he or she is being unlawfully harassed by a co-worker, but then begged you to keep the complaint confidential? Most often, employees ask their employers not to investigate their concerns because of embarrassment or fear of retribution. Employers who honor such employee confidentiality requests, however, do so at their own peril.
Over the past several months, the 
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Google and other technology companies use computer programs and artificial intelligence to predict consumer behavior – think about the pop-up ads that seem targeted just to your interests. However, we recently learned that artificial intelligence (AI) recruiting tools may not be as robust in the hiring process. Amazon recently abandoned its effort to use an AI recruiting system. Amazon’s goal was to design computer programs that could instantly pick top talent from a pool of resumes. But the technology fell flat because it seemed, unintentionally, to favor male applicants.
$8.25 per hour to $8.46 per hour. This adjustment is based on the federal Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers in the South Region. For a full-time Florida employee (working 2080 hours), the increase equates to $436.80 more in wages per year. The 21-cent increase was based on the Consumer Price Index rising just over 2.5% from August 2017 to August 2018.