Stevenson Marino LLP

While we strive to help our clients without fan fair or recognition, it was truly humbling to receive the attached recognition from the City of Lancaster, California for our work in obtaining a $4.75 million dollar settlement against Lumber Liquidators ("LL"). This settlement resulted in each class member receiving, on average, $22,000 in back wages - which represents one of the largest average recoveries per class member in California for a misclassification case. One of our... clients called us after the fact to say: "I hope you know how many lives you've changed" (as some class members received up to $70,000+). Notably, the recognition equally applies to Dominic Messiha and my partner, J.R. Stevenson for their work. I note these facts form the basis of a new lawsuit we filed on June 29, 2020, in California after LL belatedly reclassified the challenged positions on June 28, 2020 (resulting in exposure from September 20, 2019 - June 28, 2020). LL replaced Littler with Olgetree to defend them in the new lawsuit. Mayor R. Rex Parris, thank you for the recognition and the kinds words, especially coming a from a public servant and fellow litigator. It means a lot. #StevensonMarino; #TimeToPay; #WageAndHour; #ClassAction; #LoveWhatYouDo

It's a head scratcher when a employer we sued, who paid out $4.75 million to settle a class action, failed to take appropriate steps after the settlement to correct the wage and hour issues that were the basis for initial lawsuit. As a result, we filed another class action lawsuit for the same issue in the same court, to cover all damages that continued to accrue after the conclusion of the first settlement. This is a best type of ground hogs day a plaintiff's lawyer could ask for. Thank you Lumber Liquidators. #StevensonMarino; #WageandHour; #Lovewhatyoudo; #makeadifference; #classaction

Today was a tough day. Not because the market plummeted. Not because the Coronavirus is becoming far more relevant and frightening. Today was a tough day because I counseled numerous employers that operate close to 30 restaurants and numerous businesses outside the hospitality industry. The counseling pertained to terminating their workforce and closing their businesses. The clients with whom I spoke to today will be terminating over 1,000 hard-working employees tomorrow. ...All of these businesses were thriving prior to the Coronavirus. All of these employees did nothing wrong to be terminated. They are all victims of an external factor that has a devastating effect on everyone. My experience was undoubtedly reflective of virtually every employment attorney in NY. We’re heading into a great recession, at best, and there does not appear to be any short-term or mid-term fix on the horizon. May everyone stay safe and healthy during these difficult times. FYI- for employers and employees engaged in or subjected to mass layoffs/business closings, the NY and/or federal Warn Act may apply and appropriate disclosures must be made.

We’re pleased to report that we (together with our CA co-counsel, Dominic Messiha - a wonderful partner in this journey) obtained final approval of a $4.75M settlement. The settlement involves 138 class members in California who worked as store-level managers at Lumber Liquidators. In granting final approval, the court found that the "settlement provides significant value to the settlement class members." Separately, our nationwide collective action against Lumber Liquidators... with over 260 putative collective members is entering post-conditional certification discovery. Thus, CA SMs and SMITs should receive substantial checks within the next few months, whereas, we will continue to fight the good fight to obtain a similar result for all SMs and SMITs nationwide. In sum, it is expensive to pay an employee a salary and call them a "manager," when they are almost exclusively performing associate-level grunt work. Here, we have recovered millions for our CA clients and caused Defendant to pay their CA employees overtime going forward. A win for the good guys. #StevensonMarino; #TimeToPay; #Overtime; #MakeADifference; #misclassification Justin Marino https://www.law360.com/employment/articles/1235732

No better gift than great feedback from a client. Today, my client told me that "you're changing a lot of people’s lives. I hope you know that." He is a client in one of our class actions who will be receiving a significant five-figure settlement (similar to the other 100+ class members in that matter). #StevensonMarino; #TimeToPay; #Overtime; #LoveYourJob; #MakeADifference