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McDonald’s Sued Over Debit Cards
A former McDonald’s worker in Pennsylvania is suing a franchiser owner saying she was required to receive her wages through a debit card that charged fees, resulting in some hourly employees receiving less than minimum wage.
Natalie Gunshannon, a single mother, 27, said she and other workers were paid through a JPMorgan Chase Payroll Card, which has a $1.50 fee for ATM withdrawals, a $10 inactivity fee after 90 days, and a 75 cent online payment fee per transaction and other fees.
Gunshannon, who filed a lawsuit in the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas, is hoping to have her case certified as a class action on behalf of the other employees who were paid with the Payroll card.
“It’s a violation of the law,” said Gunshannon’s attorney, Michael Cefalo. “They’re entitled to a choice to be paid in cash or check. Fees connected to this debit card which employees have to pay to get their wages which is unfair.”
Gunshannon said she asked her employer if she could receive her wages through direct deposit at her credit union, which she said did not accept payments through the payroll card. She is suing under the Pennsylvania Wage Payment and Collection Act for unjust enrichment.
Franchisees Albert and Carol Mueller provided a statement to ABC News, which read: “We value our employees and everything they do for our organization. We are committed to providing them the best possible work environment so they can deliver the fast, reliable service that our customers expect. We are aware of this matter. But at this time, we have not seen a copy of the complaint. For this reason, it would be inappropriate for us to comment further.”
Suzanne Martindale, staff attorney with Consumers Union, said some employers are motivated to pay wages with these payroll cards to cut the cost of distributing paper checks.
“Employers are always looking for ways to cut costs,” she said. “There is incentive for employers to offer these cards but in some cases, they don’t negotiate with the payroll card provider over fees.”
Gunshannon, who studied massage therapy, began working as an hourly employee at a McDonald’s in Shavertown, Pa., on April 24 after she was unable to find jobs in her preferred field.
“There are no jobs in Luzerne County,” she said.
She was paid about $7.44 an hour and worked 30 to 37 hours as a part-time worker.
Pennsylvania’s basic minimum rate is $7.25 an hour.
After she was issued a JP Morgan Chase Payroll card, she requested a paper check from her employer.
A manager allegedly told her, “If you don’t activate the card, there is no way for us to pay you,” according to the court complaint.
McDonald’s managers and assistant managers “have the option to receive wage compensation by way of direct deposit, thus avoiding fees,” the complaint states.
“McDonald’s does not provide a choice for hourly employees to receive their justly earned wages through a bank check, cash or direct deposit,” the lawsuit said.
Gunshannon said the people with whom she worked were “nice” but she quit after three weeks for not receiving her wages as requested. Gunshannon said she is looking for jobs at other restaurants or home health work.
“This isn’t something personal. I would just like to be paid for my work,” she said.
However, some people say payroll debit cards can be beneficial to the unbanked or underbanked.
“Payroll debit cards offer real benefits for workers who are accustomed to cashing paychecks at check cashers, including meaningful cost savings, greater security and the convenience of an electronic payment option,” said Timothy Flacke, executive director of the nonprofit Doorways to Dreams (D2D) Fund, which makes financial products for low- and moderate-income consumers. “Of course, many people do not like to have a product chosen for them, especially when there are fees involved.”
Joan Jett Sues Teen Punk Retailer
Rocker Joan Jett’s label, Blackheart Records Group, is suing teen retailer Hot Topic for trademark infringement and false advertising over the chain’s Blackheart Clothing Co. brand.
Joan Jett and performer and music writer Kenneth Laguna formed the band, “Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.” The name was coined by the two for its symbol and its meaning, which is “loner” in “Jamaican nautical lingo,” the complaint filed last week states. They started their own recording company and called it “Blackheart Records,” and applied to register the label’s name with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 1984. The office granted the registration the next year. In 2005, Jett and Laguna registered “Blackheart Records Group” with the patent and trademark office.
The label is suing Hot Topic Inc., based in City of Industry, Calif., for trademark infringement, dilution, unfair competition, and false advertising in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Hot Topic, established in 1988 as a “music-inspired accessory destination” that later expanded into apparel, describes itself as “the loudest store in the mall”.
A spokeswoman for Hot Topic Inc. released a statement to ABC News saying it “takes the rights of artists very seriously, and has in fact compensated Ms. Jett over many years in keeping with mutually agreed-upon license agreements for the sale of tee shirts featuring her image.”
“This lawsuit is a surprise to us, and we are confident in our rights to use the Blackheart brand name,” Hot Topic said.
Hot Topic said it has 11 different registered trademarks with the U.S. Patent Trademark Office for the use of the Blackheart brand for “retail stores, apparel, lingerie, accessories, cosmetics and more, with some uses going back a decade to 2003.”
“In contrast, Blackheart Records has for years abandoned trademark filings for the use of the Blackheart name on apparel and accessories, and when we contacted them a year ago about acquiring the Blackheart URL, they never indicated a problem with our use,” Hot Topic said.
Read More About the Copyright Fight Over the “Happy Birthday” Song
According to the complaint, Hot Topic distributed music and music-related apparel that it bought from Blackheart or its business partners throughout the 1990s.
Around February 2010, Hot Topic approached Black Heart to design and distribute merchandise featuring the “Blackheart Family of Marks.”
These include “stylized marks, including certain design elements—notably a heart, which is either solid black, black with a white outline, or white with a black outline,” the complaint states.
“After experimenting with legitimate and illegitimate items that use and/or are sold under the Blackheart Family of Marks, [Hot Topic] commenced their own line of clothing under their own new ‘Blackheart’ brand,” which the complaint describes as the “infringing brand.”
Blackheart’s complaint says Hot Topic’s tagline, “Lingerie for Girls Who Rock Roll,” infringes on the Blackheart brand by invoking the image or persona of Joan Jett, who they say is referred to as “The Queen of Rock N’ Roll” and whose best known recording is “I Love Rock N’ Roll.”
The complaint states that the public has been confused Hot Topic’s brand with a company affiliated or sponsored by Jett or Blackheart Records.
The 26-page lawsuit details Jett’s accomplishments, such as being one of two women guitarists on Rolling Stone’s list of the top 100 guitarists of all time. The lawsuit points out “I Love Rock N’ Roll” was ranked by Billboard Magazine as the 56th most popular song of all time.
Monica Riva Talley, an attorney who specializes in trademark law with Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein Fox and who is not involved in this lawsuit, said the case illustrates the necessity of ensuring that trademark license agreements are carefully drafted and routinely reviewed.
“While these type of licensing arrangements are often a boon to the businesses of both licensor and licensee, to work best all parties need to be on the same page as to what constitutes authorized activities,” she said.
Judge: Sex Tapes Violated Waffle House Chairman’s Privacy
A former housekeeper violated the Waffle House chairman’s privacy by recording sex tapes of the two in an attempt to show that he allegedly demanded sex acts from her, a Georgia judge ruled.
“The defendant’s arguments that she was a victim of the crime of sexual battery and was permitted to record plaintiff’s actions to gather evidence of a crime is extremely unpersuasive to the court,” Cobb County Court Judge Robert Leonard II wrote in the order.
Joe Rogers Jr.’s former housekeeper accused him last year of demanding that she perform sex acts on him as part of her duties over an eight-year period.
Rogers has admitted to an affair with the woman but denied assault claims and said he was a victim of blackmail.
As part of the case, the judge seized sexual recordings of the two that included a video and about 15 audio recordings, according to court documents.
The videotape was viewed in a closed court hearing before the judge decided it was unlawfully recorded and did not show a sexual assault, court documents filed Friday June 14 show.
“The video recording makes it clear that defendant was a willing participant in the sexual encounter and is not the victim of sexual battery,” the judge wrote.
The judge’s order allows for Rogers’ attorneys to take a deposition from the woman, whom ABC News is not identifying because of the sexual harassment claims, to ask her specifically about the recordings.
“It’s not a conclusive or final ruling,” David Cohen, one of the woman’s attorneys, told ABCNews.com. “It’s a preliminary ruling, and we will take a look at it and decide how to proceed forward.”
“Our job as counsel is to fulfill our client’s wishes to let her story be heard by a jury,” he said.
For the first time, details of how the woman recorded the sexual encounter were revealed.
The court document says that the defendant’s attorneys met with her in a private investigator’s office where the investigator ordered her a “spy camera” — a camera disguised as a cellphone — that would be used for the recording.
The judge said that the court did not make any findings about the attorneys’ involvement in making the recording but said the court might look into it.
Rogers’ attorney, Robert Ingram, said he has been wary of the tape and “questionable conduct” from the beginning, which he said he expressed to the woman’s attorneys.
“I warned them that they were on very shaky ground in what they were doing, and I pointed out to them that making a video where someone has an expectation of privacy is in itself a felony in the state of Georgia,” Ingram told ABCNews.com.
The former housekeeper accused Rogers of forcing her to perform “various sexual acts on him as a condition of her employment,” according to the police report filed Sept. 28, 2012.
Rogers said in a statement that over a nearly eight-year period in which he was “separated, single and remarried,” he had a “series of infrequent consensual encounters” with the woman.
“That was wrong of me, and I am very sorry for the pain and embarrassment I’ve caused my wife and family,” he said. “There is no excuse for what I have done.”
Rogers said the housekeeper worked for him from 2003 until 2008, when she was let go. He said that she reapplied for her job and was rehired as his house manager in late 2009, working in that position until she resigned in June 2012.
Rogers said that in July 2012, he received a letter from the woman’s attorney’s “containing false allegations and strong threats,” and wanting “millions of dollars” from him.
Rogers claimed that he shared a “threatening blackmail letter” with his wife and hired attorneys to investigate. He said he initiated court proceedings in September 2012 and that the housekeeper and her attorneys responded with false allegations and a false police report.
The Waffle House chain was started in the 1950s by Rogers’ father, Joe Rogers Sr., in Decatur, Ga., and has more than 1,500 restaurants. It is privately held.
New Websites for Deals Target Kids
By Susanna Kim
@skimm
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(Image Credit: Kidsy.co)
Email boxes are flooded with deals for food, shopping and travel, but two new sites want to remove the clutter and boredom to provide kids and couples with ideas for fun activities.
Kidsy.co, which test-launched last month, provides activities for families with children and the ability to organize play dates with your friends or people in your neighborhood. The service is free to users and Kidsy takes commissions from the vendors on the site if a user books an activity. Some of the vendors offer deals specifically to Kidsy users.
The site offers free and paid activities in New York and New Jersey but plans to expand “quickly” to other cities such as, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington.
The co-founders of Kidsy, Michael Tai and Raj Banik, say they are “highly selective” in curating the activities on their site and have partnerships with top Manhattan vendors such as Freshmade NYC and Citibabes. The co-founders, friends from Columbia University, reached out to parents and influential New York City parenting bloggers to find attractive ideas for families.
Tai, whose background is in private equity, said there is too much “clutter” in the online deals marketplace.
“Because we’re a targeted vertical, merchants have reached out to us, even though we’re relatively new,” he said.
Tai said the site already has thousands of users with a high percentage of repeat visitors, although he declined to reveal the site’s metrics.
He doesn’t have any children, but Tai said he struggled to find activities while babysitting their nieces and nephews.
“You would think because there is so much going on, it would be easy to find activities, but it’s the opposite because there is too much going on,” he said.
The activities on the site range from the best playgrounds in New York City to particular exhibits ideal for children at the Museum of Natural History.
Elena Mauer, deputy editor of TheBump.com, said Kidsy.co is a great resource for families, especially for new parents who are “exploring a new world.”
Kidys.co’s targeted demographic is for families with kids younger than 6, although the activities work for a broader age range.
“They don’t want to stay cooped up at home,” Mauer said of parents. “They want activities their kids will learn from and that will keep them involved, especially before they go to school.”
Mauer said some parents might have to warm to the idea of organizing play dates with other users they haven’t met, preferring instead to stick to other families in their networks. Kidsy.co does allow users to invite their friends with kids to play dates in addition to the ability to find new acquaintances.
Tai acknowledges parents are “generally very cautious” about potential playmates, but the majority of the parents they interviewed said they would be willing to meet with parents they don’t yet know.
Another site that launched this year is HowAboutWe for Couples, which, unlike Kidsy.co, is available to members via paid subscription. Offering date activities for couples, HowAboutWe.com’s price is $18 a month after a one-month free trial.
Anybody can get HowAboutWe.com’s daily newsletters that advertise date ideas, which include wine-tasting, picnics and beer-making instructions. Members also get free access to the site’s concierge service.
“When we first started the company, our central question was, ‘How can we create a dating site we’d actually want to use and share with our friends?’ Now, our central question is: How can we help people fall in love and stay in love?” said Brian Schechter, co-founder and co-CEO of HowAboutWe, which began serving singles as a dating site nationally, HowAboutWe Dating, in 2010.
Schechter said the site doesn’t “try to squeeze margins from our couples or our partners.”
“We forge our vendor partnerships based on great date experiences. If we think a vendor could create a wonderful date, we work with them to ensure the quality is high enough to bring to our members. In return, our partners get access to paying customers,” he said.
The site is available in New York and HowAboutWe for couples just launched in San Francisco.
Schechter hopes to expand across the United States and beyond. The company, based in New York, has 60 full-time employees.
Heather Morgan Shott, site director of The Nest.com, said she subscribes for date ideas with her husband of 10 years. She said they like to “make our dates count” because they keep busy with their 2-year-old.
“Before, we went out five days a week. Now it’s every other week,” she said. “We like interactive date nights, not just sitting in a movie theater, not interacting.”
Morgan Shott said she hasn’t tried HowAboutWe’s dates yet but enjoys reading their newsletter in her inbox.
“I think it’s a creative resource for couples who have been married to come up with new ways to experience the city,” said Shott, who lives in New York City.
To our readers: could you or someone you know use ideas for kids’ or couples’ activities?
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Markets Await Word on Interest Rates
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke is likely to send financial markets soothing words about interest rates and cheap money. US stock futures and overseas markets rose this morning as hopes grew that the Fed will put off plans to wind down its stimulus program. Bernanke will face reporters on Wednesday after a Federal Reserve two-day policy meeting.
“The Fed has worked very hard to get stock prices and home prices rising to help the economy, and I don’t think they want to back away from that in any way,” says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.
“There is nothing in the underlying economy that would suggest the Fed needs to change policy any time soon,” says Brian Bethune, economics professor at Gordon College in Massachusetts. That said, global financial markets have been down three out of the past four weeks. Volatility spiked after Bernanke told Congress that the central bank might soon scale back its effort to keep long-term interest rates at record low levels.
The big rivalry between European plane maker Airbus and Boeing will be played out this week at the Paris Air Show. Airbus says aircraft leasing company IFLC has made a firm order for 50 single-aisle A320neo jets. The A320neo, a more fuel-efficient model than the original and widely used A320, was the star of the last Paris Air Show. This year Airbus is hoping to attract attention to its new wide-body A350 aircraft. The race for the title of biggest plane maker is as tight as ever. Over the whole of 2012, Airbus delivered 588 planes. That was a record, but one Boeing beat with 601 deliveries, the first time since 2003 it came out on top.
Three new economic reports on housing will be released this week. They may show signs of further improvement. The National Association of Homebuilders housing market report comes out this morning. Housing starts for May will be released on Tuesday and the existing home sales survey will be published on Thursday.
General Motors is recalling nearly 200,000 mid-size SUVs because of a potential fire risk. The problem is serious enough for GM to urge owners to park their trucks outdoors until the repair is made. According to documents posted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration the master power door and window module in the driver’s door on some SUVs can short out and catch fire. USA Today Reports that “the recall expands — after talks with the NHTSA — a GM recall last August of 249,260 of the same trucks, but only those sold or registered in 20 Snow Belt states where salt is used on the roads.” The recall covers 2006 and 2007 Chevrolet Trailblazer, GMC Envoy, Buick Rainier and other SUVs made by General Motors.
Richard Davies Business Correspondent ABC News Radio ABCNews.com Twitter: daviesabc
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