Reopening The Workplace During COVID-19

Following up on COVID-cast’s first episode, “Navigating The Class Action Legal Landscape During COVID-19” where attorney’s Matthew D. Berkowitz and Brian O’Shea dove into existing lawsuits and potential lawsuits filed by employees against employers.

In this episode, they discuss important things for essential and non-essential business to keep in mind as they start to reopen like PPE, following CDC guidelines, monitoring how many employees are in the workplace, and if considering if work from home is a viable option in the months ahead.

By |2020-05-15T14:16:25-04:00May 15th, 2020|Practice Areas: Class Action, Labor & Employment, Podcast|Topics: |
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Navigating The Class Action Legal Landscape During COVID-19

As we gear up to enter back into our new normal, industries of all types will be facing legal issues due to COVID-19 related claims. During this pandemic, grocers and essential businesses are facing class action lawsuits in spite of attempting to mitigate the risk.  Employees and shoppers are filing against retailers and grocers alleging that employers took inadequate steps to protect employees and shoppers from COVID-19.

Matt Berkowitz and Brian O’Shea discuss many types of scenarios and positions that the defense and plaintiff might take during a class action lawsuit due to COVID-19 exposure.

By |2020-06-16T17:17:35-04:00May 8th, 2020|Practice Areas: Class Action, Consumer Protection, Labor & Employment, Podcast|Topics: |
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Ahead of the Class: Students Taking on Colleges’ Response to COVID-19

In the wake of the COVID-19 epidemic, major industries everywhere are attempting to adjust to the challenges in these unprecedented times.  The higher education system in the United States is no exception.  While many colleges and universities moved to an online learning model for at least the rest of the semester, many students have made it clear that they do not believe that they have gotten what they bargained for.  Unsurprisingly, a steady stream of students and parents have already begun to file class action lawsuits.

These lawsuits address several different categories of fees that schools already […]

By |2020-04-29T15:37:25-04:00April 29th, 2020|Practice Areas: Class Action|Topics: , , |
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The Coronavirus and Employee Benefits: Another Opportunity For Class Action Litigation

With the Coronavirus outbreak not letting up, businesses of all sizes face new regulations as federal and state legislation has evolved to provide employees with additional benefits and protections.

On March 18, 2020, President Trump signed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) into law. The legislation requires certain employers to provide employees with paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave for specified reasons related to COVID-19. And, the FFCRA requires companies with less than 500 employees to provide up to 80 hours of sick leave pay to certain eligible employees.

Additionally, states passed similar bills providing paid employee […]

By |2020-04-28T12:35:15-04:00April 28th, 2020|Practice Areas: Class Action, Labor & Employment|Topics: , |
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Zoom Facing Class Action Lawsuits Over Data Breaches and Privacy Violations

Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, individuals and businesses have gotten creative about how to gather and meet for everything from company meetings to happy hours to high school reunions and weddings.  While applications like Skype and FaceTime have been popular for years, Zoom is the program that is on the tip of everyone’s tongue—mainly because it allows numerous people to meet and talk to each other via video link all at the same time.  Originally developed as a video-conferencing program for businesses, Zoom, for the first time, is now serving individual users for activities having nothing to […]

By |2020-04-20T11:40:00-04:00April 20th, 2020|Practice Areas: Class Action, Cybersecurity & Privacy|Topics: , |
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COVID-19 Brings New Demands to Essential Retailers and Grocers to Avoid Potential Class Action Lawsuits

Recently, District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser issued an executive order requiring all customers entering Washington DC grocery stores, foodbanks, and convenience stores to wear masks or protective face coverings when entering. The legislation, aimed at stopping the spread of Coronavirus also requires grocery store limit the amount of people within a store and provide additional self-checkout lanes.

Similarly, many Washington DC area grocery stores have taken additional measures to protect their employees during the coronavirus, including installing glass partitions at check-out counters, increasing the availability of self check-out lanes and permitting employees to wear personal protective […]

By |2020-04-15T11:16:00-04:00April 15th, 2020|Practice Areas: Class Action, Labor & Employment|Topics: , |
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Essential Businesses Face Potential Class Action Exposure From Employees Over Coronavirus Crisis

Due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis, state and local governments across the country have ordered almost all businesses to close.  Tens of millions of employees in all fifty states have had to adapt to a new reality of working from home.  But this new reality is not the reality for every business.  Many “essential” businesses, including certain manufacturers and retailers, providers of emergency services, grocery stores, and sanitation companies, have continued their operations during the crisis.  Their employees are expected to report to work.

Just because a business qualifies as “essential,” however, does not mean that business […]

By |2020-04-09T09:42:32-04:00April 2nd, 2020|Practice Areas: Class Action|Topics: , , |
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Steps to Protect Your Business From a COVID-19 Cyber-Attack

In light of COVID-19 and the world’s current climate, it is more important than ever to take additional precautions against cyber-attacks and data breaches.  As more and more employees are working from home, the number of cyber-attacks and data breaches, along with the potential class action lawsuits, have significantly increased over the last several weeks.  Many of these cyber-attacks have come through phishing emails, which result in the compromise of the user’s account and computer.  The following are few red-flags that businesses and employees should be aware of to guard against an attack and a likely […]

By |2020-04-09T09:43:01-04:00April 1st, 2020|Practice Areas: Cybersecurity & Privacy|Topics: , , |
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DC Court of Appeals Refuses to Impose Strict Liability Under the TCPA

In a significant decision regarding the applicability of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (“TCPA”), the D.C. Court of Appeals recently held that the TCPA does not impose strict liability on a person or entity whose goods or services are advertised in an unsolicited fax. Instead, the Court ruled that the Act may impose vicarious liability on a person or entity on whose behalf unsolicited fax ads were sent, regardless as to who actually sent the faxes.

In FDS Rest., Inc. v. All Plumbing, Inc., No. 16-CV-1009, 2020 D.C. App. LEXIS 111 (Mar. 26, 2020), FDS […]

By |2020-04-09T09:44:10-04:00March 31st, 2020|Practice Areas: Class Action|Topics: , |
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Plaintiffs Quickly Filing Class Actions Over COVID-19

As we all know, the world has been dominated by COVID-19 for the last several weeks and tens of thousands of people have already been infected with the virus in the United States. We have seen drastic changes in the economy and our daily lives. We have also seen the first wave of class action lawsuits filed against businesses in connection with COVID-19.  Plaintiffs are alleging that businesses misrepresented their products and services with respect to protecting individuals from illness and that businesses negligently exposed individuals to COVID-19. The following are just a few of such […]

By |2020-04-09T09:44:35-04:00March 26th, 2020|Practice Areas: Class Action|Topics: , |
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Free Speech and the TCPA: How an Upcoming Supreme Court Decision May Affect the TCPA and Impact Businesses

On January 10, 2020, the Supreme Court agreed to review a Fourth Circuit decision challenging the constitutionality of an exemption to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (the “TCPA”). See Barr v. American Ass’n of Political Consultants, No. 19-631.

The TCPA was enacted in 1991 in response to unwanted, automated phone calls that affect many Americans on a daily basis. The TCPA broadly prohibits telephone solicitation through the use of “automatic telephone dialing systems.” See 47 U.S.C. § 227. However, in response to the rapid technological advancements since 1991, Congress has curtailed the provisions of the […]

By |2020-05-08T14:26:37-04:00February 24th, 2020|Practice Areas: Class Action|Topics: , |
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Class Actions and Privacy Laws – Could Facial Recognition Technology Be Changing the Face of the “injury-in-fact” Requirement for Class Actions?

Facial recognition software has grown exponentially over the past several years. It is used almost everywhere, from airports, shopping centers, law enforcement and even Facebook. Many states have also issued privacy laws protecting consumers from these types of invasions of privacy. For example, Illinois enacted The Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, which has been in the news lately. 740 Ill. Comp. Stat. 14/1 et seq. (2008). This statute requires companies to obtain written releases from individuals before collecting their “face geometry” and other biometric data.

A recent case demonstrates the strict application of this statute. In 2015, […]

By |2020-02-18T13:54:16-05:00February 18th, 2020|Practice Areas: Class Action, Cybersecurity & Privacy|Topics: , , |
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