SAN FRANCISCO –(October 3, 2012) –Yesterday, the national law firm of Baron and Budd filed a class action lawsuit against MHN Government Services, Inc. (MHNGS) and Managed Health Network, Inc. (MHN) regarding the misclassification of employees as independent contractors and the failure to pay those employees overtime. Filed in the Northern District of California, the case alleges that MHNGS and MHN violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by knowingly misclassifying workers to avoid paying lawful overtime wages. Baron and Budd attorneys Allen Vaught and Mark Pifko represent the plaintiffs in the case.

“These overtime violation issues are much more common than people think,” said Allen Vaught, head of Baron and Budd’s overtime violations/FLSA litigation section. “Many companies rely on the workers’ lack of knowledge when it comes to the FLSA and actively choose to misclassify workers in the interest of saving the business money by unlawfully dodging state and federal wage and hour laws, payroll taxes, unemployment insurance taxes and other state and federal requirements.”

MHNGS and MHN work at various U.S military bases as subcontractors to the United States Department of Defense. MHNGS and MHN hire individuals to work as Military & Family Life Consultants, or MFLC’s, in order to fulfill those governmental contracts.  Though the companies label MFLC’s as “independent contractors,” analysis of the workers’ job responsibilities revealed that the workers should be classified as employees under the FLSA. Because of this misclassification, the workers were not paid overtime even though they frequently worked more than 40 hours in a workweek. Under FLSA definitions and exemption rules, these workers should have been considered employees and should have been paid overtime.

If you suspect that you, a friend or family member may have been misclassified by your employer as an independent contractor and were not paid all overtime wages required by law, please contact attorney Allen Vaught to learn more about your rights at 1.866.495.1255 or via email at avaught@baronbudd.com. Your initial consultation is free of charge and confidential.

Learn more about overtime pay violations, misclassification of employees, the FLSA and your rights in the workplace at http://baronandbudd.com/areas-of-practice/overtime-violations/.

The law firm of Baron & Budd, P.C., with offices in Dallas, Baton Rouge, Austin and Los Angeles, is a nationally recognized law firm with over 30-years of "Protecting What’s Right" for people, communities and businesses harmed by negligence. Baron & Budd’s size and resources enable the firm to take on large and complex cases. The firm represents individuals, governmental and business entities in areas as diverse as water contamination, Gulf oil spill, Qui Tam, California Proposition 65 violations, unsafe drugs and medical devices, Chinese drywall, deceptive advertising, consumer financial fraud, securities fraud and asbestos cancers such as mesothelioma. http://baronandbudd.com

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LOS ANGELES – (August 22, 2012) Baron and Budd attorneys filed a deceptive labeling class action lawsuit today against Abbott Laboratories concerning the company’s “Ensure Muscle Health” and “Ensure Clinical Strength” products.  The lawsuit alleges that Abbott Laboratories engages in deceptive and misleading practices in connection with the marketing of its products and charges the company with violations of multiple laws. The complaint was filed on behalf of Michael J. Otto of California and a class of similarly situated consumers across the country who purchased Ensure Muscle Health or Ensure Clinical Strength drinks. Baron and Budd attorneys Roland Tellis and Mark Pifko serve as counsel in the lawsuit.

According to the complaint, Abbott capitalizes on the fears of mature Americans who are worried about muscle loss, promising that drinking the products alone will “help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time.”  To build consumer trust, Abbott touts the purported health benefits of these products with invented, pseudo-scientific terms such as “Revigor,” and proclamations like, the “#1 doctor recommended brand,” the lawsuit states.  As alleged in the lawsuit, to further establish credibility for the company’s claims, Abbot also uses phrases such as “clinical nutrition.” 

However, as alleged in the lawsuit, nowhere on the packaging of the products does Abbott disclose that the products cannot help rebuild muscle and strength in the general population of consumers to whom the products are sold — including in Abbott’s target market of healthy adults — unless the products are used in combination with a regular exercise program.  Instead, Abbott chose to selectively omit this material information from the labels for the Products to increase sales by inducing the general population of consumers who will not benefit from the products to purchase and consume them anyway, the lawsuit states.

“It’s hard to imagine a more personal affront than deceiving people about what they put in their bodies,” said Baron and Budd attorney Mark Pifko. “A sophisticated company like Abbott should be held accountable for knowingly confusing and misleading its  customers.”

Baron and Budd is a nationally recognized plaintiffs’ law firm with more than 30 years’ experience fighting to protect what’s right for consumers. The firm prides itself on remaining on the cutting-edge of meaningful litigation that protects consumers from negligent companies. Last year, Baron and Budd served on the plaintiffs’ steering committee in the Bank of America bank overdraft fee litigation that resulted in a $410 million settlement for consumers and forced Bank of America and other financial institutions to change overdraft fee policies. Since its expansion in 2011, the firm’s Los Angeles office has taken the lead on a number of high profile consumer lawsuits, including cases against companies in the banking, automotive and food product industries. 

To learn more about the Ensure lawsuit, visit the firm’s website at http://www.baronandbudd.com

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