During a water crisis in California, the state and local governments ran a program for residents, offering rebates to people who replaced their lawns and landscaping with plants that can survive drought conditions and don’t require constant watering. Now people who received rebates are getting a surprise in the mail: they’ve received letters saying that they have to pay federal taxes on that money. [More]
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Lyft Will Pay California Drivers Total Of $12.25M, Still Won’t Call Them Employees
By 1.27.16
The companies operating the two largest ride-hailing fleets, Uber and Lyft, both have lawsuits against them in California where drivers seek “employee” status. The lawsuit against Lyft has been settled, but only one part of it: the company has agreed not to terminate drivers without giving them a reason why, but will not grant them minimum wage, overtime pay, vehicle expense reimbursement, or any other benefits that they would get as employees. [More]
Uber To Pay $7.6M To California In Order To Keep Drivers On The Road
By 1.14.16
Uber must pay a $7.6 million fine in order to keep its drivers on the road in California after the state’s Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) voted on Thursday to approve a judge’s months-old recommendation that found the ride-sharing company failed to meet data reporting requirements. [More]
Grand Jury Subpoenas Chipotle Over California Norovirus Outbreak
By 1.6.16
A grand jury is investigating the circumstances surrounding a norovirus outbreak at Chipotle. Not the recent one in Boston that sickened more than 150 people, but the August outbreak in California that left more than 100 employees and customers ill. [More]
Domino’s Driver Stabs Customer For Complaining About Pizza Being 90 Minutes Late
By 1.4.16
Remember when Domino’s Pizza used to guarantee that you’d get your order in 30 minutes? The company stopped that promotion because some drivers were putting lives at risk with their dangerous driving. But it looks like delivering a pizza 90 minutes late can be just as harmful. [More]
Uber Sends Drivers New Contract That Includes Opting Out Of Any Current Class Actions
By 12.18.15
Was Uber trying to deliberately trick its drivers when it sent out a new driver agreement, or just trying to make its contract provisions clearer? While the company’s attorneys claim that the new driver contract wouldn’t actually preclude drivers still working for them from taking part in the California lawsuit or other lawsuits against them, the attorney for the affected drivers disagrees. [More]
California DMV: Self-Driving Cars Must Have A Licensed Driver Behind The Wheel
By 12.17.15
While California’s highways and byways are filling up with self-driving prototypes right now, the state Department of Motor Vehicles is laying down some rules of the road that, if finalized, will mean it could take longer for the public to get their hands on driverless cars. [More]
Comcast Hit With $26M Penalty For Dumping Hazardous Waste AND Revealing Personal Customer Info
By 12.15.15
Wow. Just wow. It takes a truly awful company to dump hazardous waste. It takes an equally bad business to reveal private customer info. But it takes a Kabletown to do both at the same time. [More]
Supreme Court Once Again Shows Its Disdain For Consumer Rights
By 12.14.15
For the third time in five years, the U.S. Supreme Court had a chance to reverse a terrifying trend in consumer rights by doing something, anything, to rein in “forced arbitration” clauses that strip consumers of their legal rights and effectively give companies a license to steal. And for the third time in five years, the SCOTUS majority showed its interests lie in protecting the coffers of big business rather than Americans’ access to the legal system. [More]
Federal Judge Rules That California Uber Drivers Can Sue For Vehicle And Phone Expenses
By 12.10.15
There’s a fairly low barrier to entry if you want to work as a driver for Uber or similar ride-hailing apps: you need to be over 21, have a safe driving record, and have a car that meets the company’s criteria. Then the company sends you work through their app, an arrangement that a current class action lawsuit says makes drivers employees of the service, entitled to reimbursement of their car and phone expenses. Now a federal district judge in California has ruled that the workers are entitled to have Uber cover their vehicle and smartphone expenses. [More]
Bill To Ban The Use of Microbeads In Personal Care Products Nationwide By 2019 Passes House
By 12.9.15
With several states and companies passing or currently considering rules to stop the use of tiny microbeads in beauty products, the nation as a whole has been playing catchup. After at least one failed attempt to pass a measure to keep the microscopic plastic spheres from going down the drain and possibly into the stomachs of our seafood, the House passed legislation this week that would ban the use of the products. [More]
California Taco Bell Offers Valet Parking For Customers
By 11.23.15
Taco Bell has made its name selling high-cal, low-price junk food (note: that’s not an insult), but one California Bell is classing things up — at least temporarily — by offering a valet parking service to customers. [More]
San Francisco Sues American Express, Alleging Illegal Restraints On Merchants
By 11.19.15
Earlier this year, a federal court ruled that American Express violated antitrust laws — resulting in higher costs for consumers — by forbidding retailers that accept AmEx from encouraging customers to use competing cards like those from Visa, MasterCard, and Discover. Now, the city of San Francisco is suing the credit card company to get back billions of dollars for merchants in California. [More]
Original Taco Bell Building Saved From Demolition, Will Be Moved To Taco Bell HQ
By 11.17.15
After facing demolition for nearly a year, the Downey, CA, building where Taco Bell got its modest start will live to see another day. It’ll just see it from a different location: the fast food restaurant’s corporate headquarters in Irvine. [More]
Those Gas Pump “Anti-Skimming” Stickers Are Really Just Pointless Decoration
By 11.16.15
More than four years ago, a number of gas stations in the U.S. started slapping stickers on gas pump credit card readers in an effort to cut down on illegal card skimmers that steal customers’ payment info. And almost immediately, these same gas stations showed they had no idea what to do with these stickers. A new report shows that not only do some companies not really care about these stickers, but that anyone can buy them. [More]
JCPenney To Refund Customers $50M In False Advertising Settlement
By 11.11.15
JCPenney is putting a class-action lawsuit accusing the retailer of violating consumer protection laws by using deceptive discount practices behind it. [More]
California Accused Of Allowing Nursing Homes To Permanently “Dump” Elderly Patients On Hospitals
By 11.9.15
A new lawsuit accuses the California Department of Health and Human Services of deliberately turning a blind eye to the illegal practice of taking nursing home residents who receive state aid and “dumping” them into the hospital system by refusing to let them return, even under binding orders to readmit them. [More]
Read The Fine Print: Allstate Safe Driving Bonus Checks Aren’t Available In All States
By 11.9.15 — Updated: 6.1.17
Sometimes, it’s annoying to watch television and see ads for businesses or products that don’t exist in your area, like the Sonic ads on cable that taunted us here in the Northeast for years. In a series of Allstate ads that air nationwide, the insurer talks about a biannual bonus check that customers who don’t get in accidents receive. “Where’s my check?” asked one Allstate customer who hasn’t had an accident in decades. Where, indeed? [More]
