DETROIT (AP) — A judge has cleared the way for possibly thousands of people to be paid for work performed while they were cosmetology students at a Michigan school.
Federal Judge Judith Levy ruled Monday that students who cleaned floors, restocked products and washed towels were performing tasks that weren't directly related to their education at Douglas J. Institute. The judge says they can be considered employees under federal law.
The students claimed they could be sent home if they didn't perform tasks at Douglas J. hair styling clinics. Levy says students had "little ability or incentive to say no."
Lawyers for Douglas J. argued that manual labor was part of the education, which cost nearly $18,000. Douglas J. has schools in Ann Arbor, East Lansing, Grand Rapids, Royal Oak, Chicago and Knoxville, Tennessee.
Attorney John Philo says the next step with be class-action certification.
- Posted October 04, 2018
- Tweet This | Share on Facebook
Cosmetology students win key ruling in dispute over labor
headlines Oakland County
- Associations gather for Spring Fling
- Law school’s team wins William and Mary Colonial Cup Competition
- Supreme Court makes it easier to sue for job discrimination over forced transfers
- Oakland County Physician bound over on insurance fraud charges
- Innocence Project leaders present at University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School Spring Symposium
headlines National
- Incarceration series includes female inmates but doesn’t tell full story
- ACLU and BigLaw firm use ‘Orange is the New Black’ in hashtag effort to promote NY jail reform
- Former DOJ official who alleged election fraud violated at least one ethics rule, ethics committee says
- Winston & Strawn will provide reduced-cost legal services for routine tasks under Winston Legal Solutions umbrella
- Should Justice Sotomayor retire? Chemerinsky, White House haven’t joined calls for her to step down
- Which BigLaw firms are increasing lateral associate hiring the most? One made legal headlines last year