In New York, a 44 year old man named Edul Ahmad was charged with enticing buyers in Richmond Hill, Queens into subprime mortgages, and inflating the values of their properties. He hid his involvement in the transactions by using straw buyers. Currently, Mr. Ahmad has pled not guilty to charges of a $50 million mortgage fraud scheme and was able to post $2.5 million in bail in July 2011. Now, many Guyanese immigrants are facing financial ruin because of the loans set up by their fellow Guinean, Mr. Ahmad. This phenomenon has come up in immigrant communities across the country where notable immigrant brokers are being accused of preying on their own immigrant community when the community is too trusting of their business leader. These victims view these brokers as a prime example of the American dream. Learn More
Taking advantage of immigrants in a mortgage scheme is similar to how they can be taken advantage in the job sector. For example, many are hired to work as independent contractors so that employers will not have to pay for health care benefits or pay taxes for them on payroll. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and New York’s wage and hour laws are one type of test used to classify whether an employee is exempt or nonexempt based on salary amounts. Workers who are paid below the minimum wage for example, are not exempt, regardless of the types of job duties they perform. This applies to a person’s total gross salary, and is not affected by whether the employee is working on a full-time or part-time basis. The salary test does not apply to teachers, doctors, and lawyers. Additionally, the FLSA overtime pay rules do not apply to blue-collar workers (such as construction workers, mechanics, and electricians), and are considered to be nonexempt, no matter how highly they are paid. If you are being paid by a salary which is at or above the minimum standard, you must still inspect your job duties to determine whether or not you are an exempt employee. Learn more about the Fair Labor Standards Act and Employee Rights
At Leeds Morelli & Brown, PC, our lawyers have extensive experience handling overtime claims and wage and hour law violations, including violations resulting from the improper classification of employees as salaried, exempt employees based on salary. Our wage and hour law and overtime violations representations extend to clients throughout Long Island, the New York Metropolitan area, and even across the country. For more information, contact Leeds, Morelli and Brown, PC at 1-800-585-4658 for a free consultation.