News in Brief March 29 – Dehumidifiers, Coffee and Lacrosse Helmets

Welcome to the “News in Brief.” Today, we have an overtime wage settlement, a coffee maker barred from making weight loss claims, a hefty fine for defective dehumidifiers and a proposed class action over the safety of certain lacrosse helmets.

Bloomberg Settles Wage and Hour Class Action

Bloomberg has agreed to pay $3.2 million to settle claims that it failed to properly pay its call center customer service representatives. The employees claimed that they worked from home, as well as before and after scheduled shifts, without being paid overtime. The settlement should cover anyone who worked as a Bloomberg global customer service representative between March 2007 and March 2014.

Pure Green Coffee Barred from Making Weight Loss Claims

A judge has ordered that Pure Green Coffee manufacturers stop making claims that its products cause weight loss – unless the claims can be backed by reliable scientific evidence. The companies also can’t represent their products in a way that suggests they have been independently tested by an objective news reporters. According to the lawsuit, the companies deceptively promoted Pure Green Coffee on websites with mastheads for magazines like Women’s Health Journal and even CNN – and paid to drive traffic to these sites. The judge’s order resolves a lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission.

Chinese Company Fined For Flammable Dehumidifiers

Chinese company Gree Electric Alliances Inc. has been hit with the largest penalty ($15.45 million) the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has ever issued. The fine is over certain dehumidifiers that were sold in the U.S. and had a defect that could cause them to catch fire. The dehumidifiers were sold under several brand names including Kenmore and Frigidaire, but were a part of a recall that began in September 2013.

Performance Sports Group Sued Over Lost Safety Certification

Performance Sports Group is facing a lawsuit claiming that it failed to notify customers that its lacrosse helmets had lost their safety certification. The plaintiffs claim that consumers were deceived because the helmets were advertised as meeting the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE) standard when the organization had actually voided the safety certification.