New York Papa John’s Franchisee Ordered To Pay Worker More Than $2M For Wage Violations

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(Aaron Tyo-Dickerson)

A New York Papa John’s franchisee must pay more than $2 million to workers as part of a judgment resolving charges that the company underpaid hundreds of delivery workers at five Harlem-area restaurants.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced the judgment Thursday resolving a lawsuit and investigation into the pay practices of New Majority Holdings, LLC and its owner and operator.

A lawsuit filed against New Majority by Schneiderman’s office last year claimed the franchisee violated New York Labor law by rounding down workers’ hours to the nearest whole hour increment; failing to pay legally required overtime premiums; paying delivery workers the lower, “tipped” minimum wage, even though they were assigned to a substantial amount of untipped kitchen and other wooers; and failed to reimburse employees for the costs of purchasing and maintaining bicycles used to make deliveries.

This week’s judgment settles those charges and requires New Majority to pay workers $2,126,166.34 in owed wages, unreimbursed expenses, liquidated damages, and interest.

“We will continue to investigate wage and hour violations in the fast food industry,” Schneiderman said in a statement. “More broadly, franchisors need to step up to the plate. I call on all fast food franchisors, including Papa John’s, to take steps necessary to ensure that their workers — the backbone of their business — are treated fairly and paid the wages the law requires.”

Schneiderman’s office has delved into worker pay issues frequently in recent years.

Last October, the AG announced a judgment against a separate Papa John’s franchisee – Emstar Pizza, Inc. – in which the company would had to pay $800,000 for unfair pay practices.

In March 2014, the office reached a $500,000 agreement with several McDonald’s locations for failing to pay legally required laundry allowances for many employees, for uncompensated work time and for unlawful deductions from wages.

A.G. Schneiderman Obtains Judgment For More Than $2 Million Against Papa John’s Franchisee That Underpaid Employees [New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

TSA Finds Stowaway Chihuahua In Passenger’s Suitcase

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(TSA)

We’re big fans of the Transportation Safety Administration’s hashtag-happy Instagram account, since we enjoy gawking at weaponry that people have tried to sneak on planes, from ammo-filled Bibles to throwing stars. Yet the TSA protected one traveler from a horrifying discovery at the end of her trip: her dog had stowed away in her suitcase, and she didn’t even know it.

My late dog would pull things out of my suitcase after I packed them, but this pup had a different plan to disrupt its owner’s travel. “While resolving a checked baggage alarm, an officer was shocked when he found a dog in the bag!” the TSA explains. It’s good to hear that a bag full of canine would set off some kind of alarm, since the dog could have suffocated inside the hard plastic suitcase. They tracked down the stowaway’s owner and reunited them. The TSA did not specify whether the traveler had to disrupt her plans to bring the dog home, or went along with its wishes and brought it along on the trip.

Ay, Chihuahua [Instagram]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Father Of Teen Poisoned By Caffeine Powder Files Lawsuit Blaming His Death On Supplement Makers, Amazon

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(Carbon Arc)

The father of an Ohio teen who died in 2014 after ingesting a powdered caffeine marketed as a dietary supplement has filed a lawsuit against Amazon.com and the product’s distributors, claiming that they failed to provide proper warnings about the dangers of using the substance.

When the 18-year-old died, the amount of caffeine in his system was about 23 times greater than the level in a typical soda or coffee drinker, and a coroner ruled that his death was due to cardiac arrhythmia and seizure due to acute caffeine toxicity.

Since then, the Food and Drug Administration has warned people against ingesting pure caffeine, saying that a single teaspoon of the stuff is equivalent to 25 cups of coffee. Even then, it “is nearly impossible to accurately measure powdered pure caffeine with common kitchen measuring tools and you can easily consume a lethal amount,” the FDA cautioned last summer.

The lawsuit filed today lists defendants as a classmate who gave the teen the powder, reports the Associated Press; Amazon for shipping the powder to the classmate and six companies in Arizona that the father’s lawyer says packaged and sold the powder under the name Hard Rhino. He says it appears the companies are related.

According to the lawsuit, the package label informs users that a cup of coffee has about 1/32nd of a teaspoon of a caffeine, but though it also warns that the powder “can be dangerous if abused,” and “failure to follow safety guidelines can result in serious injury or death,” it lacks specific instructions on proper use.

The thought being, if you don’t know how much you are supposed to take, how do you know if you’re abusing it or are in danger?

“The difference between life and death is a pinch and a smidgen,” the attorney says, adding that Amazon has a team of compliance specialists that is supposed to review products before they can be sold on the site.

The father’s attorney says that despite the fact that Hard Rhino stopped selling the powder in light of the FDA’s warning, he was able to order the product from another company off the Internet recently.

“It’s still out there,” he said.

Amazon declined to comment to the AP, and the six companies in Arizona didn’t respond to messages.

Father of Ohio teen poisoned by caffeine powder files suit [Associated Press]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Lawmakers Want To Know Who’s Tracking You Online, And Where The Info Goes

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(Mr Seb)

Everything you do online — on your phone, on your computer, with anything — leaves a digital wake. Put those trails together and you’ve got one massive big data industry that can (and does) track it all and sell it to the highest bidder. After decades of digital detritus building up, regulators and Congress both are contemplating some steps that would help protect consumers’ info.

The FTC will be holding a workshop this fall on how, and how much, companies are tracking you across multiple platforms on the big wide internet. Such workshops are often the first step in a long information-gathering process that can culminate in new rules.

Cross-platform tracking is the big thing for advertisers these days. Services like Facebook Atlas, for example, provide such cross-platform tracking to advertisers. If you are logged into the Facebook app on your phone, and you are logged into Facebook on your computer at work, Atlas will correlate both sets of data into one single profile for advertisers.

That includes information like “here are all the sites this person went to on this browser,” for your desktop, and “here are all the apps this person has and all the places GPS says this person went,” from your phone. Combine all of that information with all of the information you put on your Facebook profile — where you live, where you work, where you went to school, and rings upon rings of people you know and their information — and it’s a rich haul indeed for advertisers who want to goad you into spending more money.

This is not the FTC’s first foray into the world of big data; the agency has become responsible for consumer privacy and the use of consumer data almost by default. They have previously held workshops and published reports on the breadth and depth of the big data industry, which tracks and trades basically everything anyone does anywhere.

Some members of Congress are also now trying to take action on last year’s FTC big data report. Several senators — Richard Blumenthal (CT), Ed Markey (MA), Sheldon Whitehouse (RI), and Al Franken (MN) — have introduced the Data Broker Accountability and Transparency Act.

The bill would allow individuals to opt-out from companies using, sharing, or selling their personal data for marketing purposes. The bill would also require the FTC to set up a centralized clearinghouse-type website for consumers, to notify them of their rights.

Sen. Markey introduced a similar bill last year that did not clear committee.

Who’s tracking you online? Senate Dems want answers [The Hill]

The FTC wants to know how companies are tracking you across computers and smartphones [The Washington Post]

by Kate Cox via Consumerist

FDA Approves First “Biosimilar” Drug. Could Drive Down Cost Of Most Expensive Medications

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(D O’Quinn)

Biotech drugs — which are generally derived from a living organism, as opposed to traditional purely chemical medications — are currently among the most expensive medicines available. But today, the Food and Drug Administration issued its first approval of a drug that is “biosimilar” to an existing biotech medication; a development that could possibly result in billions of dollars in savings.

But biotech drugs are sometimes so complex as to make exact replication for generic versions too expensive or difficult.

And so the 2010 Affordable Care Act allows for drugmakers to create biosimilar medications that will be if they can demonstrate they are highly similar to an already-approved “reference” product, and that the new drug “has no clinically meaningful differences in terms of safety and effectiveness from the reference product.”

The first FDA-approved biosimilar is Zarxio from New Jersey-based Sandoz, which the agency says is effectively the same as Amgen’s Neupogen (filgrastim), a drug given to chemotherapy patients to increase white blood cell counts. Zarxio will be approved for all the same therapeutic uses as Neupogen, and is in fact only approved for the indications and conditions of the older drug.

While the FDA says the two drugs are biosimilar, it does not deem them “interchangeable,” meaning patients currently on Neupogen can’t just switch over to Zarxio unless the original prescribing physician approves the change.

And because the two drugs are not entirely identical, Zarxio can’t yet share the filgrastim nonproprietary name of Neupogen. For now, the FDA is assigning the placeholder name of “filgrastim-sndz,” until the issue of nonproprietary names for biosimilars is resolved.

The ultimate hope for biosimilar drugs is that, much like the availability of generic drugs give consumers and physicians lower-cost treatment options, biosimilar drugs will result in more affordable biotech medications.

“Biosimilars will provide access to important therapies for patients who need them,” said FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg in a statement. “Patients and the health care community can be confident that biosimilar products approved by the FDA meet the agency’s rigorous safety, efficacy and quality standards.”

Prescription benefits giant Express Scripts believes that the introduction of just Zarxio could save consumers and the healthcare system $5.7 billion over the next decade. If the 11 leading candidates for biosimilar status are also approved, the company projects a total savings of $250 billion in ten years.

Among the potential big-ticket drugs facing competition from biosimilars is the world’s best-selling prescription drug, Humira (adalimumab), which brought in more than $12 billion worldwide for AbbVie last year.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Consumers Want To Eat More Local Beef, But There Aren’t Enough Butchers These Days

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(Emerson 113)

Does the idea of a hard day at work cutting up cattle carcasses appeal to you? If not, you’re not alone: Despite the growing trend toward eating more local beef, there simply aren’t enough people going into the profession of butchering to meet the increased demand.

The Associated Press spoke to one butcher who’s been in the meat-processing business for 38 years slaughtering cattle, who says he can see why few people want to get into the profession these days.

“It’s killing cows. It’s blood and guts,” he explains. He runs a small company with his wife in Iowa, and his three kids don’t want to follow in his footsteps.

Across the country, thousands of butchers are getting closer to retirement, without enough younger butchers with small companies willing to take on the task. In Iowa, for example, there were 450 small meat processors. Now, there are 140 or fewer.

This means small farmers who are already trucking their cattle 50 or 100 miles to get the meat processed by butchering businesses have to pass those increased transportation costs onto retailers and then, consumers.

But as butchers age out of the profession, those farmers will have to look elsewhere to get their beef to stay “local.” As it stands right now, those small meat processors are overwhelmed with business, and can’t find enough workers to keep up.

“We’re booked like four to five months in advance,” said the owner of a butchering shop in Ohio. And “finding anyone to help to work is harder and harder.”

To be sure, there are some new shops opening up as the demand for specialty meat grows, but it’s not easy or cheap to do so, Lauren Gwin, a professor at Oregon State University who coordinates the Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network told the AP.

“It’s a complex business,” said Gwin, whose group’s goal is to overcome the issues facing the industry. “You have to know a lot of things to run a business like this.”

More want local beef, but fewer want tough job of cutting it [Associated Press]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Report: Apple Sides With Music Labels, Thinks Free Streaming Service Tiers Are Bad

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(Philippe Put)

Last year, Apple acquired Beats, a company that makes two things that go nicely with media players and smartphones: high-end headphones and a subscription-based music streaming service. While they’re happy to offer a free trial and will be reportedly be pushing the Beats Music app to iDevice users in the future, Apple will not follow competitor Spotify’s lead in offering a free, ad-supported tier.

This report comes from technology site Re/Code, and makes sense. Beats currently doesn’t offer a free version of its subscription, except for a two-week free trial for new users. That won’t change when Apple pushes the Beats app to users’ devices like so many U2 albums.

While people seem to enjoy streaming music for free on services like Spotify or by watching music videos on YouTube, two groups of stakeholders don’t care for this business model very much: musicians and record label executives. We probably could have expected that. Taylor Swift notably pulled all of her music from Spotify after releasing her latest album, and Re/Code quotes industry executives who are against the idea of free streaming. Lucian Grainge of Universal Music Group apparently believes that Spotify is the reason why users aren’t paying for as many downloads as they used to, yet the amount that labels get paid from streaming services hasn’t caught up to make the difference. About 12% of people who used to buy and listen to music through iTunes now stream through Spotify, and less than half of them have paid subscriptions.

Apple media leaders apparently agree, and have been making this argument around the industry.

Big Music Labels Want to Make Free Music Hard to Get, and Apple Says They’re Right [Re/Code]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Did Lyft Backtrack On $1,000 Bonus Promise For New Drivers Or Is It Simply Overwhelmed By Applicants?

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(Σπύρος Βάθης)

In an effort to raise a fleet of drivers for its ride-sharing service, Lyft offered $1,000 bonuses both to new drivers and those referring them last week. But it appears the company might have bitten off more than it can chew after receiving more applications than anticipated, leaving some hopeful drivers without bonuses.

Business Insider reports Lyft announced some of the newly signed-on drivers might not qualify for the referral bonus after all.

According to the original spring driver referral deal – which began February 27 – Lyft would pay $1,000 to new drivers and the current driver who referred them if the new driver completed one ride by March 5.

The only problem is that in order to become a Lyft driver, consumers must fulfill the company’s safety obligations, including driving with a mentor, as well as completing DMV and background checks, which can take days to be finalized.

Making matters worse, the company has reported its approval process is backed-up because of the high enrollment its seen since announcing the promotion.

“This promotion brought the biggest wave of applicants in Lyft history,” an update to the referral promotion states. “It is possible that you won’t qualify for the promotion if your DMV check and background check aren’t completed by the March 5 deadline.”

In some cases, Lyft has extended the ride completion deadline into next week, as long as those drivers have applied, passed their DMV checks and background checks, the company tells Business Insider.

“We owe it to the driver community and our passengers to make sure our approval process is rigorous and complete,” the company said in a follow-up email to potential drivers. “All elements of our safety process are imperative and can take time – that means some applications haven’t been approved yet even though the applicant’s DMV and background checks are in. We know this can be frustrating.”

Unsurprisingly, some potential new drivers questioned Lyft’s intention with the promotion and apparent about-face.

“I’m thinking this either is huge scheme just to get people to sign up and drive,” a member of the UberPeople online forum posted, speculating the company may have taken its time with the background checks to limit the number of referral bonuses issues or simply didn’t anticipate its popularity.

For its part Lyft tells drivers that it won’t use any information from their applications if they don’t qualify for the promotion or if they decide not to pursue a job with the company.

“Lyft learned a lesson this week, and we’re sorry for the frustration it caused you,” an email to potential drivers states. “We vastly underestimated the volume of applications we would receive for our $1,000 sign-on promotion, which was created to help us keep up with record-breaking passenger demand.”

Lyft apologizes for angering potential drivers after it promised eye-popping bonuses [Business Insider]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

“Stressed Out” Badger Prevents Staff And Guests From Entering, Leaving Luxury Hotel

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(Expressen TV)

Guests and staff at a luxury hotel in Stockholm found themselves at the whim of one erratic badger, whose aggressive stance kept anyone from either entering or leaving the place for some time this morning. Want to pick up your bags or go through those revolving doors? Nope. Much like his honey-loving cousin, hotel badger does not care what you want.

“A crazy or stressed-out badger is preventing the staff and clients at a major hotel from leaving their cars, and from picking up their bags,” the Stockholm police website said, via The Local.

Things got serious at the Radisson Blu around five a.m., when the badger decided no one was doing anything whatsoever involving those front doors on his watch, which lasted for 40 minutes until police decided to get involved.

“The stressed animal was refusing to leave the place. So the police called in the local wildlife services to settle the problem,” the police statement said.

By the time wildlife services arrived, however, the badger had somehow calmed itself down enough to leave the premises before it could be caught.

Badger puts Stockholm hotel in lockdown [The Local]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Why Does A Tube Of Cold Sore Cream Cost $2,500?

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In Canada, you can buy a tube of brand-name prescription cold sore cream Zovirax for around $50. Its generic equivalent (acyclovir) is half that price. And even here in the states you can find generics acyclovir pills and ointments for a reasonable price, so why does what is effectively the same product for more than $2,500 in the U.S.?

That was the question asked by the L.A. Times’ David Lazarus, after a reader noticed that while he forked over an already hefty $95 co-pay for his tube of Zovirax cream, his hospital paid the drug company Valeant $2,532.80 — for a single tube.

And this wasn’t a mistake. The patient contacted the pharmacy, operated by managed care giant Kaiser Permanente, where employees confirmed that this is simply the price paid for the product.

Which brings us back to the question of why does it cost so much?

Zovirax is produced by big-pharma biggie GlaxoSmithKline, but is now distributed in the U.S. and Canada by Valeant.

A third company, Actavis, now has the rights to market an “authorized” generic version of the medication in the U.S., and there are other drug companies selling acyclovir generics without that label.

However, none of these generics come in “cream” form. They are ointments, which have a higher oil:water ratio than creams, but which are medically identical.

And so the only acyclovir cream being sold in the U.S. is from Valeant, reports Lazarus, who tried to get an explanation from the company about why it charges so much.

A rep for Valeant said the price tag for the Zovirax cream “takes into account many factors, the cost of the active and inactive ingredients, the manufacturing process, the packaging and its related process, as well as the distribution and a myriad of other expenses.”

Keen observers may have noticed that the rep didn’t really answer the question, but did explain how a company would price, well… anything.

A more likely explanation, is that Canadian law places restrictions on drug prices and Valeant is making money stateside where it can.

“If there’s a take-away from [the patient’s] story,” writes Lazarus, “it’s that America’s healthcare system is designed to maximize cash flow for its corporate players and that there are few safeguards to keep costs down.”

We were surprised that Kaiser, which would only say that its price is comparable to what others pay, did not suggest a lower-priced generic ointment for the patient, which is why it behooves all of us to ask our doctors and pharmacists about less-expensive options for our medications.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

What Is The FREAK Flaw And How Much Should I, Well, Freak Out About It?

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(Saechang)

There are certain websites that you expect to be secure. The NSA’s and FBI’s sites, for example, or any shopping site you enter your credit card information on. They say HTTPS, and they show a lock, so they’re fine, right? Wrong. A team of researchers this week has announced the finding of a flaw they’re calling FREAK. It interferes with that encryption and makes some sites vulnerable — and it’s everywhere. Not just on laptop and desktop computers, but also on mobile phones and tables. Here’s what you need to know.

What does the FREAK flaw do?

Like other security flaws we’ve heard about this year, the FREAK flaw would let a third party interrupt a secure connection, to intervene in-between your computer and the website you’re sharing data with. Just in a very different way.

The TL;DR version of the technical explanation is: when a vulnerable device connects to a vulnerable HTTPS-protected site (these tend to display a lock or a green icon of some kind in your URL bar), a flaw in the encryption could let an attacker jump in to grab the data going back and forth between the two. And that includes personal information, passwords, and anything else.

The original highly technical explanation, from the researchers who identified the exploit, is here, with another very detailed explanation here.

What platforms are vulnerable or affected?

It’s a depressingly large list. The browsers and platforms known to be vulnerable include:

• Android: stock browser


• Android: Chrome


• Blackberry: stock browser


• iOS (iPhone/iPad): Safari


• Linux: Opera


• Mac OS: Chrome


• Mac OS: Opera


• Mac OS: Safari


• Windows: Internet Explorer

What platforms aren’t affected?

Firefox, on all operating systems (computers and phones), seems to be ok as far as anyone can tell. There is a patch available to fix it for Chrome for Mac users already.

What sites are vulnerable?

That is another depressingly long list, from retail to government and lots of things in between. Some of the highest-traffic domains that are affected include Business Insider, American Express, Groupon, Bloomberg, NPR, Kohls, and MIT. A number of very high-profile government sites were also affected, including the NSA, the FBI, and the White House’s sites, as well as the site (USAJobs) that all applicants for any federal job must use.

Where did it come from, and how long has it been a problem?

The flaw has been out in the wild for over a decade. Basically, we have some questionable choices of the 1990s to thank.

Security, encryption, and data privacy had a slightly different set of priorities attached to them during the Clinton administration than they do now, and back then the feds set up a requirement that any software or hardware that was exported outside of the U.S. had to have weak encryption keys. Many businesses set up dual-track encryption grades, using the good stuff at home and exporting the weak versions. Eventually those restrictions were dropped but somehow the weak versions have ended up still being used on a whole bunch of sites (or, rather, their servers) and on the devices that access them.

That’s where the “FREAK” name comes from: it’s more or less an acronym for “Factoring attack on RSA-EXPORT Keys.”

How did we learn about this issue?

From a team of security researchers, as opposed to from a massive data dump or worldwide hack. A team at the University of Michigan is maintaining an information clearinghouse site on the vulnerability here.

How hard would this be to exploit?

The researchers who announced the findings said, from their proof-of-concept testing, that it takes about 7 hours to break into a site using this vulnerability.

Has anyone used this particular flaw to steal my data?

Honestly? We have no real idea. Man-in-the-middle attacks — where bad guys pop in to a flaw and steal information between source A and destination B — are pretty popular, as these things go, and there’s no way right now to know who has taken advantage of this particular flaw, when, or where.

But the good news is, this particular flaw should be less useful in the future. Patches to fix this particular problem are already out or are expected very soon. So make sure you update your browser or phone OS the next time it asks you to.

by Kate Cox via Consumerist

Police Can’t Crack Mysterious Case Of More Than 100 Egging Attacks On Cleveland Home

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(Dyanna Hyde)

Anyone who’s ever had to clean up after an egging attack knows it’s no fun to wipe up a goopy mess of yolks, whites and cracked shells adorning your home or car. But one Cleveland house has had more than the usual isolated egging, as the target of about 100 incidents in the last year in a mysterious spate of attacks that have police stymied.

An 85-year-old man’s Cleveland-area home has suffered some bad damage, after a spate of egging attacks that started in March 2014 have continued on for a year, reports Cleveland.com. No one can figure out who is behind the attacks, which sometimes happen more than once a day.

“The accuracy is phenomenal,” the homeowner, who lives with his two adult children in Euclid, says. “Because almost every time when it’s nice weather and they launch five or six of these at a time, they almost invariably hit the front door.”

Several times a week, someone pelts the two-story home with eggs, always after dark, and usually in attacks that last about 10 minutes each time.

Police and the man think the eggs are being launched from a block or two away, meaning this is no quick drive-by from kids in a car. Though other homes nearby have been hit as a result, it doesn’t appear any neighbors have been targeted.

“Somebody is deeply, deeply angry at somebody in that household for some reason,” a Euclid police lieutenant says. His department has spent a year working on the case — even staking it out undercover, canvassing the neighborhood and sending the eggshells for testing. Investigators have also installed a surveillance camera on the house. All to no avail, so far.

Last year while an officer was taking a report at the house, a slew of eggs hit the house, with one hitting him in the foot.

“The man hours put into that investigation were huge and one of the reasons it’s so frustrating that we don’t have somebody right now that we can criminally charge,” the police lieutenant says. The culprit or culprits will ultimately face charges of felony vandalism and criminal damaging.

For now, the house’s siding on the front of the home is destroyed, crusted with dried egg residue that’s stripping off the paint. But while the homeowner used to clean up after each egging, it’s happening so often that he just can’t keep up. He’s going to wait to repair things if the eggings ever stop, because he says his insurance company is refusing to settle a claim until the guilty party is found.

Despite their frustrations over pouring hundreds of man hours into the case, police say they’re not giving up, bumping up the reward for information from $500 to $1,000.

“We’re not going to let it go,” the police rep says. “We’ll continue to put effort into it until we figure something out.”

More than 100 stealth egg attacks baffle one Euclid homeowner and police [Cleveland.com]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Report: Stolen Credit Card Information Used By Fraudsters To Make Purchases With Apple Pay

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(Adam Fagen)

A rash in data breaches at national retailers may have led fraudsters to use Apple Pay to make big-ticket purchases with credit card information stolen during national data breaches.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the mobile payment system has recently been hit by a wave of fraudulent transactions involving credit card data stolen from retailers including Target and Home Depot.

While the Apply Pay system hasn’t been breached, the scamsters have input stolen card data into the payment system and then used the information to make purchases without a physical card being present.

According to sources close to the matter, nearly 80% of the unauthorized purchases have been made at Apple’s own store for items with high resale value.

A spokesperson for Apple tells the WSJ that the payment system is “designed to be extremely secure and protect a user’s personal information.”

To use Apple Pay, consumers simply take a photo of their credit card or manually enter their card information. At that point it is up to consumers’ banks to include additional verification steps such as requiring consumers to authorize the service through their online account or call a customer-service representative to complete the set-up.

However, our colleagues at Consumer Reports found back in October, that not all banks use verification processes. In this case a man was able to input his wife’s credit card information and use it with out further verification by the bank.

According to the WSJ, the most recent rash of fraud through Apple Pay has included relatively low-tech means to find vulnerabilities in the verification systems.

As a result banks are tightening their verification processes.

“Our member banks are reacting as quickly as possible to ensure their verification processes are adequate to thwart this new kind of fraud,” David Pommerehn, an executive with the Consumer Bankers Association, which represents lenders that issue credit and debit cards, tells the WSJ.

A spokesperson for PNC Financial Services Group says the company has seen 35 cases of fraud related to use of Apple Pay.

“We have looked at our processes and we believe we have very strong know-your-customer processes in place to prevent any additional cases,” the rep said.

To combat potential fraud some banks have implemented additional authentication methods – including sending a text message to the consumer – when making a purchased through Apple Pay.

“Apple Pay is formidable, but it still sits on a loose foundation,” Richard Crone, an executive for payments-advisory firm Crone Consulting, tells the WSJ.

Apple Pay Stung by Low-Tech Fraudsters [The Wall Street Journal]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

American Apparel Employees File Complaints Against Company For Alleged Intimidation, Silencing Tactics

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(afagen)

It has not been an easy road for American Apparel after firing founder and former CEO Dov Charney last year: Charney announced in December that he’s trying to plan a comeback, and now two complaints filed by workers allege that the company is intimidating its workers and trying to keep them from talking to the media about the company’s troubles.

Employees have filed two complaints against the company with the National Labor Relations Board in the last two days, reports BuzzFeed News.

The first complaint was filed on Wednesday, and claims that American Apparel sent security to intimidate workers who’d gathered for an off-site meeting to discuss recent cuts in hours. In that complaint, an employee says she was “accosted and interrogated” by company security after the meeting and told to turn over informational flyers. She claims her employee ID badge was seized and photographed.

These workers have formed a coalition at Charney’s urging, BuzzFeed reports, with its third meeting scheduled for Saturday.

In the second complaint, which was filed yesterday, employees claim that a new broad media policy instituted by the management is “silencing” workers and making it tough for them to act against unsatisfactory working conditions.

The complaint outlines what it alleges is American Apparel’s media policy, which it says was introduced on Jan. 25. According to the complaint, the policy “prohibits American Apparel employees and other personnel from making statements to, or otherwise having contact with, journalists and the media, insofar as it relates to American Apparel (including among other topics as to current and former employees and as to our business and operations.)”

In addition, the complaint claims the policy says that “The response to all media inquiries should be ‘no comment.”

That complaint points to a 2012 NLRB case about employee social media postings, where a court ruled against certain broad speech provisions that banned employees from saying things on social media “that object to their working conditions and seek the support of others in improving them.”

While many companies make workers sign nondisclosure and confidentiality policies so that employees won’t blab a company’s financial secrets or other private information, American Apparel employees claim in the complaint that the broadness of this particular rule infringes on their right to “protected concerted activity.

In response to this week’s complaints, an American Apparel spokesperson stressed the company’s commitment to “free speech and social commentary” and said it will “investigate these allegations to determine the actual facts.”

“Core principles of American Apparel are workers’ rights and respect for our employees,” a spokesperson told BuzzFeed news. “This is clear from our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, which reflects our efforts to ensure that American Apparel’s workplaces are free from harassment, bullying and intimidation and which promotes fair treatment of employees and compliance with labor and employment laws.”

Previously in social media/NLRB: Can You Get Away With Complaining About Your Job Online? Maybe, Says NLRB

American Apparel Is Intimidating Workers, Complaint Alleges [BuzzFeed News]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Could Comcast Try To Buy Netflix Or T-Mobile If Time Warner Cable Deal Fails?

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(Mike Mozart)

After more than a year of stop-start-stop regulatory review, the FCC and Justice Dept. are currently in the final stretch of deciding whether to approve, block, or put conditions on the mega-merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable. With even some formerly optimistic industry analysts now having their doubts about the deal’s success, it’s time to consider what Kabletown might do if the acquisition falls through.

Of course, if Comcast is blocked from acquiring TWC, it could just take that $45 billion and invest it in improving service and providing new options for its 22 million subscribers.

But in a blog post [registration required], Richard Greenfield at BTIG Research contends that Comcast’s wealth and “insatiable appetite for acquisitions” indicate that the company would not simply sit idle when there are other merger options available that might not raise the same regulatory red flags as the bid to buy TWC.

Comcast, which acquired the expansive NBC Universal broadcast/cable/theatrical production and distribution network in 2011, could try to go even further into the world of content by acquiring other media companies.

A more intriguing idea would be the acquisition of the company that has been one of Comcast’s most outspoken critics in recent years — Netflix.

While Greenfield acknowledges that “acquiring Netflix would be massively dilutive to Comcast shareholders,” he points out that Netflix has been able to do what many traditional media companies have failed to do — create a streaming product that works well across the wide array of platforms and devices.

Acquiring the Netflix team and technology would be a boost to Comcast’s pay-TV and broadband services, while also undoubtedly building Netflix into all possible set-top boxes for the nation’s largest cable provider.

And though Greenfield doesn’t mention it, we’d be shocked if a regulatory condition on a Comcast/Netflix merger didn’t include a condition that Comcast make Netflix available for other pay-TV providers’ set-top boxes.

But that brings up the question of whether or not the FCC/DOJ reviewers would sign off on such a deal. We’d expect there to be a vocal grassroots effort, similar to the one currently opposing the TWC acquisition, speaking out against a Comcast/Netflix deal. And if the TWC deal falls through, Comcast’s opponents would only be emboldened for another fight.

And unlike the pending mega-deal, in which Comcast and TWC claim to not compete, there is no doubt that Netflix is competing directly with Comcast. So it’s hard to imagine the nation’s largest pay-TV provider being allowed to absorb a service that many view as the poster-child for cord-cutting.

So while Greenfield believes that Comcast could possibly woo Netflix’s board into agreeing to a deal if the offer were “truly compelling,” we have serious doubts that the company would jump right into another acquisition that isn’t a sure thing with regulators.

A more likely option presented by Greenfield is for Comcast to go the wireless route and try to acquire either T-Mobile or Sprint.

Since Sprint is now controlled by Japanese telecom giant Softbank, which has been more interested in acquiring businesses than selling off the company, T-Mobile is the more likely partner. After all, its German parent company is still trying to sell it off.

And it could be a wise move for Comcast, not only acquiring T-Mo’s approximately 50 million accounts but allowing it to offer a fixed wireless broadband service much like the one planned by AT&T.

The whole purpose of Comcast acquiring TWC is to get into the NYC and L.A. markets and provide geographic continuity for its services in the nation’s most populated corridors.

While a T-Mobile merger wouldn’t give Comcast immediate pay-TV access to those regions, it could exploit T-Mo’s existing cell towers and LTE network to offer more affordable wireless broadband and sell standalone streaming services like the ones that NBC is reportedly mulling over.

Whether or not Comcast pursued such a deal will almost certainly depend on the outcome of the pending merger of AT&T and DirecTV. If regulators sign off on that acquisition with minimal concessions, T-Mobile may be seen as a merger target for some complementary company. And if Comcast and TWC are broken up at the altar, it could be Kabletown calling for T-Mo’s hand in marriage.

[via Investors.com]

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Report: Injuries Related To Bounce Houses, Other Inflatable Attractions, On The Rise

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(World of Oddy)

Is it every kid’s dream to go flying through the air, light as a bird, only to land safely on a soft surface? Perhaps. But that doesn’t mean that all of those inflatable bounce houses, castles, slides and other amusements are necessarily safe for children, and a federal agency is pointing to a rise in injuries on such attractions to make sure parents are aware of the risks.

In a new report from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the group says data from 2003 to 2013 shows there were an estimated 100,000 injuries related to the air-filled structures during that time, the kind with flexible fabric that stay inflated through continuous air flow from at least one blower.

The injuries kept climbing through that time period, from about 5,000 in 2003 to more than 17,000 in 2013, the CPSC’s report says.

“Parents and caregivers need to be aware that there can be serious incidents in backyard and community events with inflatables,” Patty Davis, a spokeswoman for the CPSC told USA Today. As the numbers go higher, the trend should be seen as a “wake up call for parents,” she added.

The kids getting injured the most are those between 4 and 15 (a rather large range) at 61% of the overall injuries from 2011 to 2013.

Adults aren’t totally safe, either — there were 12 deaths from 2003 to 2013 and half of those fatalities were adults.

While the CPSC continues to work on ways to “beef up” safety standards for these kinds of inflatables, the CPSC just wants parents to know what they’re dealing with. Some tips:

• Children should always be supervised, first and foremost.

• Follow manufacturer’s instructions for set-up carefully.

• Make sure it’s properly staked and anchored.

• If it’s super windy outside, don’t use ’em — maximum wind speed should be 15 to 25pmh.

• Keep kids away from gas generators and air pumps.

• Young children shouldn’t be inside the inflatable moon bounces with older kids.

• If it’s a public event, ask the company running the ride if they are licensed and experienced.

Moon bounce injuries on the rise, report finds [USA Today]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

“Sustainability Leader” Badges On Walmart Products Don’t Mean Items Are Good For Environment

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The “made by Sustainability Leaders” badge on this 150′ roll of bubble tape is not necessarily an indicator of the product’s environmental impact.

If you see a product tagged with a “sustainability leaders” badge on the Walmart website, you might think this is an indication that this item is more environmentally friendly than others. And you might be correct; but you might also be mistaken. Because the truth is that this badge has virtually nothing to do with the product being advertised.

In a piece for Grist.org, co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance Stacy Mitchell cites the example of this 150′ roll of bubble wrap that is tagged with the sustainability badge.

Given the availability of more sustainable and eco-friendly packaging options, it seems odd that this particular product, which doesn’t appear to be substantially different from other bubble wraps, would be singled out for this label.

But the key to that answer lies in the full wording of the badge: “made by Sustainability Leaders.” (That’s not a typo. The actual design of the badge has “made by” in lower case.) It’s not about the product, but about the company that makes the product.

And though there’s no indication on the product page of what the badge means, clicking on the “Global Responsibility” link at the bottom of the page, and then clicking on “Environmental Sustainability” and then clicking “Sustainability Leaders” will lead you to this page, where you will eventually get to this disclaimer:

“The Sustainability Leaders badge does not make representations about the environmental or social impact of an individual product, only that the manufacturer has scored well enough to earn a badge across all of the products they make in that category. For example, a television identified with a Sustainability Leaders badge indicates that the manufacturer has been identified as a Sustainability Leader among its peers in the television category for its sustainability management practices.”

So this doesn’t even mean that this unnamed TV manufacturer is making sustainable products. Just that it’s “sustainable practices” are among the best in the category of TV makers.

Companies earn the badge — which can be placed on all of their products — by periodically responding to a survey of questions regarding their practices. But the actual questions are not a matter of public record, so it’s impossible to say what factors are being considered to determine a manufacturer’s relative sustainability.

Walmart also doesn’t reveal the survey scores, so consumers don’t know whether that TV manufacturer is indeed running a sustainable business or is just the least environmentally unfriendly among its particular peer group.

There’s nothing wrong with cheerleading companies with sustainable business practices, but we question the decision to place these badges on all products from these companies without a clear disclosure that the particular item may not be any more sustainable than products from competitors, especially given the lack of transparency in the process for earning these badges.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

This Year’s Special Arizona Diamondbacks Hot Dog Is A Churro Wrapped In A Doughnut

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(@Dbacks on Twitter)

Last year, the Arizona Diamondbacks introduced the world to the D-Bat Dog, a $25, 18-inch corn dog stuffed with cheese and bacon. This year the baseball team has decided to go a more sugary route, introducing the Churro Dog, which is essentially, a churro wrapped in a doughnut.

Gone is the tube of pork parts, and in its place is the fried dough dessert covered in cinnamon and sugar, nestled in a “long john chocolate glazed donut, which is then topped with frozen yogurt, caramel and chocolate sauces,” ESPN’s Darren Rovell reports.

“We’ve found that desserts work really well in the heat we have here,” D-backs president Derrick Hall said.

Rovell says the offering is the team’s attempt to go above and beyond last year’s D-Bat Dog, as teams like them and others are realizing that fans will splash out more cash on food if it’s unique.

Would you pay $25 for a regular corn dog? Nope. Boring. But if it’s 18 inches and stuffed with all kinds of things and is only available for one season, why not?

This year the price of novelty won’t be quite as dear: the Churro Dog is a bit cheaper than last year’s specialty dog, selling for just $8.50 at two stands on the main concourse at Chase Field.

Diamondbacks offer Churro Dog [ESPN]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Home Depot Employees Build Custom Wagon For Cancer-Stricken Dog

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(KABC-TV)

The owner of an elderly cancer-stricken canine says she was just hoping for some wagon-building advice from Home Depot employees but she ended up with something much more — a custom-built cart for her ill furry friend.

The woman tells KABC-TV that she wanted to build a cart to help tote around her 15-year-old dog Ike, who has cancer in his leg. She went to the Home Depot in Hawthorne, CA, where she asked for some input from an employee.

“I showed him the cart that I was trying to use and I asked him, ‘What can I do to change this cart and build it so that it’s longer or his size?’ He just shook his head and said, ‘Let me give it some thought and I’ll call you later,'” she recalls.

But rather than just sketch up something for the customer to assemble, the Home Depot worker and another employee went ahead and built a new wagon, complete with built-on ramp, for the pooch.

“I offered to build this for her and let her know that it’s something that Home Depot offers – giving back to our customers,” explains the employee, who is also building a ramp to help get Ike in and out of the car.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Consumerist Friday Flickr Finds

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Here are seven of the best photos that readers added to the Consumerist Flickr Pool in the last week, picked for usability in a Consumerist post or for just plain neatness.

(Jason Cook)

(Mike Mozart)

(pjpink)

(Rich Renomeron)

(Víctor Gutiérrez Navarro)

(Chris Goldberg)

(Eric BEAUME)

Want to see your pictures on our site? Our Flickr Pool is the place where Consumerist readers upload photos for possible use in future Consumerist posts. Just be a registered Flickr user, go here, and click “Join Group?” up on the top right. Choose your best photos, then click “send to group” on the individual images you want to add to the pool.

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

McDonald’s Invites Indie Band To Sell Out For No Pay

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(Joseph O. Holmes)

The South by Southwest Music Festival is an annual event in Austin, Texas, where you can discover relatively unknown independent bands and absorb other forms of culture. Playing the festival can be a great opportunity, and McDonald’s apparently knows this. The duo Ex Cops received an invitation to play at the “McDonald’s Showcase” at this year’s festival. How much was the global mega-corporation going to pay the band? Well, um, they would get lots of “exposure.”

Brian Harding, who comprises 50% of the band, didn’t post the entire pitch from McDonald’s, but shared the gist of it:

Their selling point was that this was “a great opportunity for additional exposure,” and that “McDonald’s will have their global digital team on site to meet with the bands, help with cross promotion, etc.”

Yes, McDonald’s was asking bands to sell out without actually paying them. “There isn’t a budget for an artist fee (unfortunately),” the McDonald’s representative explained. That’s because they know that there must be some perfectly great bands out there who are willing to play for free.

One thing used to entice bands? The opportunity to maybe be featured on the company’s social media feeds, which have millions of followers. They plan to entice festivalgoers by offering free food and drinks. I’m not sure what kind of overlap there is between “people who love passing platters of McNuggets” and “people who travel to Austin for an indie music festival,” but apparently there is some.

Yes, the budget for a given marketing project is very specific, and it’s not fair to point out that they can’t toss a band traveling from far away a few hundred bucks while they pay former CEO Don Thompson $3 million to consult after his retirement.

“Doritos received a lot of flack for their stage a couple years ago, but I’m going to assume they paid Lady Gaga,” Ex Cops member Brian Harding wrote in his open letter about the invitation. No, maybe she needs the exposure.

The media staff for McDonald’s sent Gawker a statement that even included a snarky hashtag.

We follow the same standard protocol as other Brands and sponsors by inviting talented and emerging musicians to join us at the SXSW Festival. We look forward to serving McDonald’s food, drinks and fun in Austin. #slownewsday

Nuh-uh, says Ex Cops singer Amalie Bruun. She told Rolling Stone that other showcases do offer money to their performers. “They’re not following any guidelines because everyone else is offering money. They’ll have to take that up with South by Southwest if they think they’re following the guidelines…Other, much smaller corporations are offering us money.”

On the plus side, now we’ve all heard of Ex Cops, and you can check out their music and decide for yourself whether you would want to trade more than a couple of McNuggets for their latest album.

Ex Cops Blast McDonald’s For Offering Its SXSW Talent Exposure Instead Of Money [Stereogum] (via Gawker)

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Lumber Liquidators Sued Over Formaldehyde Allegations

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Only days after a 60 Minutes report on the allegedly high formaldehyde levels in wood products sold by Lumber Liquidators, consumers have filed a potential class action against the company in federal court.

The complaint [PDF], filed today in a U.S. District Court in California, alleges that Lumber Liquidators violated federal and state laws by selling Chinese-manufactured laminated wood products containing formaldehyde at “levels known to pose serious health risks” and in excess of California limits.

The plaintiffs, a family from Santa Clarita, CA, who purchased flooring from Lumber Liquidators, acknowledge that formaldehyde can be safely used in the manufacture of laminated wood flooring, but only if used sparingly so that the chemical dissipates quickly.

But if an excess of formaldehyde is used, it can remain in the laminated wood and gradually be emitted over time. Prolonged, continued exposure to formaldehyde has been linked to numerous health problems ranging from nausea to increased cancer risk.

As shown in the 60 Minutes story, testing on the laminated wood Lumber Liquidated sourced from suppliers in China allegedly contained more formaldehyde than its domestically sourced laminates and similar products sold by competitors.

“Despite this discrepancy, Lumber Liquidators did not differentiate between its domestically manufactured floor laminates and those made in China,” reads the complaint, which points out that the company’s Chinese wood products were even labeled to indicate that they complied with the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB’s) strict formaldehyde emission standards.

“Lumber Liquidators has made false and misleading statements that its flooring products comply with CARB formaldehyde standards, and the even more stringent European formaldehyde standards,” continues the complaint. “Lumber Liquidators’ website falsely states, ‘we not only comply with laws-we exceed them.'”

The plaintiffs, who claim the Lumber Liquidators wood they purchased was falsely labeled as CARB compliant, are seeking to represent all California customers of the store who also purchased the Chinese-made laminated wood.

The suit alleges violation of the federal Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act, claiming the company “breached their warranties by manufacturing, selling and/or distributing flooring products with levels of formaldehyde that exceed the CARB standards, or by making affirmative representations regarding CARB compliance without knowledge of its truth.”

Lumber Liquidators is also accused of the California Business and Professions Code’s prohibitions against “unlawful, unfair, or fraudulent business act or practice,” false advertising. Additionally, the plaintiffs allege that misrepresenting the CARB certification of the wood violates the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act.

The plaintiffs seek an injunction against Lumber Liquidators preventing them from selling wood that violates CARB standards, restitution for the expense of purchasing and installing the flooring in question, and unspecified damages.

In response to last weekend’s story, Lumber Liquidators issued a defense on its Facebook page, describing the company as “a leader in safety.”

“We comply with applicable regulations regarding our products, including California standards for formaldehyde emissions for composite wood products – the most stringent rules in the country — and take our commitment to safety even further by employing compliance personnel around the world and utilizing the latest in cutting-edge technology to provide our customers with top quality and high value flooring,” reads the statement, which claims that the news reports are being fueled by “a small group of short-selling investors who are working together for the sole purpose of making money by lowering our stock price.”

The company maintains that random third-party testing of its products shows the laminated wood to be “fully safe and compliant with California standards.”

“While we were unable to witness 60 Minutes’ testing methods and have still yet to see a test using validated methods that has come back as anything but completely safe, out of an abundance of caution, we are now reviewing our processes at these three mills,” concludes the statement. “We stand by every single plank of wood and laminate we sell all around the country and will continue to deliver the best product at the best price to our growing base of valued customers.”

by Chris Morran via Consumerist