Smoothstack Trims Charges in Training Program Minimum Wage Suit

The technology staffing company Smoothstack Inc. defeated some claims in a suit from former trainees who allege that the company’s training repayment agreement violates labor laws by paying workers below minimum wage.

The plaintiffs lack standing to bring two Fair Labor Standards Act claims, including that Smoothstack benefited from illegal kickbacks, said Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr. of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Six Virginia state law wage and contract claims against the company also must be dismissed because of standing or because plaintiffs failed to state a claim, he said.

But Alston on July ...