Texas Is Throwing People In Jail For Failing To Pay Back Predatory Loans

At least six people have been jailed in Texas over the past two years for owing money on payday loans, according to a damning new analysis of public court records.

The economic advocacy group Texas Appleseed found that more than 1,500 debtors have been hit with criminal charges in the state -- even though Texas enacted a law in 2012 explicitly prohibiting lenders from using criminal charges to collect debts.

According to Appleseed's review, 1,576 criminal complaints were issued against debtors in eight Texas counties between 2012 and 2014. These complaints were often filed by courts with minimal review and based solely on the payday lender's word and frequently flimsy evidence. As a result, borrowers have been forced to repay at least $166,000, the group found.

Appleseed included this analysis in a Dec. 17 letter sent to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Texas attorney general's office and several other government entities.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. Using criminal courts as debt collection agencies is against federal law, the Texas constitution and the state’s penal code. To clarify the state law, in 2012 the Texas legislature passed legislation that explicitly describes the circumstances under which lenders are prohibited from pursuing criminal charges against borrowers.

It’s quite simple: In Texas, failure to repay a loan is a civil, not a criminal, matter. Payday lenders cannot pursue criminal charges against borrowers unless fraud or another crime is clearly established.

In 2013, a devastating Texas Observer investigation documented widespread use of criminal charges against borrowers before the clarification to state law was passed.

Nevertheless, Texas Appleseed's new analysis shows that payday lenders continue to routinely press dubious criminal charges against borrowers.

Ms. Jones, a 71-year-old who asked that her first name not be published in order to protect her privacy, was one of those 1,576 cases. (The Huffington Post reviewed and confirmed the court records associated with her case.) On March 3, 2012, Jones borrowed $250 from an Austin franchise of Cash Plus, a payday lender, after losing her job as a receptionist.

Four months later, she owed almost $1,000 and faced the possibility of jail time if she didn’t pay up.

The issue for Ms. Jones -- and most other payday borrowers who face criminal charges -- came down to a check. It’s standard practice at payday lenders for borrowers to leave either a check or a bank account number to obtain a loan. These checks and debit authorizations are the backbone of the payday lending system. They’re also the backbone of most criminal charges against payday borrowers.

Ms. Jones initially obtained her loan by writing Cash Plus a check for $271.91 -- the full amount of the loan plus interest and fees -- with the understanding that the check was not to be cashed unless she failed to make her payments. The next month, when the loan came due, Jones didn’t have the money to pay in full. She made a partial payment, rolling over the loan for another month and asking if she could create a payment plan to pay back the remainder. But Jones told HuffPost that CashPlus rejected her request and instead deposited her initial check.

Jones' check to Cash Plus was returned with a notice that her bank account had been closed. She was then criminally charged with bad check writing. Thanks to county fines, Jones now owed $918.91 -- just four months after she had borrowed $250.

In Texas, bad check writing and "theft by check" are Class B misdemeanors, punishable by up to 180 days in jail as well as potential fines and additional consequences. In the typical "hot check" case, a person writes a check that they know will bounce in order to buy something.

But Texas law is clear that checks written to secure a payday loan, like Jones’, are not "hot checks." If the lender cashes the check when the loan is due and it bounces, the assumption isn’t that the borrower stole money by writing a hot check –- it’s just that they can’t repay their loan.

That doesn’t mean that loan transactions are exempt from Texas criminal law. However, the intent of the 2012 clarification to state law is that a bounced check written to a payday lender alone cannot justify criminal charges.

Yet in Texas, criminal charges are frequently substantiated by little more than the lender's word and evidence that is often inadequate. For instance, the criminal complaint against Jones simply includes a photocopy of her bounced check.

Making matters worse, Texas Justice of the Peace courts, which handle claims under $10,000, appear to be rubber-stamping bad check affidavits as they receive them and indiscriminately filing criminal charges. Once the charges are filed, the borrower must enter a plea or face an arrest warrant. If the borrower pleads guilty, they must pay a fine on top of the amount owed to the lender.

Jones moved after she borrowing from Cash Plus, so she did not get notice of the charges by mail. Instead, a county constable showed up at her new address. Jones said she was terrified and embarrassed by the charges. She had to enter a plea in the case or else face an arrest warrant and possible jail time. In addition to the fines, Jones was unable to renew her driver's license until the case was resolved.

Craig Wells, the president and CEO of Cash Plus, which is based in California but has about 100 franchises in 13 states, told HuffPost that “this was the first I’ve heard of this case.” He said that the company instructs its franchises to adhere to all state laws and regulations. On the company’s website, Wells says his goal is for Cash Plus to be “as-close-to-perfect-a-business-as-one-can-get," adding that the company’s “top-notch customer experience keeps them coming back over and over again. ”

Emilio Herrera, the Cash Plus franchisee who submitted the affidavit against Jones, told HuffPost that he does not remember her case. But he added that he tries to work out payment plans with all his customers, and that it is common for his customers to pay back loans in very small increments.

In response to a request for comment from HuffPost about Appleseed's letter, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau spokesman Sam Gilford said, "Consumers should not be subjected to illegal threats when they are struggling to pay their bills, and lenders should not expect to break the law without consequences."

One reason that lenders' predatory behavior continues is simple administrative overload. Travis County Justice of the Peace Susan Steeg, who approved the charges against Jones, told HuffPost that due to the volume of bad check affidavits her court receives, her office has been instructed by the county attorney to file charges as affidavits are submitted. The charges are then passed along to the county attorney's office. It is up to the county attorney to review the cases and decide whether to prosecute or dismiss them.

But Travis County Attorney David Escamilla told HuffPost that his office had never instructed the Justice of the Peace courts to approve all bad check complaints, and said he did not know why or where Steeg would have gotten that understanding. “We don’t do it,” Escamilla said, referring to the usage of the criminal hot checks process to enforce the terms of lending agreements.

When cases are wrongfully filed by payday lenders, how quickly they are dismissed depends on prosecutors' workload and judgment. Often, it is not clear that theft by check cases are payday loans, since the name of the payday lender is not immediately distinguishable from that of an ordinary merchant.

District attorneys may also receive these complaints and have the ability to file criminal charges. According to Ann Baddour, a policy analyst at Appleseed, the DAs seem to operate with more discretion than the county attorneys, but the outcomes were arguably as perverse. Baddour said one DA told her that of the hot check complaints he had received, none had led to criminal charges or prosecutions. Instead, he said, his office sent letters threatening criminal charges unless the initial loan amounts plus fees were repaid.

The DA, who seemed to think he was showing evidence of his proper conduct, was instead admitting that his office functioned as a debt collector.

With the help of free legal aid, Jones’ case was eventually dismissed, and she said the court waived her outstanding payment to Cash Plus. But not all debtors are as fortunate.

Despite being against state law, the data show that criminal complaints are an effective way for payday lenders to get borrowers to pay. Of the 1,576 criminal complaints Appleseed analyzed, 385 resulted in the borrower making a repayment on their loan. In Collin County alone, 204 of the 700 criminal complaints based on payday lenders’ affidavits ended in payments totaling $131,836.

This success in using criminal charges to coerce money from borrowers means that payday lenders have a financial incentive to file criminal charges against debtors with alarming regularity -- even if those charges are eventually rightfully dismissed.

Because Appleseed’s study only covered eight of Texas’ 254 counties, there are likely more cases statewide. And Texas is not alone. In 2011, The Wall Street Journal found that more than a third of states allow borrowers to be jailed, even though federal law mandates that loan repayment be treated as a civil issue rather than a criminal one.

“There’s a lot more to learn about the practice itself, how widely it’s used, and its effect on consumers,” Mary Spector, a law professor at Southern Methodist University who specializes in debt collection issues, told HuffPost. “I think they’ve uncovered the tip of the iceberg.”

9 Restaurants Open On Christmas 2014

Chinese food is the classic Christmas-Day fallback for anyone who's not cooking. But if you're looking for more options, you've got them.

A slew of U.S. restaurant chains will remain open on Thursday, though their hours will vary by location.

Perhaps lo mein isn’t your idea of a warm Christmas dinner. Or maybe you need a peppermint latte to power through gift-giving with your rowdy nephews.

Here’s a list of chains that confirmed to The Huffington Post that they will remain open, at least in some places. Check your local listings before venturing outside, since hours may vary. All of the following quotes are from company spokespeople.

Applebee’s

“Some Applebee’s and IHOP restaurants will be open, and some won’t. Consumers need to check with their local restaurants.”

Denny’s

“Denny’s will be open. In fact, it is one of America’s Diner’s busiest days of the year.”

Hooters

“Select Hooters locations will be open on Christmas Day. To check for local hours please visit www.hooters.com/locations and call ahead.”

IHOP

“Some Applebee’s and IHOP restaurants will be open, and some won’t. Consumers need to check with their local restaurants.”

KFC

“Some KFC restaurants will be closed on Christmas Day. It is really up to the franchise owner to determine operating hours on the Christmas holiday.”

McDonald’s

McDonald's did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story, but in 2012 the fast-food giant began pushing franchise stores to stay open on Christmas, and this year many locations will be open, according to the International Business Times.

P.F. Chang's

“Some of P.F. Chang’s casino and mall locations are open, but guests are encouraged to call ahead.”

Starbucks

“Starbucks stores are a gathering place for the entire community and customers use our stores to connect over coffee in different ways every day. We are happy to welcome customers on Christmas Day in select store locations. Store hours vary by location, and stores will occasionally adjust their hours based on business and customer needs.”

TGI Fridays

“Most TGI Fridays restaurants will be open on Christmas. However, guests should call their local restaurant for holiday hours.”

You might notice some chains are missing from the above list. Olive Garden, Red Lobster and Chipotle told HuffPost they will remain closed on the 25th. Sorry, burrito lovers.

Ousted American Apparel CEO Dov Charney Is Reportedly Down To His Last $100,000

American Apparel's ousted chief executive is low on funds, following a six-month battle to regain control of the clothing company he founded.

Dov Charney, who was suspended as CEO in June and officially terminated last week, is down to his last $100,000 and is living in New York City at a friend’s home, Bloomberg anchor Trish Regan said he told her in an off-air chat last week.

A person with knowledge of Charney’s finances told The Huffington Post that he didn't squander money on extravagances like helicopters or private jets. Rather, Charney has been paying back debts to family members who once invested in American Apparel, the person said.

As CEO of American Apparel, Charney's base salary was $832,000 last year, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and he’s still the company’s largest shareholder. However, Charney doesn’t have control of his 43 percent stake because of an agreement with hedge fund Standard General, which lent him the money to buy much of the shares earlier this year. Charney needs to get its approval to do virtually anything with his stake, making the fund a major power broker within American Apparel.

Charney blamed Standard General for his woes, according to Bloomberg. He turned to the firm for help when he was ousted as CEO by the board of directors.

“I gave them my entire life’s work and they agreed to put me back in,” he told Bloomberg. “But instead they used this investigation to fire me. They betrayed me. I gave them my heart.”

Standard General disagrees.

“We supported the independent, third-party and very thorough investigation into the allegations against Mr. Charney, and respect the Board of Directors’ decision to terminate him based on the results of that investigation,” a spokesperson for Standard General said in a statement.

Standard General is run by Soo Kim, who co-founded the firm in 2007 and landed on Institutional Investor’s list of “Hedge Fund Rising Stars” in 2013. It’s been in the news of late because of its involvement in RadioShack, the ailing electronics retailer teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.

Charney was fired after a third-party investigation into accusations from the company's board that he sexually harassed employees, misused company funds and violated his fiduciary duty. He has maintained his innocence.

Last week, American Apparel announced that Paula Schneider, a veteran of Warnaco and BCBG Max Azria, is taking over as CEO, replacing interim chief Scott Brubaker. American Apparel declined to comment on Charney's situation.

Despite everything that’s happened, Charney plans to keep fighting, and is “suing everyone” with what little funds he has left, according to the Bloomberg report.

“I gave them my shares so that I could come back and run this company,” he told Bloomberg. “I bet the farm … They robbed me.”

Children Who Eat More Fast Food Show Less Academic Improvement, Study Shows

Fast food has long been linked to obesity, but a new study suggests that it may also affect children's educational achievement.

The study, led by Kelly M. Purtell at Ohio State University, tracked students between fifth and eighth grade, when students are assessed in reading, math and science. Researchers used data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort, a national survey covering about 12,000 students. In fifth grade, the students were asked how much fast food they had eaten in the past week (the survey was not necessarily given the same week as the academic assessment). Researchers then compared the frequency of fast food eaten to the academic achievement gains between fifth and eighth grade.

Researchers found that students who ate more fast food overall had slower growth in academic achievement. Students who reported eating fast food once a day had slower growth in math, reading and science than students who ate no fast food. The more fast food a student reported eating, the lower their rate of academic improvement.

"High levels of fast food consumption were predictive of lower growth in all three academic subjects," Purtell told The Huffington Post.

The decreases were most pronounced in math. If students reported eating any fast food, their assessments reflected lower gains in math achievement. Meanwhile, lower science gains were related to eating fast food four to six times a week or daily. Improvement in reading was only affected with daily fast food consumption.

According to the report, less than 30 percent of participants had no fast food at all in the week before being asked. About half of participants had eaten fast food one to three times that week. Ten percent had eaten it four to six times, and the remaining 10 percent ate fast food every day.

"These findings indicate that fast food consumption is linked with deleterious developmental outcomes in children beyond obesity," the study says. However, the researchers do not suggest eliminating fast food altogether. Instead, they suggest that reducing the frequency of consumption is a more critical issue.

Purtell said that, based on the results, it is "not as problematic if a family occasionally goes to a fast food restaurant, as opposed to a family that makes it a regular part of their routine."

The researchers theorize that children who eat fast food frequently are not getting the proper nutrients they need to develop optimally. Fast food does not have sufficient iron and has too much fat and added sugar. The study accounted for other possible contributing factors, such as parent education, family income, food insecurity, and TV-watching to show that fast food itself had a correlation to academic scores.

The researchers suggested several ways to counter the negative effects of fast food. First, they noted that parents often give children fast food because it is easy. If food preparation were less stressful, they say, fast food consumption would decrease. They suggest imposing taxes on fast food as a disincentive for those who might resort to fast food for its low prices.

"Fast food is really pervasive right now, and there are a lot of reasons why kids eat it and why families use it," Purtell said. Because of this, Purtell said, "we have to think broadly about lots of different ways to make families not be reliant on fast food."

Fast food is often highly present and available to children. There are many fast food restaurants near -- and sometimes in -- schools, and there is sometimes advertising for fast food in or around schools. If this were not the case, the researchers posit, students might eat fast food less frequently.

Dow Tops 18,000 For First Time In History

* Q3 GDP revised up to 5 percent annual pace

* Durable goods orders fall short of expectations

* Consumer sentiment rises, new home sales fall

* Indexes: Dow up 0.46 pct, S&P up 0.18 pct, Nasdaq off 0.28 (Adds UMich, new home sales)

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK, Dec 23 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks advanced on Tuesday, as the Dow climbed above the 18,000 mark for the first time in history and the S&P 500 set a new intraday record after an unexpectedly strong report on economic growth.

The gains pushed the Dow as high as 18,051.14, and the index is now up about 175 percent from a 12-year low hit on March 9, 2009.

The final estimate of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) for the third quarter was revised up to a 5 percent annual pace, its quickest in 11 years, on stronger consumer and business spending, easily topping expectations calling for a 4.3 percent pace.

"What was most interesting about that is if you dig in the details the primary surprise came from consumption," said Scott Keifer, global investment specialist at JP Morgan Private Bank in Orange County, California. "You are going to see the consumer spending number continue to inch up and get better and better as we continue on in this expansion."

In addition to the GDP report, data showed a solid rise in consumer spending while consumer sentiment hit its highest level in nearly eight years.

But not all the U.S. data was rosy, as durable goods orders unexpectedly fell in November and were well short of expectations while new home sales fell for a second straight month.

"I don't think the broader theme changes, but you are certainly going to have periods, aberrational reports where you have disappointments and durable goods was one of those," said Keifer.

Major Wall Street indexes have risen for four straight sessions, pushing the benchmark S&P index to its 50th record high of the year. The S&P has risen 5.4 percent over that period, its best 4-day run since July 2010. The rally comes on the heels of a selloff sparked by a slump in oil prices that saw the index drop nearly 5 percent from its prior record high set on Dec. 5.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 82.17 points, or 0.46 percent, to 18,041.61, the S&P 500 gained 3.75 points, or 0.18 percent, to 2,082.29 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 13.27 points, or 0.28 percent, to 4,768.16.

Trading volume is expected to be light this week due to the Christmas holiday, which could increase volatility. U.S. equity markets will open for an abbreviated session Wednesday and be closed on Thursday.

Walgreen Co shares advanced 1.2 percent to $75.16 after the drugstore chain operator reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit.

Gilead Sciences weighed on the Nasdaq for a second straight session, as it continued to slide after the biggest percentage drop for the stock in nearly 14 years in the prior session.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 1,968 to 980, for a 2.01-to-1 ratio on the upside; on the Nasdaq, 1,366 issues rose and 1,198 fell for a 1.14-to-1 ratio favoring advancers.

The benchmark S&P 500 index posted 100 new 52-week highs and 5 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite was recorded 141 new highs and 27 new lows. (Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Jeffrey Benkoe, W Simon and Meredith Mazzilli)

Hellmann's Mayo Drops Lawsuit Against Eggless 'Just Mayo'

The mayo war is over.

The maker of Hellman's mayonnaise, Unilever, on Thursday dropped its controversial suit against Hampton Creek, which makes Just Mayo, an eggless version of the sandwich spread.

Hellman's filed suit a month ago, accusing Hampton Creek of false advertising, leading consumers to believe they were buying traditional mayonnaise, which should contain eggs. The company said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration defines mayo as containing “one or more egg yolks.”

Hampton Creek's CEO Josh Tetrick told The Huffington Post he always expected to emerge victorious in the case.

“We were on the right side of the law,” he said in a Friday morning phone interview. “We have 'egg-free' on the front of the jar, it’s right there for people to see.”

The three-year-old San Francisco based company uses plant-derived proteins in place of eggs.

Hampton Creek has attracted attention and funding from billioniare Bill Gates, Paypal cofounder and venture capitalist Peter Thiel and Hong Kong magnate Li Ka-shing, the wealthiest man in Asia. On Thursday, the firm secured a $90 million round of funding, including investments from Salesforce founder Marc Benioff and Eduardo Saverin, the co-founder of Facebook.

The startup’s elevated profile helped rally supporters against Unilever's lawsuit: A Change.org petition started by celebrity chef and Travel Channel star Andrew Zimmern amassed more than 112,000 signatures.

Unilever on Thursday put out a statement urging Hampton Creek to consult industry groups and labeling regulators to ensure the legality of its advertising, now that the lawsuit is over.

“We share a vision with Hampton Creek of a more sustainable world,” Mike Faherty, Unilever’s vice president of foods in North America, said in a statement. “It is for these reasons that we believe Hampton Creek will take the appropriate steps in labeling its products going forward.”

Hampton Creek told HuffPost it has no plans to investigate its labeling any further.

Abercrombie's Controversial CEO Is Finally Stepping Down

The controversial chief executive of Abercrombie & Fitch is stepping down.

The struggling teen retailer announced that Mike Jeffries is retiring.

"It has been an honor to lead this extraordinarily talented group of people," the 70-year-old Jeffries said in a press release on Tuesday morning. "I am extremely proud of your accomplishments. I believe now is the right time for new leadership to take the company forward in the next phase of its development."

The decision to retire was made by Jeffries and the board of directors, which is conducting a search for the next CEO, a source with knowledge of the situation told The Huffington Post. Replacing Jeffries has been high on, if not at the top of, the board’s list of priorities for a long time, the source said. Late last year, activist investors called for changes at the top of Abercrombie, including Jeffries’ ouster.

Jeffries gained notoriety after telling Salon in a 2006 interview that the brand was "exclusionary" and that it only marketed to the "cool kids."

"We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely," he said.

The quote was recirculated in 2013 and went viral on the internet as many criticized the company for its bias. One man, Greg Karber, even called for a “brand readjustment” by giving out Abercrombie clothes to the homeless.

The company is in the midst of a desperate turnaround effort as sales continue to fall. The brand is getting rid of its signature logo tees, redesigned stores and pledged to eliminate underperforming locations. But nothing really seems to be working, as HuffPost reported last week.

There are no plans for Abercrombie to abandon the turnaround initiatives that have already been announced, a source with knowledge of the situation told HuffPost.

The new CEO will face a “broken business model,” Eric Beder, an analyst at Wunderlich Securities, wrote in a note on Tuesday, calling it worrisome that the announcement came during the important holiday sales season.

“Frankly, while we are happy to see this change made, the uncertainty in such a crucial timeframe is a key negative,” wrote Beder.

In a note to clients last week, Beder expressed concern that the retailer won’t be able to recover, as it continues to face fierce competition, low store traffic and bleak sales numbers.

Earlier this year, Jeffries lost his job as chairman of the company. In the release Tuesday, Arthur Martinez, the company's current non-executive chairman and incoming executive chairman, praised Jeffries' work as CEO.

"It is impossible to overstate Mike Jeffries' extraordinary accomplishments in building Abercrombie & Fitch to the iconic status the brand now enjoys. From a standing start two decades ago, his creativity and imagination were the driving forces behind the company's growth and success," he said.

Abercrombie declined to comment beyond the statements in its press release.

Black Barbies Don't Always Cost The Same As White Barbies

This story was originally published on CNBC.

Why are black Barbies priced differently than white Barbies?

It's a tough question and one that some of America's biggest retailers are having to answer amid the biggest shopping time of the year.

For example, Tuesday afternoon Wal-Mart's website listed an African-American ice skater Barbie for $11.87 while the Caucasian version costs just $9.88.

The retailing giant said the pricing discrepancy was an unintended error.

More on CNBC:

Amazon falls? China rises? Extreme predictions for 2015

Victoria’s Secret, an angel on stock analysts’ lists

A gift that will make your girlfriend dump you

"They should always be the same price, across all ethnicities," a Wal-Mart spokesman said Tuesday evening. "This is just a pricing error. We corrected it immediately."

In fact, the retailer vowed to make up the price difference with a gift card for any customer who purchased the more expensive African-American doll. The spokesman said he didn't know how long the prices had been different or how many shoppers might have purchased them at the wrong prices.

This isn't the first time Wal-Mart's website has gotten it into hot water. Before Halloween, the company listed 'Fat Girl Costumes' section online as a section. It removed it after the category sparked outrage.

Meanwhile, over at privately held Toys R Us, the same African-American Barbie skating doll was on sale for $10.99—less than the $14.99 price of the white Barbie.

"It is our policy to price like dolls of all ethnicities the same. We will ensure the pricing is corrected," Kathleen Waugh, vice president, Corporate Communications at Toys R Us told CNBC in an e-mail.

Mattel, the maker of the Barbie dolls, did not respond to CNBC's requests for a comment.

Discount retailer Target already caught heat from its own case of Barbie pricing discrepancy. The retailer originally priced its African-American fashion design marker Barbie at $49.99—more than twice the sale price of the $23.49 white version, reported WCPO's website.

Target is now selling both Barbies for $20.99.

"It is never our intention to offend our guests with our product assortment," a Target spokesman said, in a statement. "Both dolls should have reflected the same pricing, however, due to a systems issue this change did not occur."

U.S. Top Court Rules No Worker Pay For Security Screening

(Adds reaction from plaintiffs' lawyer and Amazon, paragraphs 4-5)

By Lawrence Hurley

WASHINGTON, Dec 9 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday handed a victory to employers over worker compensation, ruling that companies do not have to pay employees for the time they spend undergoing security checks at the end of their shifts in a case involving an Amazon.com Inc warehousing contractor.

The court decided by a 9-0 vote that employees of Integrity Staffing Solutions facilities in Nevada, where Amazon merchandise is processed and shipped, cannot claim compensation for time spent undergoing screening - up to half an hour a day, according to the workers - aimed at protecting against theft.

The ruling is likely to benefit other companies facing similar lawsuits including Amazon, CVS Health Corp and Apple Inc, according to Integrity's lawyers. The cases against Amazon, Integrity and other staffing companies affect up to 400,000 workers, with plaintiffs claiming hundreds of millions of dollars in damages, according to court filings.

Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Cheeseman said the allegations in the Integrity case of a lengthy security screening process were "simply not true." She added that Amazon's screening process is designed to take 90 seconds per employee at its facilities.

Mark Thierman, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said the ruling leaves thousands of workers "short-changed a half hour per day." Many workers will still be able to pursue similar claims under state law, Thierman added.

Justice Clarence Thomas wrote on behalf of the court that the screening process is not a "principal activity" of the workers' jobs under a law called the Fair Labor Standards Act and therefore is not subject to compensation.

For workers to be paid, the activity in question must be "an intrinsic element" of the job and "one with which the employee cannot dispense if he is to perform his principal activities," Thomas wrote.

The high court reversed an April 2013 ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which had found that the screenings were an integral part of the warehousing job done for the benefit of the employer and should be compensated.

Employees had sued Integrity Staffing Solutions for back wages and overtime pay, saying they should have been compensated for time spent in security screenings.

Amazon, the world's largest online retailer, is not directly involved in the case. A business group called the Retail Litigation Center, in a brief supporting the warehousing company, said the industry in general loses $16 billion annually in thefts.

The case is Integrity Staffing Solutions, Inc v. Jesse Busk and Laurie Castro, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 13-433. (Additional reporting by Deepa Seetharaman; Editing by Will Dunham)

Soon You'll Be Able To Order And Pay For A Latte Before You Even Get To Starbucks

First wireless charging stations, now mobile ordering? Yep, Starbucks is all about technology these days, and you'll soon be able to place your coffee order by phone before you even arrive at a store.

On Wednesday the coffee chain introduced Mobile Order & Pay for stores in Portland, Oregon -- and has plans to take the feature nationwide in 2015.

"When a customer’s order is placed using mobile ordering, it is immediately sent to their selected store and our world-class Starbucks partners, or baristas, will begin preparing the customer’s ordered items," Starbucks spokeswoman Linda Mills told The Huffington Post. "The mobile ordering feature will provide the customer with an approximate wait time at their selected store prior to purchase."

Mobile Order & Pay is only compatible with the Starbucks app for iPhone, as of now. Mills said customers in Portland can tap the "Menu" tab and tap "yes," which will turn on GPS location services and the option to place an order.

(Story continues below).

The feature will be available for Android sometime in 2015, according to the website, and Mills says she expects mobile ordering will improve both customer and employee experience.

"The ease of use, both for customers and [baristas], is expected to increase speed of service, drive incremental transactions and increase throughput across Starbucks stores. We’re continually focused on offering convenience to customers by providing increased accessibility, speed and a stellar finished product."

For-Profit College Used Strippers As Admissions Officers, Lawsuit Claims

MIAMI (AP) -- A for-profit Florida college used exotic dancers as admissions officers, falsified documents and coached students to lie on financial forms as it fraudulently obtained millions of dollars in federal money, according to a federal lawsuit filed in Miami.

On at least one of its seven campuses, FastTrain College "purposely hired attractive women and sometimes exotic dancers and encouraged them to dress provocatively while they recruited young men in neighborhoods to attend FastTrain," according to an ongoing civil lawsuit. The Florida attorney general and the U.S. attorney in Miami announced Wednesday that they were joining the lawsuit against the now-defunct FastTrain and former owner Alejandro Amor, 56.

Amor, of Coral Gables, was criminally indicted in October and faces pending charges of conspiracy and theft of government money. A telephone message left at a listing for Amor wasn't immediately returned

The complaint says Miami-based FastTrain and Amor bilked the U.S. Department of Education out of millions of dollars with falsified grant applications from at least January 2009 through June 2012, when the school closed after an FBI raid.

The school is accused of falsifying high school diplomas for students who didn't have them. Because they never graduated from high school, the lawsuit contends the students wouldn't have qualified for student aid.

To access taxpayer dollars, the school needed first-time students to attend class for at least 30 days. If they didn't, FastTrain falsified attendance records or backdated the enrollment so they could collect the money quicker, the lawsuit says.

The growth of for-profit colleges, which are governed by private organizations or corporations, has been explosive in Florida and across the country. As the schools have grown, numerous whistle-blower lawsuits have been filed against them by ex-employees. In the FastTrain case, the whistle-blower lawsuit was originally filed by Juan Pena, a former admissions employee. These lawsuits typically gain steam only when the government joins the case, as in Pena's lawsuit.

Some former FastTrain students say they are still struggling with student loan debts, and the lawsuit identifies more than 160 former students who are now in default. Those who were attending around the time of the FBI raid can get their loans discharged under a "closed school" provision.

Wells Fargo Deliberately Pushed Dangerous Loans On Blacks, Hispanics: Lawsuit

Wells Fargo has been accused of targeting minorities with predatory high-cost home loans that pushed them into default and foreclosure.

Cook County, Illinois, which is home to the city of Chicago, filed a lawsuit in federal court on Friday against the nation’s largest mortgage lender. The suit alleges that Wells Fargo contributed to the housing crisis, which the county claims has cost it millions of dollars in lost property tax and the cost of having to deal with abandoned buildings, among other issues. The lawsuit says damages could exceed $300 million.

Wells Fargo deliberately issued home loans with high interest rates and inflated or improper fees to black and Hispanic borrowers, many of whom would not have qualified for a traditional loan, the suit alleges. The lawsuit also charges that the bank did so even when it was clear the borrowers wouldn’t be able to keep up with the costly payment plans.

Such practices are known as “equity stripping,” the suit says, because they “stripped and continue to strip borrower home equity.” As a result, the chances that minority borrowers would fall behind on payments or be forced to submit to foreclosures were increased, it said.

Between 2000 and August 2014, Wells Fargo allegedly made about 55,000 loans to minority homeowners in Cook County that are suspected of being predatory and discriminatory, according to a statement released by Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Cook County State Attorney Anita Alvarez.

Wells Fargo vehemently denies the allegations, calling them “baseless.” “It’s disappointing they chose to pursue a lawsuit against Wells Fargo rather than collaborate together to help borrowers and home owners in the County,” company spokesman Tom Goyda told HuffPost in a prepared statement.

“Wells Fargo’s team members live and work in the Chicago area and we stand behind our record as a fair and responsible lender,” Goyda said, adding that the company has an $8.2 million down payment assistance grant program that “helped create 547 new homeowners” in Cook County over the past two years.

“We will vigorously defend ourselves and continue to focus on helping customers succeed financially and expanding homeownership in Illinois and across the United States,” he added.

The suit alleges that Wells Fargo violated the Fair Housing Act, a federal law that prohibits race-based discrimination by mortgage lenders.

Cook County has walked this path before: Preckwinkle and Alvarez filed very similar suits earlier this year against HSBC and Bank Of America. Bank Of America spokesman Richard Simon said there “is no basis” for the claims the lawsuit makes. HSBC did not return a request for comment to HuffPost.

In the past, cities including Baltimore and Miami have also sued Wells Fargo and other banks on allegations of discriminatory home lending practices. A lawsuit brought by Baltimore against Wells Fargo charging that the bank steered minority homeowners into costly loan agreements and also charged minorities higher interest rates and fees than white borrowers with the same credit scores was ultimately settled in 2012 for $175 million.

More recently, though, a judge dismissed a suit from the city of Miami against the bank, saying there was no standing to sue under the Fair Housing Act and that the suit had been brought too late, according to Bloomberg News.

(Hat tip Consumerist)

Amazon Releasing 15,000 Robots In Its Warehouses

TRACY, California (AP) — A year ago, Amazon.com workers like 34-year-old Rejinaldo Rosales hiked miles of aisles each shift to "pick" each item a customer ordered and prepare it for shipping.

Now the e-commerce giant boasts that it has boosted efficiency — and given workers' legs a break — by deploying more than 15,000 wheeled robots to crisscross the floors of its biggest warehouses and deliver stacks of toys, books and other products to employees.

"We pick two to three times faster than we used to," Rosales said during a short break from sorting merchandise into bins at Amazon's massive distribution center in Tracy, California, about 60 miles east of San Francisco. "It's made the job a lot easier."

Amazon.com Inc., which faces its single biggest day of online shopping on Monday, has invested heavily this year in upgrading and expanding its distribution network, adding new technology, opening more shipping centers and hiring 80,000 seasonal workers to meet the coming onslaught of holiday orders. Amazon says it processed orders for 36.8 million items on the Monday after Thanksgiving last year, and it's expecting "Cyber Monday" to be even busier this year.

CEO Jeff Bezos vows to one day deliver packages by drone, but that technology isn't ready yet. Even so, Amazon doesn't want a repeat of last year, when some customers were disappointed by late deliveries attributed to Midwestern ice storms and last-minute shipping snarls at both UPS and FedEx. Meanwhile, the company is facing tough competition from rivals like Google and eBay, and traditional retailers are offering more online services.

Amazon has forecast revenue of $27.3 billion to $30.3 billion for the holiday quarter, up 18 percent from last year but less than Wall Street had expected. However, Amazon has invested billions of dollars in its shipping network and its reliability is a big selling point to customers, Piper Jaffray investment analyst Gene Munster wrote in a note to clients Friday. He thinks Amazon's forecast is conservative.

The Seattle-based company now has 109 shipping centers around the globe. The Tracy facility is one of 10 in which Amazon has deployed the robots, using technology acquired when the company bought robot-maker Kiva Systems Inc. in 2012, said Dave Clark, Amazon's senior vice president for operations, who gave reporters a tour on Sunday.

More than 1,500 full-time employees work at the Tracy center, which has 1.2 million square feet of space — the equivalent of 28 football fields. They are joined by about 3,000 robots, gliding swiftly and quietly around the warehouse. The robots navigate by scanning coded stickers on the floor, following digital commands that are beamed wirelessly from a central computer.

Each of the squat orange machines can slide under and then lift a stack of shelves that's four feet wide and holds up to 750 pounds of merchandise. The system uses bar codes to track which items are on each shelf, so a robot can fetch the right shelves for each worker as orders come in.

Because the robots travel underneath, the shelves can be stacked closely together, which means the warehouse can hold more goods, Clark said. The Tracy center now holds about 20 million items, representing 3.5 million different products, from bottles of gourmet steak sauce to high-end audio headsets, books and video games. Clark said it can ship 700,000 items in a day, but will hold more and ship more by next year.

The robots will cut the Tracy center's operating costs by 20 percent, Clark said. But he was quick to assert they won't eliminate jobs.

"We're continuing to grow. Growth has always driven hiring," Clark said. The company has, in fact, increased its workforce by more than a third over the last year to 149,500 full-time employees. Clark said workers are needed for more complex tasks such as shelving, packing and checking for damaged items.

However, a 10,000-strong fleet of robots could help Amazon save $450 million to $900 million a year in labor expenses, Shawn Milne of Janney Capital Markets estimated in a report last summer. By allowing Amazon to store and ship more goods from each shipping center, the robots will likely reduce the number of new centers that Amazon will have to build and staff as it grows, Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities said on Monday. He compared it to automakers' use of robots on their assembly lines, which has reduced the number of worker hours required to build a car.

The new robotic system takes the complexity of different tasks into account, rather than forcing employees to work at an inhuman pace, Clark added.

Rosales agrees. Though he works rapidly, he said the robots "actually adjust to your speed. If you're picking slower, they slow down."