Raphael Stevens

In this articleDRISignage outside an Olive Garden restaurant in Thornton, Colorado, on Friday, March 19, 2021.Chet Strange | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesAdvocacy group One Fair Wage is suing Olive Garden parent Darden Restaurants, alleging the company’s tipping policy encourages sexual harassment and racial discrimination against its waitstaff.The complaint, which was filed Thursday in California federal court, is the latest salvo in the battle against the tipped minimum wage. In 43 states, employers can pay their workers as little as $2.13 an hour as long as that hourly wage and tips add up to the locality’s pay floor. Otherwise, the employer has to make up the difference.The tipped minimum wage was last raised in 1991, but Democrats attempted to get rid of it earlier this year as part of their plan to raise the federal pay floor. The amendment to add an increase to the federal minimum wage to the latest Covid-19 relief bill failed to pass the Senate, but Democrats will likely revisit the issue again during President Joe Biden’s four-year term. Darden was among the restaurant companies that vocally opposed getting rid of the tipped wage.In the lawsuit, One Fair Wage said that Darden’s tipping policy causes its employees who are people of color to earn less than white employees. A poll of 200 Darden workers conducted by the advocacy group found that servers who are people of color made 18% less in tips per hour than white servers. The lawsuit also alleges that Darden’s policy gives managers the ability to influence servers’ wages because they can assign servers to shifts or seating sections that tend to result in lower tips.The complaint said that servers who are paid less than the minimum wage experience more sexual harassment than waitstaff who work in localities that require Darden to pay them the minimum wage, based on the survey completed by One Fair Wage.”The cash wage policy is the direct cause, or at least a motivating cause, of this disparate impact,” the complaint said.Managers may tell their servers to dress more suggestively to earn higher tips and turn a blind eye to sexual harassment in order to keep the customer happy, according to the lawsuit. Moreover, servers who complain about sexual harassment from managers could be retaliated against, receiving worse shifts and tables.The advocacy group suggests several alternatives that could help, including pooling tips, adding a standard service charge to all bills or providing standards to customers that would minimize the role of race in tipping decisions. Darden’s current corporate policy allegedly does not allow managers to use different tipping systems.”To be clear, this is not about Darden,” company spokesperson Rich Jeffers said in a statement to CNBC. “The complaint makes clear that their objections are with federal and state wage laws – not with our practices.”Jeffers said the company has a zero tolerance policy for harassment and discrimination, as well as strong policies to make its employees feel safe and valued.Darden’s tipped employees make more than $20 an hour on average, he said. The company recently raised its pay floor to $10 an hour, including tip income. The company plans to boost wages to $11 per hour in January and by an additional dollar the following year.One Fair Wage is the only plaintiff named in the complaint. The group argues that it has the standing to sue Darden because it has had to divert more time and money to helping the company’s workers, including paying out $175,000 in financial assistance to employees because of the coronavirus pandemic.One Fair Wage filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in September about Darden but requested that the agency dismiss the charge in March. The EEOC issued the group with a right to sue notice, which gives it 90 days to file a lawsuit in federal court. Two employees of The Capital Grille, which is owned by Darden, also filed complaints with the EEOC last year.One Fair Wage is asking the court to declare that tipping policies like Darden’s are illegal and violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The plaintiff is also seeking an injunction against Darden from maintaining those policies and employment practices. More

In this articlePEPRockstar energy drinkArun Nevader | Getty ImagesRockstar Energy’s sales are growing again, following years of flat or even declining demand, after new owner PepsiCo revamped the brand several months ago.Still, PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta on Thursday told analysts that it’s too early to tell if new consumers are trying Rockstar’s energy drinks.”I would say it’s too early to recall whether we are really bringing new consumers to the brand and whether those consumers stay with the brand,” he said. “I think we’re going to need a few more quarters to really understand what’s happening at the consumer level.”Pepsi bought the struggling drink brand last year for $3.85 billion as part of its broader push into more heavily caffeinated options, like the launch of Mtn Dew Rise in March. Rockstar had been losing market share to upstarts, and rival Monster Beverage is still the top energy drink maker.Earlier this year, Rockstar aired its first-ever Super Bowl ad featuring rapper Lil Baby to reintroduce the brand to consumers. Cans of Rockstar also received a new logo and fresh packaging.In Germany, Pepsi launched Rockstar Energy + Hemp earlier this month, but Laguarta told analysts that they shouldn’t draw conclusions on whether the company will introduce the product elsewhere. However, the company is accelerating Rockstar’s global expansion, and it plans to more than double its global footprint over the next three years.The brand’s revival comes as Pepsi prepares for consumer behavior to once again change as the pandemic winds down. The company is expecting demand for its North American beverage unit to rebound as more consumers return to restaurants, stadiums and movie theaters. Executives also said they’re expecting a shift back to smaller packaging for snacks and drinks, but there’s still some uncertainty about whether at-home consumption will stick around longer.”I think the consumer will show us more as we go along in the next, I would say, six to nine months,” Laguarta said.Shares of Pepsi rose less than 1% in early trading Thursday after the company topped Wall Street estimates for its first-quarter earnings and revenue. Even as it faced tough comparisons due to last year’s stockpiling, the company reported sales growth of 6.8%. More

Korena Keys’ small business was hard hit when the pandemic first took hold last year.Her digital media firm, KeyMedia Solutions in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, saw its sales plummet 60% in May from the previous year. She was able to secure a loan from the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program for $115,000 to keep workers employed until things stabilized.So when Keys received paperwork from the SBA in January that there was an additional $150,000 loan taken out in her business’s name under the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, she thought it might be a mistake.Korena Keys runs a digital marketing firm in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. She received aid from the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program, but found out her identity was stolen to obtain a fraudulent loan under the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program for $150,000.Alex Herrera | CNBC”We’d made a conscious decision not to apply for any other assistance,” Keys said. “We thought those funds need to be left for businesses that weren’t faring as well.”Although she says she did not receive the funds, the loan is very real, and payments of nearly $800 a month are set to begin in November. The loan was approved, Keys said, even though the application had inaccurate details about her business, including a wrong phone number, email address and financials.”The shock of it really turned to frustration and anger,” Keys said, adding that several other businesses in her community had similar stories of identity theft in these aid programs. She has filed claims with the SBA’s Office of Inspector General and its fraud department, but she hasn’t been cleared of responsibility yet, although she’s hopeful things will be resolved before the loan comes due. Hours have been spent, detracting from her business, trying to clear the loan.”It’s definitely caused some sleepless nights,” she said. “Until it’s in writing, I am always worried. It’s just going to hang over me until its finalized.”Getting aid out the doorAs the U.S. government and SBA rushed to get loans out the door for businesses ravaged by the pandemic last year, criminals exploited these aid programs, in some cases stealing identities of business owners to use that information to fraudulently obtain loans for gain. A recent analysis from SBA’s OIG projects fraud within the Covid-19 small business programs could reach $84 billion.In all, the U.S. government has allocated more than $1 trillion in Main Street aid via the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. The PPP allows small businesses to borrow loans that may be forgiven if the borrower uses the majority of the capital on payroll, while the Covid-19 EIDL program allows borrowers to access loans based on temporary losses of revenue due to the pandemic. There was also an advance grant available under the EIDL.Reviews of both programs by the OIG warned of the potential for criminal exploitation due to the fast-moving nature of the rollout and unprecedented demand for aid, and a recent memo from the House Select Subcommittee on Coronavirus Crisis lays out how widespread it might be. As much as $79 billion in potentially fraudulent EIDL loans and advances were made and up to $4.6 billion in potentially fraudulent PPP loans were made, the memo said.There have been 1.34 million EIDL loans and grants sent from the SBA to the OIG, including nearly 750,000 referrals for suspected identity theft and more than 585,000 referrals for other potentially fraudulent activity. There have been nearly 150,000 hotline calls to the SBA OIG about tips and complaints regarding potential fraud — that is a 19,500% increase over prior years, the memo said.The Department of Justice has collected $626 million in funds seized or forfeited as a result of civil and criminal investigations of the EIDL and PPP, the subcommittee analysis from March said. The group’s report points its finger at the Trump administration for its refusal to “implement basic controls” in earlier iterations of the aid programs last year.In a statement to CNBC, the SBA said the Biden administration takes its responsibility seriously to safeguard taxpayer dollars and prevent fraud, waste and abuse in federal programs. “In recent months, new enhanced checks have been put in place to intensify system validations used to mitigate the occurrence of fraud in the Economic Injury Disaster Loan and Paycheck Protection programs,” it said. “In instances of suspected fraud, SBA coordinates closely with the Office of Inspector General, Justice Department and other law enforcement agencies to share information and support criminal investigations.””While the agency does not comment on individual borrowers, the lessons learned from these coordinated efforts with federal partners help to inform and strengthen internal controls,” it added.’Ridiculously easy’ for criminalsSome victims of fraud under the program last year don’t even have small businesses.Max Hebert is a Marine Corps Reserve veteran and is currently in the National Guard. He also fulfills grocery deliveries for Walmart. Last summer, he received a notice in the mail at home in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, after being deployed in Ukraine with the National Guard. The letter had his name misspelled as “Max Herbert,” notifying him that an EIDL had been taken out in his name for $45,000 — more money than he makes in a year.Hebert, who has a state-registered LLC from over a decade ago that he never wound up using for a business, says he called the SBA and spoke to a customer service representative, who let him know the account would be flagged. He also went to IdentityTheft.gov to file a report that his identity had been stolen and has reached out to the SBA OIG as well.Max Hebert says a fraudulent loan was taken out in his name under the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program for $45,000, more money than he makes in a year.David Grogan | CNBC”When I talked to the SBA agent on the phone, he confirmed they had my Social Security number, they had my address, they had enough information about me in order to fill out all this paperwork,” Hebert said, adding that he was caught in many phone loops trying to get to the right person to report the crime.Hebert said he also sought advice on Reddit from other victims. After filling the report some five months ago, he recently followed up with the SBA and was told his loan was on hold and flagged as potentially fraudulent — progress, but no resolution.But Hebert has received a letter saying he will need to start making loan payments of $220 a month beginning in July.”There’s not a good way that I am going to be paying that,” he said. “I am concerned about what that’s going to do if I don’t get it resolved. For example, by next tax season, are they going to try to seize my tax return? Are they going to garnish my paycheck if I don’t resolve the situation in time?”Richard Clarke, a police detective in Lauderhill, Florida, told CNBC his department recently arrested 32-year-old Xavier Taylor. While responding to a call, officers realized Taylor had a warrant out for his arrest from August for allegedly scheming to defraud the SBA by stealing a business owner’s identity.Detective Richard Clarke of the Lauderhill, Florida police department, says it was “ridiculously easy” for criminals to access aid from small business Covid-19 relief programs last year.Roger Prehoda | CNBCThe warrant said Taylor was able to access $81,100 via the PPP. He’s accused of taking a business owner’s information, applying for the loan and transferring the owner’s mailing address to his own. Through his lawyer, Taylor declined to comment, but he has pleaded not guilty to multiple felony fraud charges. “It does seem ridiculously easy. Based on my experience, a lot of people, especially since Covid and the PPP loans, have taken advantage of lapses in the system to benefit personally from applying for loans — either deceptively or using other persons’ information,” Clarke said. “My hope is that there will be due diligence in certifying, checking, qualifying persons to be recipients of these business loans.”Back in Wisconsin, Hebert said he’s confident his situation will be resolved, although it might take time and work. But beyond his worries about his personal information being compromised, he is simply disappointed the program was used in this way.”The biggest thing to me is that in a time when all Americans are struggling, that someone would take advantage and do all of these dishonest things to try to take money that does need to go to small businesses that are really struggling right now,” he said. More

In this articleDAI-DELONDON — The chief executive of Germany’s Daimler believes the automaker will face stiff opposition from tech giants like Google, Apple and Alibaba if they decide to launch their own electric vehicles.While the tech giants are yet to start selling their own cars, reports suggest they could soon launch products that combine hardware and software as the electric vehicle race heats up.”There will be intense competition,” Daimler CEO Ola Kallenius told CNBC’s Annette Weisbach on Thursday when asked if he was concerned about digital companies entering the electric vehicles market.”When an industry goes through transformation, I think it’s natural that new players look at the industry,” he said.Kallenius said Daimler will “look at what the brand stands for and take that into the next technological era,” adding that the company will be able to build on its position if it does that well.His comments come as Mercedes Benz, which is owned by Daimler, launches an electric version of its flagship S-Class luxury sedan.”It’s kind of the start of a new era,” Kallenius said, before adding that there’s a lot of “curiosity” surrounding the new vehicle.Pricing for the luxury sedan will be announced in the summer but Kallenius said Daimler expects to make money on the vehicle from the moment it goes on sale.He added that the variable costs are higher on vehicles with a large electric battery than they are on vehicles with a traditional internal combustion engine.”Our task during this decade of transformation is on the one hand to drive the variable costs down and restore in all our segments a margin parity,” Kallenius said.Electric vehicle technology is “still in its infancy” and there’s a “lot of work to do,” he continued. “It will be scaled and we will have technological developments. I’m optimistic that we will be able to restore the margins that we have been used to.”Daimler vs. TeslaShares of Daimler have skyrocketed over the last 12 months, up more than 173% year-on-year to trade at 75 euros ($89) per share on Thursday.”We have positive momentum in our stock,” Kallenius said, adding that it’s down to improved financial performance and the company’s “technology strategy for the future.”However, Daimler’s market cap has crashed to just 80 billion euros today from around 185 billion euros in 1998. Meanwhile, Tesla’s market cap has soared to $694 billion.”If we look at the total market caps of every single auto player in the world right now, you end up with an impressive number,” Kallenius said.He added: “We need to make sure that the distribution of that total market cap moves more in our favor. That’s what we’re working on.”Like other car manufacturers, Daimler’s business has been negatively affected by the global chip shortage.”We can sell more than we can produce at this moment,” Kallenius More

In this articleThe Isles of Scilly are located in waters off the coast of south west England.Heritage Images | Hulton Archive | Getty ImagesA year-long research project that will focus on the potential of tidal, wave and floating wind technology in waters off the coast of England has secured support from Marine-i, a program centered around innovation in areas such as marine energy.The project will be based on the Isles of Scilly, an archipelago located off the south-west coast of England, and led by Isles of Scilly Community Venture, Planet A Energy and Waves4Power.In a statement earlier this week, Marine-i — which is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund — said the overarching aim of the Isles of Scilly initiative was to “build a new databank of wave and tidal resource data.”This data will include information on a range of metrics including wave height, wind speed and tidal stream velocities. Marine-i’s support will come in the form of providing the consortium with access to experts at its partners: the University of Exeter, University of Plymouth and the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult.”Being located nearly 30 miles off the south west coast of England, marine power is a natural choice for us and could make Scilly self-sufficient in energy,” Jim Wrigley, from Isles of Scilly Community Venture, said Tuesday.”However, an obstacle to this is that the key data that developers need to assess its viability does not currently exist in the level of detail required,” he added.Wrigley said the new databank “could be the key that unlocks some really exciting green energy solutions for Scilly.”Marine energyWith miles and miles of coastline, it’s perhaps no surprise that the U.K. is home to a number of projects and initiatives related to marine energy.Last month, it was announced that some £7.5 million ($10.3 million) of public funding would be used to support the development of eight wave energy projects led by U.K. universities.March also saw the Port of London Authority give the go ahead for trials of tidal energy technology on a section of the Thames, a move which could eventually help to decarbonize operations connected to the river.Research and development focused on these kinds of technologies is not restricted to the U.K. This week marine energy firm Minesto, which is developing a tidal energy project in the Faroe Islands, said its DG100 power plant had “delivered grid-compliant electricity at new record levels” during recent production runs.And back in February, it was announced that a tidal turbine built and tested in Scotland had been installed in waters off a Japanese island chain. In a statement at the time, London-listed firm Simec Atlantis Energy said its pilot turbine had generated 10 megawatt hours in its first 10 days of operation.There is growing interest in marine-based energy systems, but it should be noted that the current footprint of these technologies remains small.Recent figures from Ocean Energy Europe show that only 260 kilowatts (kW) of tidal stream capacity was added in Europe last year, while just 200 kW of wave energy was installed.By contrast, 2020 saw 14.7 gigawatts of wind energy capacity installed in Europe, according to industry body WindEurope. More