A former employee has taken legal action against a tech company, alleging multiple violations of labor and discrimination laws. Tiffany Khoshaba filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on November 7, 2024, against Barking Labs Corp., doing business as Fi, and its CEO Jonathan Bensamoun. The lawsuit accuses the defendants of failing to pay overtime wages, retaliating unlawfully under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and discriminating against her due to her disability.
Tiffany Khoshaba began working for Fi as a Customer Experience Manager on November 8, 2021. She claims that throughout her employment until January 24, 2024, she was misclassified as an exempt employee under the FLSA and worked between 50 to 65 hours weekly without receiving overtime pay. Despite her job duties not meeting any FLSA exemptions, she alleges that Fi failed to implement a system for tracking her work hours accurately. "Defendants knew that Khoshaba was not exempt and yet deliberately ignored the requirement to pay overtime," states the complaint.
Khoshaba also alleges discrimination based on her disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Illinois Human Rights Act (IHRA). She asserts that after notifying Fi of her disability in early 2023 and requesting an accommodation to handle customer tickets via email instead of by phone, she was granted this request. However, after repeatedly seeking backpay for unpaid overtime following a company-wide reclassification announcement in December 2023, she claims she faced retaliation leading to her termination in January 2024.
The lawsuit seeks judgment for unpaid back wages under FLSA and IMWL provisions, statutory damages including liquidated damages under FMLA, treble damages as per IMWL guidelines, prejudgment interest on unpaid compensation, compensatory damages for emotional distress caused by alleged ADA violations, exemplary and punitive damages against Fi for willful misconduct, attorney fees where applicable by law along with other appropriate relief deemed fit by court order.
Representing Tiffany Khoshaba is Alexandros Stamatoglou from Garfinkel Group LLC. The case is presided over by judges at the United States District Court for Northern District of Illinois with Case ID: 1:24-cv-11499.