Legal news for Florida marketing law attorneys. The FTC sues Career Hotline for false and misleading advertising and services.
Florida marketing law lawyer alert- Federal Trade Commission sued Career Hotline for misleading advertisements that prey on desperate job seekers.
Tampa, FL—The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) http://www.FTC.gov/ filed a lawsuit against Career Hotline Inc., a Seminole company, which alleges the company promised immediate, high paying, full-time jobs to people who sign up for their job placement services. The lawsuit was unsealed on Tuesday, August 11, 2009, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, as reported by the Brandon News and Tribune.
According to the Lawsuit, Career Hotline runs various Internet Web sites such as, “CareerHotline.org” and “Worknow.biz”, which promised desperate job seekers full-time positions, benefits, and pay reaching $50,000.00, in their advertisements. In order to gain access to these “lucrative” jobs, like warehouse work at Fortune 500 companies, applicants are required to pay a nominal fee. The desperate unemployed workers, who were enticed by the companies misleading advertisements, were asked to pay anywhere from $89 to $195 in order to receive a call within 48 hours from the company to begin scheduling job interviews. The applicants who believed they would receive jobs, paid the fee and sent their resume to the company, and would hear nothing back from the company. Sometimes the job seekers would not hear anything back from the company for weeks or even months. The Internet company would then tell upset applicants “they are currently working on getting them a job” or send a list of local companies to the applicants. Several members of the job service reported they never received any work close to steady full-time jobs through the service.
The lawsuit is asking for a permanent injunction against the company’s actions, restitution, refund of money paid, disgorgement of gains and other various forms of relief. In addition, another company is named in the lawsuit called “Unique Flowers”, owned by a woman named Susan Bright. When investigators tried contacting the business and the owner, both phone lines were disconnected.
Legal News Reporter: Nicole Howley-Legal news for Florida lawyers practicing marketing law.