Back Wages Recovered for 390 Cellular Retail Employees
After over two years of hotly contested litigation in Petty v. Russell Cellular, we successfully finalized and settled a Fair Labor Standards Act collective action on behalf of 390 current and former full-time employees of a Verizon Wireless retailer with over 250 locations nationwide. These employees were required to make nightly, off-the-clock bank deposits of any cash payments received during their shifts. Since the bank deposits often took these employees over 40 hours in a workweek, the federal Fair Labor Standards Act mandates that the employees be compensated at a rate of one-and-a-half times the employee’s regular rate of pay for time spent making those deposits. However, these employees were deprived of any compensation for their time spent on bank deposits.
We filed suit in November 2013, and on March 28, 2014, the case was conditionally certified as a collective action. On January 22, 2016, Judge James Graham, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, approved a settlement which provides for payment of back wages to all affected employees who opted in to the case. The employer’s records did not contain information on the amount of time that each deposit took. However, according to records that were provided and calculations by the parties, the settlement provides for payment in full – or very nearly in full – for each of the 390 opt-ins.
Contact a Wage and Hour Attorney
At Tittle & Perlmuter, we investigate and vigorously prosecute actions on behalf of employees who have been wrongfully and illegally denied due compensation by their employers. This often arises in the context of misclassification of employees as independent contractors, unpaid work at the beginning or end of a shift, and failure to pay overtime on commissions. If you have a question about your employer’s pay practices, contact us for a free consultation.
