Tag: off-the-clock

TGI FRIDAY’S SETTLES WITH 14 PLAINTIFFS IN CLASS ACTION SUIT

Last year, the parent company of popular restaurant, TGI Friday’s, was sued in New York federal court by restaurant workers claiming to have been shorted on wages when performing side work and “off-the-clock” work. Specifically, it was alleged that tipped workers were required to perform work during off-hours without receiving minimum wage and overtime, and management manipulated employee time records to permit “off-the-clock” non-tip producing side work such as cleaning and preparing food. Plaintiffs sought to recover unpaid minimum wages and overtime, misappropriated tips, unlawful deductions and other wages under The Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and New York Labor Law.

Earlier this week, TGI Friday’s agreed to settle the claims of 14 members of the FLSA class. U.S. District Court Judge Analisa Torres approved of all settlements, which ranged from $2,500 to $82,000. Several other named plaintiffs and opt-in plaintiffs still remain in the case.

The case is Flood, et al. v. Carlson Restaurants, Inc., No. 14-cv-2740.

NURSING HOME SUED FOR UNIFORM POLICY

A certified nursing assistant, Carole Guerra, commenced a FLSA collective action alleging that HCR Manor Care, Inc., a nursing home in Philadelphia, failed to pay employees for time spent on maintaining uniforms outside of their regular work hours. Guerra seeks to represent nursing department employees who have worked at any of the company’s 291 facilities dispersed throughout 27 states and have spent off-the-clock time complying with the dress code policy without compensation.

The company’s mandatory dress code policy required employees to purchase scrubs from one particular vendor and arrive to work in a clean, wrinkle-free uniform.

The facility lacked washers, dryers and other on-site equipment, which resulted in nurses spending off-the-clock time maintaining their uniforms. Guerra alleges that the company could send employees home without pay to change into a uniform that conformed with the dress code policy or even institute progressive disciplinary measures, including termination.

As such, Guerra states that she and many other nursing assistants spent two to three hours off-the-clock per week ensuring their uniforms met the company’s requirements, without pay.  Guerra accuses the company of knowing that its uniform policies resulted in a significant investment of time by its employees and failed to compensate employees for that overtime.

Guerra names HRC Manor Care’s human resources subsidiary, Heartland Employment Services LLC, as the defendant. This firm will continue to monitor the developments in this case.

REPAIR TECHNICIANS FOR GENERAL ELECTRIC GRANTED CONDITIONAL CERTIFICATION IN WAGE AND HOUR SUIT

Last month, a New Jersey District Court judge granted conditional certification in a wage and hour collective action brought by appliance repair technicians employed by General Electric. Thirteen plaintiffs, who service appliances in customer’s homes, filed the lawsuit and alleged that they were required to perform work, before and after their shift, without pay.

Specifically, plaintiffs claim that they were required to perform pre-shift work, such as logging on to their computer to retrieve a list of calls for the day, checking emails, ensuring that they have the necessary parts for their service calls and contacting customers to find out if they were home.

Plaintiffs additionally claim that they worked through lunch, even though pay for a 30-minute lunch break was automatically deducted, and they performed off-the-clock work at the end of each shift, such as answering emails, ordering parts and checking calls for the next day.

The judge ruled that plaintiffs provided sufficient evidence for conditional certification and that GE had a policy, either written or unwritten, that affected service technicians similarly. Thus far, approximately 100 workers have opted-in to this action.

This firm will continue to monitor the developments in this case.