Memphis clothing chain faces $25 million employee lawsuit for discounting overtime
A class action lawsuit was recently proposed against a Memphis-based clothing chain run by City Gear. Denithia Pendergrass and Alena Kelley worked at the company in its Nashville and Lewisville, Texas, outlets, respectively. In the suit, Pendergrass and Kelley allege that the employer was in the practice of misclassifying its store and assistant managers as exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to avoid paying them overtime.
The lawsuit is seeking $25 million for back wages, liquidated damages and penalties if the case moves forward. The managers claim that although they were supposed to be paid on a salary basis, their paychecks were deducted if their time and attendance totals did not hit the retail stores' required 45 hours of work every week. Therefore, they were essentially being paid an hourly rate until they hit that cap, at which point they were earning a "salary" and didn't receive any additional wages for excess employee attendance.
"Determined to squeeze where it can, City Gear deliberately flouts federal wage and hour protections in order to extract long hours from these employees, without paying time-and-a-half overtime pay as required by law," the lawsuit explains, as quoted by The Tennessean.
If employers are uncertain about the labor requirements they must adhere to, they can outsource human resources or hire new professionals to their staff to bring payroll practice up to compliance.
The lawsuit is seeking $25 million for back wages, liquidated damages and penalties if the case moves forward. The managers claim that although they were supposed to be paid on a salary basis, their paychecks were deducted if their time and attendance totals did not hit the retail stores' required 45 hours of work every week. Therefore, they were essentially being paid an hourly rate until they hit that cap, at which point they were earning a "salary" and didn't receive any additional wages for excess employee attendance.
"Determined to squeeze where it can, City Gear deliberately flouts federal wage and hour protections in order to extract long hours from these employees, without paying time-and-a-half overtime pay as required by law," the lawsuit explains, as quoted by The Tennessean.
If employers are uncertain about the labor requirements they must adhere to, they can outsource human resources or hire new professionals to their staff to bring payroll practice up to compliance.
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