A statewide collective action has been filed in Florida against Southeast Milk, Inc. The action is brought on behalf of all current and former employees of Southeast who have not been paid overtime wages for all hours worked in excess of 40 per week. The action is brought under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and seeks statutory and liquidated damages as well as back pay, injunctive and declaratory relief. As a collective action, all potential claimants must "opt-in" and consent to be members of the class. The employees have requested that the court issue notice to all potential claimants.

According to employees of Southeast, the company routinely calls upon them to work in excess of 40 hours a week. However, Southeast has no provisions in place to properly compensate employees for overtime hours. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, all "non-exempt" employees are entitled to overtime compensation at the rate of time and a half for all hours worked beyond 40 in a week. "Non-exempt" employees are generally those paid on an hourly basis that do not perform managerial or executive tasks. The employees claim that they were paid hourly and were "non-exempt" and thus are entitled to overtime compensation from Southeast. The employees also allege that since Southeast's failure to pay overtime was willful, they are entitled to liquidated damages.