A combination collective/class action has been filed in New York against retail giant, Target Corporation. The action is brought on behalf of all target employees who, since January 1998, have not been paid proper wages and proper overtime wages. The action is brought under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act as well as New York labor law and seeks back pay, statutory damages, liquidated damages and injunctive and declaratory relief. As a collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act, all potential claimants must voluntarily join the action by "opting in". The employees have requested that the court issue notice as quickly as possible to all potential claimants.

According to employees, Target Corporation has engaged in a long standing, willful and intentional practice of defrauding its employees of proper wages and proper overtime wages. The employees claim that Target has flagrantly violated both federal and state law in the effort to maximize profit, at the expense of employees' wages. The employees allege that Target does not pay them the total hours they work weekly and does not pay them overtime compensation at all. This conduct takes several forms, the employees allege. The employees assert that Target typically assigns them significantly more work in a day than can be completed within the employees' scheduled shift. However, the employees allege that target management fully expects them to complete their assigned tasks. As a result, the employees claim that they are required to work before and after shifts, while off of the clock, are required to work through meal and break times, while off of the clock and frequently have their time sheets altered by Target management if they work beyond their assigned hours per week. The employees claim that Target frequently has non-functional time card machines, requiring them to submit their hours via hand written time sheets. They also claim that when time clocks do properly function, Target managers manipulate their hours when entered into the company computer system to maintain minimum payroll expenditures. The employees assert that store managers are given incentives to keep payroll at a minimum, while keeping productivity at a maximum. The employees additionally claim that this is company policy, affecting all employees of Target nationwide.

Under both New York labor laws and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, all "non-exempt" employees that work beyond 40 hours per week are entitled to time and a half for such hours. Generally, "non-exempt" employees are those that work on an hourly basis and do not perform managerial or executive tasks. The employees allege that they are "non-exempt" and are entitled to overtime. However, the employees allege that not only were they denied proper overtime compensation, they were denied any and all compensation for hours worked beyond their assigned shifts. Due to Target's alleged strict monitoring and alteration of employee hours, the employees claim that they have been unable to be properly paid on a regular basis. The employees additionally claim that this course of action has been willful and widespread, entitling them to liquidated damages. As this action involves all Target employees in the state of New York, the potential class is very numerous, numbering in the thousands and perhaps tens of thousands.