A national collective action has been filed in Florida against Morgan Tire & Auto, Inc. The action is brought on behalf of all current and former Managers, Assistant Managers and Managers in training who were improperly classified as exempt employees and not paid proper statutory overtime for all hours worked beyond 40 per week. The action is brought under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and seeks statutory and liquidated damage and back pay as well as declaratory and injunctive relief. As a collective action, all potential claimants are required to "opt-in" to the action in order to be considered part of the class. The employees have requested that the court issue notice to all potential class members.

According to the managers, Morgan Tire has engaged in a long-standing willful and intentional course of action to defraud them of proper overtime compensation. The managers claim that Morgan Tire has improperly classified them as "exempt" employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act, but actually works the managers as if they were hourly laborers. Morgan Tire frequently required the managers to work well in excess of 40 hours per week. However, the managers allege, the company has no provisions in place to properly compensate them for overtime, paying them as salaried employees. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, all "non-exempt" employees are entitled to a minimum of time and a half for all hours worked in excess of 40 per week. "Non-exempt" employees are generally those that work on an hourly basis and do not have managerial or executive responsibility. However, in this case the managers claim that their managerial responsibility is limited and does not fit the definition of an "exempt" employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Furthermore, the managers assert that specific policies implemented by Morgan impact their status as "exempt" employees. The managers allege that Morgan docks their pay for any and all days off taken due to illness or disability, and does so without a company wide plan providing for sick and disability pay. Additionally, the managers claim that their pay is docked for any returned checks, charge backs or denied/unauthorized or slow credit customers. The managers claim that their pay is further docked for any and all collection attempts and fees resulting from these bad transactions. As a result of this alleged conduct and alleged improper classification, the managers claim that they are entitled to receive overtime compensation for all hours worked beyond 40 per week. The managers further claim that because Morgan Tires' refusal to pay overtime was willful and intentional, they are entitled to an equal amount of liquidated damages.