A statewide collective action has been filed in Florida against Sawgrass Trading Company. The action is brought on behalf of all current and former hourly employees of all Florida Sawgrass Trading Company stores, who since May 2001, were 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 damages 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 employees, Sawgrass Trading Company has engaged in a willful and intentional course of action to defraud them of proper overtime compensation. The employees claim that Sawgrass Trading Company frequently requires them to work well in excess of 40 hours per week. However, according to employees, the company has no provisions in place to properly compensate employees for overtime for hours worked in excess of 40 per week and only pays them "straight time" for overtime hours. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, all hourly "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. The employees, the majority of which who were employed as sales associates and were paid on an hourly basis, claim that they are "non-exempt" and therefore entitled to receive overtime compensation for all hours worked beyond 40 per week. The employees also claim that because Sawgrass Trading Company's refusal to pay overtime was willful and intentional, they are entitled to an equal amount of liquidated damages.