Florida Employees of United Sprinkler, Inc. Hosed out of Overtime |
 |
 |
|
|
A statewide collective action has been filed in Florida against United Sprinkler, Inc. The action is brought on behalf of all current and former employees, who since June 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, United Sprinkler has engaged in a willful and intentional course of action to defraud them of proper overtime compensation. The employees claim that United Sprinkler 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 these 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, who are hourly laborers, 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 United Sprinkler's refusal to pay overtime was willful and intentional, they are entitled to an equal amount of liquidated damages.
At Lawcash.com, it is our goal to keep you informed about important legal cases, class actions and
settlements. Our lawyers offer free legal evaluations in tort cases, class actions, personal injury, and
other lawsuits because we are dedicated to helping you resolve your legal complaints.
Other Employment Cases of Interest
A collective action has been filed in South Carolina against the Richland School District Two. The action is brought on behalf of all former and current employees who have worked in excess of 40 hours a week, but who have not been paid overtime by the school district. The action is brought under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and is seeking back pay as damages. A national collective action was filed in Florida on 2/2/2004 against lending giant, Oak Street Mortgage, LLC. The action was brought on behalf of all current and former loan officers, who since February 2001, were not paid proper statutory overtime for all hours worked beyond 40 per week. The action was brought under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and seeks back pay, 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. On 5/18/2004, the Magistrate Judge recommended conditionally certifying a class of all loan officers employed by Oak Street at one of its branch offices located in Greenville, South Carolina, Atlanta, Georgia, St. Petersburg, Florida or Ocala, Florida. A class action lawsuit has been filed in the Middle District Court of Florida against SCI Funeral Services of Florida, Inc., a Texas based funeral services company, for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Class members seek damages in the amount of unpaid overtime compensation owed, liquidated damages or pre-judgment interest, reasonable attorney’s fees and costs of the litigation. A nationwide class action has been filed against banking giant Bank One Corporation alleging that the company mismanaged its employees' 401k accounts. The action is brought under the federal ERISA statute on behalf of all Bank One employees who, between March 22, 2002, and the present, participated in the company's 401k retirement plan and whose investments in the plan included Bank One stock or mutual funds.
A class action has been filed on behalf of home health care workers employed by Magna Community Living Services, a Tulsa based provider of home health services. The suit alleges that workers employed at Magna between 2001 and 2004 routinely worked more than 40 hours a week but were not paid overtime as required by the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act. The plaintiffs seek an award of the unpaid overtime with interest, attorney's fees and costs, as well as liquidated damages and equitable relief. Trucking has always been regarded as a predominantly male occupation, but women employed at trucking giant CH Robinson Worldwide claim that the company and it's male employees created an environment that crossed the legal boundary into active discrimination. A class action lawsuit filed against the company alleges that women were not paid as well or promoted to supervisory jobs as often as men, even though they were equally qualified. The suit also contends that the work environment at CH Robinson was extremely hostile to women as a result of lewd behavior on the part of male employees, including branch managers. A hearing on class certification in this gender discrimination suit was held in late November, 2004. At this time of this report a ruling had not yet been issued. If the class is certified as many as 2,000 current and former sales, operation and support workers would be able to sue the Minnesota based company.
|