Employees Accuse Home Depot of Unpaid Overtime
Angel River, a delivery driver for Home Depot, filed a class action lawsuit against Home Depot. Rivera claims that Home Depot failed to compensate employees for overtime worked. According to Rivera, he and other delivery drivers were offered compensatory time off rather than overtime payᵢ. For example, if a driver worked 45 hours in one week, they would only be assigned 35 the next week but be paid for 40. Rivera is unclear whether this happened at multiple Home Depot locations or simply the one he works for in New Jersey.
The Federal Labor Standards Act requires that nonexempt employees be paid 1 ½ the normal rate for every hour worked over 40 hours per week. Failing to pay overtime penalties is in clear violation of the FLSA. New Jersey wage and hour laws also state that nonexempt employees should receive overtime pay when working over 40 hours. Rivera is looking for injunctive relief, compensatory damages, declaratory relief, attorney fees and costs, as well as liquidated damages as compensation for the unpaid overtime ᵢ.
Best Practices to Avoid Overtime Lawsuits
A wage and hour lawsuit, such as the one Home Depot is facing, can be extremely detrimental to a company. So, as an employer it is important to ensure you are in compliance with the FLSA and state standards.
Not having accurate and up to date records can cause overtime miscalculations that could lead you to an overtime lawsuit. As an employer, it is essential to keep track of all time and attendance information regarding your employee. Keeping records of your employee’s wages, time of shifts and hours worked (including meal and break time) can lower your risk of being hit with an unpaid overtime lawsuit. However, keeping accurate records is not the only way you can avoid an overtime lawsuit, follow these other tips to ensure compliance ᵢ.
- Keep job descriptions up to date
- Stay up to date on regulations
- Ensure that employees are not working off the clock
- Accurately calculate blended overtime pay rates
- Put tight controls on time card changes
How EPAY Systems Can Help
EPAY Systems offers a cloud based time and attendance system, Blueforce, which can help you stay on top of employee scheduling and in compliance with the FLSA. Blueforce gives you the ability to keep detailed time and attendance records with custom wage and hour reports, violation flagging, and real time overtime alerts.
Contact us to learn more about how we can keep you compliant.
Resources
- http://www.njlawjournal.com/home/id=1202731399241
- http://www.jdjournal.com/2015/07/07/the-home-depot-inc-hit-with-class-action-lawsuit/
- http://www.businessinsurance.com/article/99999999/NEWS070103/399999774?tags=|332|70