Man Sues Bed Bath & Beyond for Failure to Pay Overtime

Joshua worked as a department manager at a Houston Bed Bath & Beyond from Jan. 14, 2014 until Sept. 26, 2014. His rate of pay was reportedly $1,038.46 per week.

Though the retailer did not maintain accurate time records, according to Joshua’s unpaid overtime lawsuit, a “reasonable reconstruction” of the time worked can be made from the store’s calendars, pay records and time records maintained by Joshua. The weekly number of hours he worked varied, Joshua alleges.

Supervisors were aware of how much Joshua was working each week, but still did not pay him the required overtime, he alleges in his unpaid overtime lawsuit. He was also allegedly erroneously classified as an exempt employee. Now he has filed an unpaid overtime lawsuit in Texas federal court.

Joshua’s case is not the first unpaid overtime lawsuit filed against Bed Bath & Beyond. The 1,000+ store chain has been accused before of requiring workers to pull double shifts and put in time off the clock, before or after scheduled shifts.

The nationwide chain is alleged to have misclassified workers as salaried, exempt employees to avoid paying them overtime, something Joshua is suing for as well. Despite working up to 60 hours per week, many assistant managers claim they were never paid for their time beyond the federally mandated 40 hours per week as a result of being purposely misclassified as exempt.

Other allegations include failing to pay business expenses, failing to timely pay wages and failing to provide seating. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge previously approved a settlement brought in another class action lawsuit against Bed Bath & Beyond over similar claims.

The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), commonly known as the Wage and Hours Bill, requires that unless exempt, covered employees must be paid overtime for hours worked over 40 in a workweek at a rate not less than time and one-half their regular rates of pay. The FLSA does not limit how many hours employees age 16 and older may work in any workweek and does not require overtime pay for work on Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, or regular days of rest, unless overtime is worked on such days.

The FLSA also sets strict guidelines for recordkeeping and youth employment standards for employees in both the private sector as well as in federal, state, and local governments. Nonexempt workers are entitled to be paid at least $7.25 per hour, which became effective on July 24, 2009, though some states have their own minimum wages. The employee is entitled to whichever is greater.

The FLSA is administered by the Employment Standards Administration’s Wage and Hour Division within the U.S. Department of Labor. In March 2014, President Barack Obama directed the Department of Labor to update the regulations defining which white collar workers are eligible to receive pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek.

The Union, N.J.-based Bed Bath & Beyond is a Fortune 500 company that was founded in 1971 and operates more than 1,000 stores throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico.

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