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Utah Liquor Store Worker Class Action Lawsuit Overview:
- Who: Utah Department Of Alcoholic Beverage Control, the agency responsible for enforcing the state’s notoriously strict liquor laws, is facing a class action lawsuit by liquor store workers.
- What: Independent contractors claim they have been wrongly classified and are owed overtime pay and benefits.
- Where: The lawsuit was filed in Utah
The agency responsible for enforcing Utah liquor laws, the Department Of Alcoholic Beverage Control (DABC), misclassified employees as independent contractors and denied them overtime pay and benefits for their work, which is essentially completely governed by the department, a new class action lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court on September 15 by more than a dozen who work at Utah liquor stores. The group, who were all employed by the department to run DABC-operated liquor stores and sell DABC-owned and -controlled liquor on behalf, alleges that the department and its management are in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
According to the claim, DABC and its management own, manage and operate an enterprise doing business managing and directing the sale and distribution of alcohol throughout the State of Utah. The Class Members contract with the DABC on a yearly basis, and the contract renewal process is and has been automatic and has continued, in some instances, for several decades.
Utah Liquor Store Workers Forced into Unpaid Overtime
While working for the DABC, the store operators are required to work a minimum of thirty-five hours each week. The DABC requires the staff work several additional hours due to opening and closing procedures, counting inventory, ordering inventory, preparing reports, attending meetings, receiving DABC liquor according to the DABC’s schedule, which is often outside of contracted operating hours, manually changing price tags after contracted operating hours when the DABC decides to unilaterally change prices, administrative duties, and cleaning the stores, the claim alleges.
As a result, those at Utah liquor stores are required to work more than 40 hours per week consistently.
The store owners are paid a monthly salary, which is non negotiable, not related to the number of hours worked, and from which they must pay all operating costs of the agency, including but not limited to rents, labor, utilities, insurance and bonds, and maintenance, the lawsuit explains.
They allege that the DABC has de-facto control of their stores, including the ability to come and go as they please, to dictate the layout of the store, prohibit any changes to the layout, prohibit the signage outside and inside the stores, require the equipment used in the store, and more.
The workers say that they perform similar if not identical duties to managers of DABC-owned and -operated stores, who are afforded the benefits of being classified as employees.
“Defendants have structured their relationship with Plaintiffs and Collective Members in such a way that Plaintiffs and Collective Members meet all of the statutory requirements of state store managers and employees,” the claim alleges.
However, the agency has “willfully and intentionally” misclassified package agents as independent contractors rather than employees, the claim alleges, failing and refusing to pay them overtime for time they worked in excess of 40 hours per week
The group of workers are bringing the class action lawsuit under the FLSA to recover the unpaid overtime wages owed to them. They also seek liquidated damages, interest, attorneys’ fees, and costs under the FLSA, and a jury trial.
Have you ever been classified as an independent contractor but performed the same duties as an employee would? Let us know in the comments section!
The plaintiffs are represented by Chase A. Adams and Erika M. Larsen of Steele Adams Hosman and Ephraim Olson of Olson Harnish Law, PLLC.
The Utah Liquor Store Workers Class Action Lawsuit is Maxfield, et al., v. Utah Department Of Alcoholic Beverage Control, et al., Case No. 4:21-cv-00099-DN in the U.S. District Court in and for the District Of Utah, Central Division.
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