Joanna Szabo  |  April 26, 2019

Category: Labor & Employment

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The sandwich chain Jimmy John’s has been hit with a class action lawsuit by a group of its assistant store managers, alleging they were misclassified. According to the assistant manager overtime lawsuit, Jimmy John’s misclassified these workers as exempt from overtime pay.

The plaintiffs claim they were classified as exempt from overtime pay but were expected to do the same or similar work as other nonexempt employees who qualified for overtime wages.

Indeed, their primary jobs included tasks like preparing food, helping customers, bussing tables, cleaning, and checking inventory. Managerial tasks like hiring, firing, scheduling, supervising, and more were not part of their primary duties, the lawsuit claims, and therefore they should have been considered nonexempt employees, entitled to overtime pay.

The Jimmy John’s assistant manager overtime lawsuit was in February granted conditional certification as a collective action by an Illinois federal judge.

According to U.S. District Judge Sue E. Myerscough, the three former assistant store managers who filed the lawsuit had provided enough evidence to show that other assistant managers were in a similar situation to their own. The judge granted conditional certification for the plaintiffs’ proposed FLSA collective. Now, notices will be sent to other potential plaintiffs who are collective members.

The lawsuit in its current form was filed in April 2017, but Jimmy John’s had previously been hit with separate lawsuits in 2014 and 2015 that were eventually consolidated in 2016 and covered more than 600 individuals. These lawsuits alleged that the sandwich chain violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by illegally requiring assistant managers to work more than 40 hours a week, while allegedly denying them overtime pay due to a misclassification.

This April 2017 lawsuit was filed by three former assistant managers of Jimmy John’s against three franchises: Fox Restaurant Venture LLC, Fox NC Acquisitions LLC, and Fox SC Acquisitions LLC, which they allege had the same policies in their Jimmy John’s stores for assistant store managers.

Judge Myerscough noted that the plaintiffs had offered sufficient evidence that their jobs, compensation, and responsibilities were similar because of this common policy among franchisees.

Those who are included in this potential collective action are any assistant store managers who worked for a Jimmy John’s owned by one of the named franchisees between April 27, 2014, and the date of judgment.

Filing an Assistant Manager Overtime Lawsuit

Misclassification lawsuits like this one have been filed against a number of major companies including Walmart, JP Morgan Chase, Prudential, and more. These lawsuits can result in settlements of millions of dollars.

If you have worked as an assistant manager (or assistant store manager, department manager, or operations manager) at a fast food restaurant, retail shop, or grocery store sometime in the last three years, and were classified as exempt but required to do the work of nonexempt employees, you may have been denied wages you were actually owed and may be able to file a lawsuit and pursue your unpaid wages.

Top Class Actions can connect you with an experienced wage and hour attorney who can help you determine if you have a claim.

The Assistant Manager Overtime Lawsuit is Case No. 2:17-cv-02104-SEM-EIL, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois.

Join a Free Assistant Manager Overtime Pay Lawsuit Investigation

If you work or worked as an assistant manager at a fast-food restaurant, retail store or supermarket and you perform the same duties as the hourly employees, you may have been misclassified as exempt and are owed unpaid overtime pay.

Learn More

This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.

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