Assistant Manager Overtime Lawsuit Filed Against Texas Roadhouse

A former Texas Roadhouse employee recently filed a lawsuit against the restaurant chain, claiming that the corporation purposefully violated the Fair Labor Standards Act and Pennsylvania wage laws by refusing to pay assistant managers overtime wages.

Lawsuit Claims Texas Roadhouse Failed to Pay Overtime

The plaintiff filed her lawsuit against Texas Roadhouse in January 2020. According to the plaintiff, she was employed by a Texas Roadhouse restaurant in Erie, Penn., from June 2016 to May 2017 as a service manager. Due to her title of “manager,” the plaintiff claims that she was not paid overtime wages by Texas Roadhouse, despite regularly working more than 40 hours a week.

According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff often worked between 50 and 70 hours a week for the restaurant, performing non-managerial duties such as cooking, preparing food, serving customers, cleaning, and processing payments. The plaintiff claims that Texas Roadhouse’s policies classify service managers as exempt from overtime protections, despite these employees often performing the same tasks as non-exempt staff.

The plaintiff is seeking class action certification for her assistant manager overtime lawsuit in order to recover unpaid overtime compensation for herself and other assistant managers of the restaurant chain.

Assistant Manager Rights Under the Fair Labor Standards Act

According to the Fair Labor Standards Act, employees who work more than 40 hours in a workweek are entitled to additional overtime pay at a rate of one and a half times their regular pay rate unless they are exempt. While many employees who are classified as assistant managers are actually exempt and not entitled to overtime pay, some of these employees may have been misclassified by their employers.

Assistant managers who earn more than $455 per week or $23,600 per year, and perform executive duties including managing the store, regularly supervising at least two employees, setting employee schedules, making hiring and firing decisions, and evaluating and disciplining employees may have been correctly classified as exempt and are not entitled to overtime pay.

In many cases, however, employees who are classified as assistant managers do not actually perform the duties of a manager position. Employees who are classified as assistant managers but mainly perform non-management duties including helping customers, working a cash register, cleaning the store, stocking shelves, unloading trucks, or taking out the trash may have been misclassified. These employees may be eligible for overtime pay.

Often, employers use titles such as “assistant manager,” “operations manager,” or “department manager,” to reduce labor costs and avoid paying overtime wages to employees. However, employers who are found to have purposefully misclassified employees may be subject to fines and other penalties.

If you believe you have been misclassified as an assistant manager by your employer, you may be eligible to hire a qualified attorney and file an assistant manager overtime lawsuit under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Victims of misclassification who file lawsuits may be able to recover reimbursement for owed overtime wages.

The Assistant Manager Overtime Lawsuit is Case No: 1:20-cv-00002, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

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.

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