Barnes and Noble Class Action Lawsuit Alleges Denied Overtime Pay

A Barnes and Noble class action lawsuit was filed in New York, alleging the bookstore purposely misclassified employees to avoid paying overtime.

According to the proposed Barnes and Noble class action lawsuit, the company misclassified its managers as salaried employees so that it did not have to pay these workers overtime.

However, the managers allege, their duties were very similar to those of nonexempt workers, so there was no substantial reason to deny them overtime pay.

One former cafe manager involved in the proposed Barnes and Noble class action lawsuit, Kelly B., said that the company hires non managerial employees to work in its cafes and makes sure they work no more than 40 hours per week, disallowing them to work overtime.

Instead, the company allegedly relies on its managers that they have classified as salaried employees to work those overtime hours doing equally non managerial labor.

Indeed, cafe managers perform very similar duties to hourly employees. “The primary duties of CMs do not fall within any of the exemptions under federal or state overtime laws,” read the complaint.

The complaint says that Kelly B. worked as a cafe manager in a Chicago Barnes and Noble between September 2012 and February 2015. During this period, Kelly’s work consisted entirely of non managerial work, even though she was classified as a cafe manager.

Instead of performing managerial duties like hiring, firing, or managing employees, Kelly performed regular cafe employee duties, but was denied overtime pay—though she worked between 48 and 52 hours a week, the complaint says.

According to the complaint, Barnes and Noble required that its cafe managers undergo training for several weeks, which required overtime hours. The company also failed to keep adequate records of how much its managers worked, Kelly alleged.

Kelly’s complaint alleges that the Barnes and Noble policy, applicable nationwide, is to classify cafe managers as exempt from overtime pay. This makes the misclassification not just a single store’s problem, but instead “widespread, repeated and consistent.”

This proposed Barnes and Noble class action lawsuit has surfaced just over a year after the bookstore giant settled a separate lawsuit over assistant store managers’ allegations that the company failed to pay overtime.

Wage and Hour Class Action Lawsuits

Wage and hour laws, at both the state and federal level, are put in place in order to protect employees. These laws are being continuously improved to best protect workers as the workplace changes. These laws are set to ensure the fair treatment of workers.

However, if a worker does not know about the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) or the protections that it offers, their employer may illegally take advantage of them, denying them proper overtime pay, breaks, or classification.

Employees who believe they are being paid unfair wages, not given proper rest periods, or denied overtime may be able to pursue litigation or complaints against their employers from violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act or state labor laws.

Some employees may be afraid that pursuing litigation against their employer may result in serious consequences in the workplace, but FLSA protects workers from this kind of retaliation.

If you have worked for an employer that has failed to follow the Fair Labor Standards Act or state labor laws, including unpaid overtime wages, you may be able to either join a lawsuit like this Barnes and Noble class action lawsuit or file a lawsuit individually.

The Barnes and Noble Class Action Lawsuit is Brown v. Barnes and Noble Inc., Case No. 1:16-cv-07333, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

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