$11M Burlington Coat Factory settlement to resolve overtime class action

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Update:

• Burlington Coat Factory agreed to pay $11 million to resolve claims the retailer failed to pay its assistant store managers overtime after allegedly misclassifying them as exempt employees. 
• The class action settlement is the third Burlington Coat Factory has agreed to since 2020 over similar claims, Law360 reports. 
• The three current and former assistant store managers behind the complaint claimed Burlington Coat Factory violated the Fair Labor Standards Act. 
• In submitting a motion for settlement approval, the plaintiffs called the agreement “an excellent result.” 
• The class action lawsuit was brought on behalf of more than 1,700 current and former Burlington Coat Factory assistant store managers.

Burlington Coat Factory overtime pay class action lawsuit overview:

• Who: Kim Payton-Fernandez filed a class action lawsuit against Burlington Stores, Inc. 
• Why: Payton-Fernandez claims Burlington misclassifies its Burlington Coat Factory assistant store managers as exempt from overtime pay.
• Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in New Jersey federal court.

(Feb. 09, 2022)

Burlington Stores, Inc. misclassified assistant store managers at its Burlington Coat Factory locations as exempt from overtime pay despite having to perform work that makes them non-exempt, a new class action lawsuit alleges. 

Plaintiff Kim Payton-Fernandez claims Burlington failed to provide overtime pay to its assistant store managers and other employees holding comparable positions due to misclassifying them as exempt under federal overtime laws. 

Payton-Fernandez wants to represent a nationwide class of current and former Burlington Coat Factory workers who worked more than 40 hours during a week without receiving overtime pay within the last three years. 

Payton-Fernandez says she regularly worked 50 to 55 hours per week without receiving overtime pay while employed as an assistant store manager at Burlington Coat Factory.

Payton-Fernandez claims not being paid overtime constituted wage theft and violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which requires companies to pay time-and-a-half for all hours worked over 40. 

“Defendants’ unlawful conduct, as described above, was willful or in reckless disregard of the applicable wage and hour laws pursuant to defendants’ centralized, companywide policy, pattern and practice of attempting to minimize labor costs by violating the FLSA,” the class action lawsuit states. 

Assistant Store Managers Required To Do Non-Exempt Wor

Payton-Fernandez argues she should not have been classified as exempt from overtime pay due to her job requiring her to do non-exempt work, such as stocking shelves, working the cash register, building displays, cleaning and folding, among other things. 

“The primary job duties of Plaintiff and the members of the Collective did not materially differ from the duties of Defendants’ non-exempt hourly paid employees, which included many duties that were manual and non-exempt in nature,” the class action lawsuit states. 

Further, Payton-Fernandez claims Burlington was aware that its assistant store managers were performing non-exempt work but were still unwilling to provide them with overtime pay as a way to save money. 

“Defendants knew that Plaintiff and other similarly situated employees were performing the work of non-exempt employees and, based on their actual job duties, Plaintiff and similarly situated employees did not fall under any exemptions under the FLSA,” the class action lawsuit states. 

Payton-Fernandez is demanding a jury trial and requesting declaratory relief, an award of unpaid wages for all hours worked over 40 and liquidated and punitive damages for herself and all class members. 

A similar class action lawsuit was filed last month by former Sheraton Hotel employees who argue they were denied minimum wage and tips they had earned. 

Have you been denied overtime pay by your employer? Let us know in the comments! 

The plaintiff is represented by Seth R. Lesser and Christopher M. Timmel of Klafter Lesser LLP, and Michael A. Galpern of Javerbaum Wurgaft Hicks Kahn Wikstrom and Sinins, P.C. 

The Burlington Coat Factory Overtime Pay Class Action Lawsuit is Payton-Fernandez v. Burlington Stores, Inc., et al., Case No. 1:22-cv-00608, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

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