Brigette Honaker  |  July 6, 2022

Category: Labor & Employment

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young woman in clothing storeOvertime pay is pay for any hours worked over 40 hours a week. Generally, overtime pay is paid out at one and one-half times the regular rate of an employee’s pay. However, there are strict rules on which employees are eligible for overtime pay, and which are not.

What Are Overtime Pay Laws?

The Department of Labor recently updated its overtime exemption rules, making an estimated 1.3 million additional U.S. workers eligible to receive overtime pay.

Under the new rule, which went into effect on Jan. 1, 2020, the exemption requirements for employees who do not qualify for overtime pay have been updated.

Under the new rule, employees who are paid a salary of more than $684 per week or $35,568 annually and perform mostly executive, administrative, or professional duties may not qualify for overtime. The salary amount specified by the new rule has been updated from $455 per week, or $23,660 a year. Up to $3,557 of the salary may be paid through bonuses.

Who Qualifies for Overtime Pay?

Employees who are not salaried, who are salaried but make less than the updated amount, or do not qualify under the part of the rule specifying duties may be eligible to receive overtime pay. Although many assistant managers are classified as exempt employees, if assistant managers work overtime, they may be eligible to receive overtime pay.

Can Assistant Managers Work Overtime?

Assistant managers may be eligible for overtime pay if they do not pass the standard duties test, or if they are not salaried or make less than the updated salaried amount. If an employee meets the standard duties test, but does not meet the salary requirements or vice versa, they may be entitled to overtime pay.

According to recent lawsuits filed by assistant managers in multiple industries, some employers may be using that job title as a way to deny paying overtime wages to employees who qualify for them. The Department of Labor states that if assistant managers work overtime and perform the same job duties as hourly employees who have received overtime pay, the assistant managers may also be owed overtime.

Assistant managers, department managers, or operations managers at retail stores, fast food restaurants, or supermarkets may all be affected by employee misclassification.

Assistant managers who earn an annual salary of $35,568 or more and primarily perform job duties including managing the store and employees, supervising multiple employees, setting employee schedules, making hiring and firing decisions, and evaluating and disciplining employees may qualify as exempt, and be ineligible for overtime pay.

However, if assistant managers work overtime and primarily perform duties including helping customers, managing the cash register, cleaning the store, stocking shelves, cooking food, and other non-managerial duties, they may have been misclassified by their employer, and due wages.

Have Assistant Manager Overtime Lawsuits Been Filed?

Numerous companies have faced allegations of wrongfully denying overtime to their assistant managers.

In 2019, a class action lawsuits against Burlington secured a win when the court certified a Class of affected employees.

Plaintiffs in the Burlington overtime class action lawsuit claimed that the company fails to pay overtime wages to their assistant managers – even when those assistant managers work over 40 hours in a single week. The lead plaintiff, Steven G., allegedly worked as an assistant manager for the company in Florida between August 2005 and August 2009. Despite working between 65 and 75 hours in a single week, he was reportedly not paid overtime wages.

Steven argued that, while some assistant managers are exempt from overtime based on their primary duties being managerial, Burlington assistant managers spend most of their time on non-managerial tasks, such duties including working on the sales floor, stocking shelves, cleaning bathrooms, and more.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Rodriguez decided to certify the proposed Class of current and former Burlington assistant managers from around the country. Burlington previously argued that the Class should not be certified because each assistant manager may have differing duties, but Rodriguez determined that all Burlington assistant managers follow “uniform corporate policies, rules and job descriptions, and are evaluated and trained in the same manner.” Based on this, he found that “the experiences are not dissimilar enough to frustrate final certification.”

There are reportedly 569 members included in this class. Plaintiff attorneys told the Courier Post that these Class Members “have been the victims of Burlington’s continued and prolonged wage theft.”

In Februrary of 2022, Burlington was hit again with a similar lawsuitThe newer lawsuit, Kim Payton-Fernandez v. Burlington Stores, Inc. et al, claims Burlington:

  • “willfully misclassified Plaintiff and the members of the Collective as exempt from the overtime requirements of the FLSA;”
  • “willfully failed to pay Plaintiff and the members of the Collective overtime wages for hours they worked in excess of 40 hours per week;” and
  • “willfully failed to provide enough money in their store-level labor budgets for Defendants’ non-exempt employees to perform their duties and responsibilities, thereby forcing Defendants’ exempt-classified Assistant Managers to perform such non-exempt tasks.”

Many employers may purposefully misclassify assistant managers in order to reduce their costs. Corporations including Microsoft, Amazon, Kohl’s, Barnes & Noble, Walmart, Abercrombie & Fitch, and JP Morgan Chase have all settled recent lawsuits regarding employee misclassification and owed overtime pay.

Victims who were employed as an assistant manager at a retail store, fast food restaurant, or supermarket in the past three years who were not paid overtime for hours worked above 40 hours a week may be eligible to file a class action lawsuit and pursue compensation for these owed wages.

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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