Judge preliminarily approves $3M Coca-Cola settlement over pay dispute following 2021 Kronos hack

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Update: 

• A North Carolina federal judge gave the green light to a $3 million settlement to resolve claims Coca-Cola Consolidated workers were not paid proper overtime or for all hours worked following a hack of Kronos timekeeping systems.
• On June 27, U.S. District Judge Robert J. Conrad Jr. granted preliminary approval to the deal; it benefits about 12,500 current and former Coca-Cola Consolidated employees working in the United States at any time between Nov. 28, 2021, and Feb. 6, 2022, who were affected by the Kronos outage.
• Plaintiff Taitum Marshall claimed the 2021 Kronos hack led to “problems in timekeeping and payroll throughout Coca-Cola Consolidated’s organization.”
• The hack caused workers who should not have been exempt from overtime under federal and state laws to be paid improperly, the class action lawsuit alleged.
• The settlement agreement notes the company previously made reconciliation payments to affected workers, who recovered 100% of their unpaid wages, so the settlement payments would be additional compensation.

Coca-Cola Kronos timekeeping class action lawsuit overview: 

• Who: Taitum Marshall filed a class action lawsuit against Coca-Cola Consolidated Inc. 
• Why: Marshall claims Coca-Cola failed to accurately pay its workers following a hack of Kronos timekeeping systems in 2021. 
• Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in North Carolina federal court. 

(May 16, 2022)

Coca-Cola Consolidated workers were not paid proper overtime or for all their hours worked following a hack of Kronos timekeeping systems, a new class action lawsuit alleges. 

Plaintiff Taitum Marshall claims the 2021 Kronos hack led to “problems in timekeeping and payroll throughout Coca-Cola Consolidated’s organization.” 

The hack caused workers who should not have been exempt from overtime under federal and state laws to be paid improperly, the class action lawsuit alleges.

The Kronos hack “interfered” with Coca-Cola’s ability to use its software to “track hours and pay employees,” according to the class action. 

In the aftermath of the Kronos hack, meanwhile, Marshall claims Coca-Cola failed to temporarily implement its own system to “accurately record time and properly pay” non-exempt or salaried employees. 

“Instead, Coca-Cola Consolidated pushed the cost of the Kronos hack onto the most economically vulnerable people in its workforce,” the lawsuit states. 

Coca-Cola class action alleges failure to implement accurate system following Kronos hack

Marshall claims Coca-Cola issued paychecks using either “estimated” or “scheduled” hours or by simply duplicating paychecks from periods before the Kronos hack. 

“As a result of Coca-Cola Consolidated’s failure to accurately track the actual hours worked each week, employees who were non-exempt and worked overtime were in many cases paid less than the hours they worked in the workweek, including overtime hours,” the Coca-Cola class action states.

While Coca-Cola has made good on some of the outstanding payments, the company still has not paid portions of earned wages to its workers, Marshall alleges.

Marshall claims Coca-Cola is in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the North Carolina Wage and Hour Act, the Virginia Overtime Wage Act and the Virginia Payment of Wage Law.

He wants to represent a nationwide class along with Virginia and North Carolina subclasses of current or former Coca-Cola Consolidated non-exempt employees who worked for the company since the Kronos hack in December. 

Plaintiff is demanding a jury trial and requesting an award of unpaid wages and liquidated damages for herself and all class members. 

A similar class action lawsuit was filed last month against PepsiCo over claims the company failed to properly compensate its workers in the aftermath of the Kronos hack. 

Do you work for a company that uses Kronos timekeeping products? Did the December 2021 Kronos ransomware attack cause you to be paid late or not be paid in full for all of your hours, including  overtime, shift differentials and similar additions to pay?

If you are still owed any unpaid wages, or if your wages have been paid but were more than two to three weeks late due to the Kronos ransomware attack, you may be owed additional compensation. Click here for more information (links to paid attorney content).

The plaintiff is represented by Matthew S. Parmet of Parmet PC and Kimberly De Arcangelis of Morgan & Morgan PA.

The Coca-Cola Kronos timekeeping class action lawsuit is Marshall v. Coca-Cola Consolidated Inc., Case No. 3:22-cv-00214, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.

Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:

• Kronos Data Breach Leads to Unpaid Workers, Major Companies Hit With Class Actions
• T-Mobile Class Action Claims Workers Not Paid Correctly Following Kronos Hack
• Allstate Class Action Claims Workers Not Paid Overtime Following Kronos Hack
• DHL Class Action Claims Employees Not Paid Properly Following Kronos Hack