Dominion Energy Agrees to $3.8 Million FLSA Overtime Rule Violations Settlement

Approximately 368 workers will receive a portion of a $3.8 million settlement resolving allegations Dominion Energy broke the FLSA overtime rule.

Lead plaintiff John H. claimed he was only paid his regular rate of pay for the overtime hours he worked, in violation of the FLSA overtime rule. John allegedly was jointly employed by a staffing agency, Strategic Contract Resources LLC, Virginia Electric and Power Company, and Dominion Energy Inc. between December 2014 and December 2015.

He filed the proposed class action lawsuit in May 2018 against Strategic Contract Resources and Dominion Energy. The latter’s subsidiary, Virginia Electric and Power Company, was added as a defendant in the fall of 2018.

According to court documents reported by Law360, Dominion tried to argue that class members were not employees because Dominion “is merely a holding company with no employees” and that John H. and the others were actually employees of the staffing company.

Dominion Energy’s website says the company employs 21,000 people and serves approximately 7.5 million customers in 18 states with electricity or natural gas. Headquartered in Richmond, Va., Dominion has $100 billion in assets and merged with SCANA Corporation on Jan. 1, 2019, gaining more than 2 million more customer accounts in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.

Settlement Terms Regarding FLSA Overtime Rule

Class members include those 368 employees who worked for Dominion between May 14, 2015 and July 30, 2019 and were paid straight time for the overtime hours worked.

If U.S. District Judge John A. Gibney Jr. approves the proposed settlement, each worker will receive more than $10,000 in back wages. Lead plaintiff John H. will receive a $15,000 service award and an opt-in plaintiff, Dennis K., will receive a $5000 service award.

Law360 reports that the men were provided the funds because “the plaintiffs assume the risk that future employers may look unfavorable upon them if they file suit against former employers,” explained the settlement agreement.

A reserve fund of just over $281,000 will be set aside to resolve claim disputes, late claims, inadvertently omitted settlement class members and other FLSA-related claims. The reserve fund will become inactive one year after the date it is funded, according to the proposed settlement agreement.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires overtime pay of at least one and one-half times the employee’s regular rate of pay for each our worked in excess of 40 hours in a single workweek, which according to the FLSA, consists of a fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours.

Employees are not entitled to overtime pay if they work on Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, or regular days off unless overtime is worked on these days.

Thousands of Americans are victims of FLSA violations every year when employers fail to pay overtime pay, require employees to work on-call shifts, or perform work-related duties while off the clock, either before or after clocking in for a paid shift.

The FLSA Overtime Rule Lawsuit is Case No. 3:18-cv-00321 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division.

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