Manager Misclassification Lawsuit Trimmed by California Federal Judge

Amazon was hit with a putative class action lawsuit alleging manager misclassification caused numerous employees to be wrongfully denied overtime benefits and breaks. However, according to Law360, a California federal judge recently trimmed the lawsuit finding that Amazon had successfully proven the claimant was a manager.

More specifically, the judge had found the company had proven the lead plaintiff and former shift manager Michael O. had met the eligibility requirements to be exempt from overtime.

The lawsuit alleged Michael was misclassified as a manager while his occupational duties primarily consisted of manual labor throughout his shifts. Due to him being classified as a manager, Michael was not allowed meal breaks or rest periods along with overtime rates.

Amazon argued that Michael’s value was managerial, to which United States District Judge Jeffery S. White agreed. However, it still remains to be seen if Michael’s primary duty were of managerial level or not.

Michael reportedly filed the claim in 2017 and is seeking to represent a class of Amazon employees who allegedly experienced manager misclassification while most of their occupational duties consisted of manual labor.

According to the putative class action lawsuit, Michael worked as a shift manager and was in charge between 80 to 100 employees. His managerial duties reportedly consisted of assigning labor roles for the night shift and advising certain employees when to take meal breaks and rest periods.

In addition, Michael reportedly disciplined other employees and made recommendations on which employees should be promoted.

Overview of Exempt Employment Status

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), an employee can only be considered exempt from minimum wage if they meet minimum salary level of $23,600 per year or $455 per week and their job consists of primarily of “executive” duties” including:

• Managing the store and other employees
• Supervising two or more other employees
• Setting employee schedules
• Having the power to hire or fire other employees
• Being responsible for employee evaluations and disciplinary actions

These duties are often designated to a manager or assistant manager for business storefronts, but reportedly these employees often find themselves misclassified by companies to save on labor costs.

Non-exempt minimum wage employees must be paid a minimum rate of $7.25 per hour and be paid 1.5x their hourly rate if they work over 40 hours in a single week or eight hours in a single day.

Federal labor laws also require companies to provide 30-minute meal breaks every five hours and a 10 minute rest period every four hours.

Non-exempt employees are typically minimum wage workers whose duties are at the complete discretion of the company, giving them virtually no control in when they work. Minimum wage workers typically are responsible for manual labor, assisting customers, working the cash register, and other miscellaneous duties around the workplace.

This was reportedly the case with Michael, but, because his job included significant managerial duties, the judge found Amazon’s classification of him as a manager to be correct.

However, Michael’s claim is seeking to represent other people who may have experienced manager misclassification, which allegedly caused them to be wrongfully denied overtime, rest periods and meal breaks.

The Amazon Employee Misclassification Class Action Lawsuit is Case No. 4:17-cv-03820, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

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.

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This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.