Truckers’ Unpaid Overtime Lawsuit Set to Go Forward

A New Jersey appeals court has decided to let an unpaid overtime lawsuit move forward, striking down another court’s ruling in favor of the defendant.

LandLine Media reports that in November 2016, a group of truck drivers for Cream-O-Land Dairy filed a class action unpaid overtime lawsuit alleging the dairy company failed to pay overtime wages as required by New Jersey wage and hour laws.

According to the unpaid overtime lawsuit, these truckers worked somewhere in a range of 60 to 80 hours per week—considerably more than 40 hours per week, which is the cutoff before workers must be paid time-and-a-half wages. However, the truckers claim that they were not paid their requisite time-and-a-half required under New Jersey state labor law.

Cream-o-Land attempted to have the case dismissed, claiming that good-faith defense means they cannot be held liable.

Cream-o-Land also cited three previous wage and hour complaints against the company in which it was not found to have violated wage and hour laws.

The first of these overtime determinations was from 2007 when the company was initially fined $40,000 for failure to pay overtime wages. However, the fine was overturned because Cream-O-Land is a trucking industry employer rather than a dairy industry employer, and was therefore only required to pay 1.5 times the state minimum wage as overtime, rather than 1.5 times their regular wages.

In June 2014, a separate overtime complaint was similarly found to fall under federal trucking guidelines rather than dairy industry guidelines. In April 2017, another overtime complaint determined that the company wasn’t violating overtime laws.

Citing these previous decisions, Cream-O-Land claimed that it relied in good faith on these investigations when determining its overtime pay policies.

The court initially sided with Cream-O-Land. However, the New Jersey attorney general weighed in, arguing that the three previous Department of Labor cases cited by Cream-O-Land did not actually meet the necessary requirements for establishing the good-faith defense.

According to the attorney general, those cases “are not high-level final determinations that carry the (guarantee) of the agency head, as is required to establish the good-faith defense,” LandLine Media reports.

Because of these issues that have been raised, which make the case less clear-cut than previously believed, the truckers’ unpaid overtime lawsuit has been sent back to trial court for further discovery.

It will be determined whether Cream-O-Land should be considered a trucking industry employer, and based on that, what hourly compensation and time-and-a-half should be required in order to meet overtime requirements under New Jersey law.

Filing a Truck Driver Wage & Hour Lawsuit

If you work as a truck driver, it is possible that your employer or company you contract with is not properly following federal and state wage and hour laws. Truck driver misclassification is a common thing, which can deny workers their rightful benefits.

Top Class Actions has laid the groundwork for pursuing litigation by connecting you with an experienced labor law attorney. Consulting an attorney can help determine if you have a claim, navigate the complexities of litigation, and maximize your potential compensation.

Join a Free Trucker Overtime Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you have worked as a contract truck driver and believe your carrier has failed to pay you minimum wage or overtime, or otherwise might not have honored a contract with you, you may qualify to file a truck driver lawsuit or class action lawsuit.

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