Workers at a number of waste disposal companies have claimed that their companies are shorting them on pay through various potentially illegal methods, including not paying workers for meal breaks, not paying them for work performed outside of official shifts, and not paying workers for overtime work.

Additionally, some workers say that if the companies do correctly calculate an overtime pay rate, they may not pay workers in a timely manner.

Overtime Pay Rate Lawsuits

A number of waste management companies are already facing lawsuits from employees in garbage man jobs over their overtime pay rate policies and other wage issues. One such company is Waste Management, that has already been hit by two overtime pay lawsuits.

A Pennsylvania employee in a garbage man job says that the company failed to pay him for off-the-clock work that was necessary for his job. He says that before the morning meetings that preceded his shifts, he was required to pick up equipment, review paperwork, change work orders, review manifests, and finalize routes. Though this work was allegedly necessary for his job, he was allegedly not paid for this work.

The Pennsylvania employee said that he was required to inspect the waste disposal equipment before and after the trip, and document inspections, but was not compensated for this work.

Allegedly, Waste Management allows people in a garbage man job to clock in around 15 minutes before morning meetings, but the employees “are not paid for those 15 minutes, even though waste collectors are performing the required tasks integral and indispensable to their performance.”

Another Waste Management employee based in Texas field a similar overtime pay rate lawsuit and claimed that though he worked more than 40 hours per week on a regular basis, he was not sufficiently compensated for the overtime. He stated that wage and hour laws require companies to compensate employees who are non-exempt from overtime pay an amount equal to one and a half times their normal pay for all hours worked beyond 40 in any given seven day period.

In another case, an employee of Waste Pro said that the company’s policy of paying employees on a per-diem basis deprived him of wages. He says that he was paid $236 per day, but if he worked fewer than four hours in a workday, his per diem was cut in half. He says that he was also supposed to receive time-and-one-half pay for overtime hours but did not. Allegedly, such was the case for many Waste Pro workers in garbage man jobs.
If you work for a waste disposal company that does not pay you the overtime wages you earn or miscalculates your overtime pay rate, you may have a legal claim. Experienced lawyers can help get workers the compensation they deserve for overtime and other hours worked.