Burlington Coat Factory Hit with Unpaid Overtime Lawsuit

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Retail giant Burlington Coat Factory has been slammed with an unpaid overtime class action lawsuit, accusing the company of mis-classifying managers. According to the unpaid overtime lawsuit, the company had classified the managers as exempt employees in order to withhold overtime wages.

The wage and hour lawsuit was filed in federal court in New Jersey last week. The retail company allegedly routinely requires its assistant store managers to work more than 40 hours each week in order to complete tasks that it typically left to lower-level employees. These duties include stocking, cleaning the stores, unloading trucks and more. While their titles would make them eligible for exemption, their duties don’t, meaning Burlington may owe them overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

The lead plaintiffs in this unpaid overtime lawsuit are each assistant store managers from different Burlington locations in New York, California and Illinois. The plaintiffs allege that the company regularly called them to work overtime hours in order to help complete menial tasks around the store.

This was allegedly done because the company did not, and currently does not, provide enough money in payroll hours in their labor budgets for non-exempt employees to accomplish all of the tasks needed in each store. The unpaid overtime lawsuit alleges that this practice has caused a systematic wage violation across the country.

The proposed class for the unpaid overtime lawsuit includes assistant store managers in 44 stores in California, 26 stores in Illinois and 25 locations New York.

Wage and Hour Issue Overview

The FLSA requires non-exempt wage and hour employees to be paid at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked, plus overtime pay at 1.5 times the regular rate of pay. If employers are found to be in violation of these regulations, they are required to pay any unpaid wages in liquidated damages to the affected employees.

Through the number of wage and hour lawsuits that have been filed, legal experts have managed to collect a list of strategies that employers allegedly use to violate the FLSA, including:

• Forcing employees to work “off-the-clock”
• Refusing to pay overtime because employee did not obtain permission to work more hours
• Failing to pay workers for breaks lasting between five and 20 minutes, meetings, training sessions, take-home work, and some on-call time
• Misclassifying employees as “exempt”

This unpaid overtime class action lawsuit is Kawa, et al. v. Burlington Stores Inc., et al., Case No. 1:14-cv-02787, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Join a Free Unpaid Overtime Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you were forced to work off the clock or without overtime pay compensation within the past 2 to 3 years, you have rights – and you don’t have to take on the company alone. Learn more and obtain a free evaluation of your case to see if you’re eligible for back pay and other compensation at the Wage & Hour, Overtime Pay Class Action Lawsuit Investigation.