KFC Workers’ Overtime Pay Class Action Lawsuit Certified

A large group of KFC assistant managers filed a FLSA overtime pay class action lawsuit against the company, claiming they were misclassified to avoid overtime pay.

According to the overtime pay class action lawsuit, which has eight named plaintiffs, Kentucky Fried Chicken employees were misclassified as assistant managers to exempt them from overtime pay, despite the fact that the vast majority of their job duties were non-managerial.

The assistant managers involved in the overtime pay class action lawsuit argue that their principal job duties were not managerial in nature—instead, they involved preparing food, working at the cash register, cleaning, stocking, and inventory.

The workers also claimed that they did not have any authority in terms of hiring or firing, so their jobs were essentially non-managerial, so they should never have been exempt from overtime pay in the first place.

A Georgia federal judge, U.S. District Judge Clay Land, granted conditional certification in the overtime pay class action lawsuit. Judge Land determined that the KFC workers had provided enough substantive evidence to establish that their claims and situations were similar.

The workers showed that the policy allegedly misclassifying these workers was widespread throughout two KFC franchises, the JRN Inc. franchise as well as the KFC-Taco Bell chain across 11 different states.

“The court is satisfied that plaintiffs have met the lenient notice-stage requirement of establishing that they are similarly situated to other JRN assistant managers,” wrote Judge Land.

The conditionally certified class includes “all current and former assistant managers or assistant unit managers who were employed by JRN Inc. at any time during the last three years and who were paid as salaried/exempt employees.”

KFC changed its policies in January 2014 to pay assistant managers hourly and with overtime eligibility.

This, combined with the three-year statute of limitations in effect for willful violations of FLSA, will help to hone down the potential class members of the overtime pay class action lawsuit. And because of the statute of limitations, plaintiffs may get only months rather than years of back pay.

While JRN Inc. urged Judge Land to limit certification to only the Columbus, Georgia area rather than across the country, Judge Land disagreed.

JRN Inc. was also ordered to provide information such as email addresses and phone numbers for potential class members.

Filing an Overtime Pay Class Action Lawsuit

Some employees may be worried about pursuing litigation or complaints, afraid that their employers will retaliate against them or even fire them if they speak up about Fair Labor Standards Act violations, including overtime pay.

However, FLSA has rules that protect workers from this kind of retaliation based on wage and hour complaints.

If you have worked for an employer like KFC that has allegedly failed to follow the Fair Labor Standards Act or state labor laws, including unpaid overtime wages, you may be able to either join a wage and hour class action lawsuit or file a lawsuit individually.

The KFC Overtime Pay Class Action Lawsuit is Jones et al v. JRN, Inc. et al., Case No. 4:16-cv-00141, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia.

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