Rite Aid Overtime Lawsuit Ends in $5.5 Million Settlement for Alleged Labor Violations

Rite Aid Corp. has opted to pay $5.5 million to settle allegations and a collective class action lawsuit alleging that the company violated federal and state labor laws.

According to the Rite Aid overtime lawsuit, the allegations accuse the defendant of not paying store managers who had worked overtime for pay that they were owed.

Additionally, the company is allegedly accused of reducing the amount of overtime that they would have to pay to its salaried assistant managers and managers by forcing them to handle the jobs tasked for by nonexempt workers, cashiers, and stock handlers.

The company will allegedly pay the total sum settled for according to the bid for preliminary approval of the agreement.

According to the Rite Aid overtime lawsuit, it was initially filed and lead by plaintiff Yatram I., a store manager at a Rite Aid located in White Plains, NY., for roughly 30 years. He was allegedly fired from the store in 2007, according to court records.

According to the Rite Aid overtime lawsuit, he had sued the company the following year. He alleges that “Rite Aid required store managers and assistant managers to work overtime to perform the duties of cashiers, stock handlers and other nonexempt employees as part of a program to reduce the amount of overtime paid to nonexempt employees.”

Allegedly, he says he had also worked up to 80 hours per week and was never paid overtime. He further alleges that most of the time he had worked for the store involved him working the cash register and photo lab, while also moving boxes in the storage room, and arranging inventory received on shelves.

According to the workers’ attorney, he says of the settlement that it “satisfies all the criteria for preliminary settlement approval under federal and state law in that it falls well within the range of possible approval, and is fair, reasonable and adequate.”

According to the Rite Aid overtime lawsuit, the proposed settlement covers two groups of managers who worked for the corporation. They include the group covering the Fair Labor Standards Act. This includes all “current and former salaried store managers” who worked for the corporation between March 2007 till present.

The second group includes the New York Labor law group that includes managers who worked for the stores in the state between October 2002 to present.

The Rite Aid overtime lawsuit maintains that a third of the $5.5 million will be asked by the class counsel to cover attorneys’ fees. It may also include an additional $250,000 in costs, according to the class settlement. According to the Rite Aid overtime lawsuit, a motion for final approval will have to follow.

According to the Rite Aid overtime lawsuit, plaintiff Yatram sued and filed the class action lawsuit under New York labor laws and FLSA. He sought to represent the assistant managers and store managers who were allegedly never paid proper overtime pay.

Moreover, according to court records, more than 1,500 managers were included in the lawsuit as it was conditionally certified.

The Rite Aid Overtime Lawsuit is Case No. 1:08-cv-09361, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

UPDATE: September 2017, the Rite Aid store managers overtime class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.

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