Falsifying Time Records helps Petco Avoid Paying Overtime, Plaintiff Claims

Petco Animal Supplies Inc. is facing a class action wage and hour lawsuit, alleging the company had been falsifying time records to avoid paying overtime to employees. This class action wage and hour lawsuit is being filed by a Pennsylvania woman, alleging the company was falsifying time records to avoid paying overtime to her or other employees.

Plaintiff Annette L. is filing this wage and hour lawsuit on behalf of herself and other employees similarly situated, who also allegedly experienced falsified time records. According to the class action wage and hour lawsuit, Annette worked for Petco as a groomer from June 26, 2016 until Oct. 19, 2017 and worked with four other groomers on a regular basis.

There were another 15 groomers who worked at the salon in the past three years, she says, with 75 or more other groomers working in the nine Petco stores in Western Pennsylvania since February 2015. Annette and other groomers were typically scheduled to work five shifts per week, with each shift lasting eight and a half hours.

While Annette and the other groomers were paid an hourly wage of $15 along with any commissions, she still qualified for overtime benefits but was not paid the increased rate. Annette and other groomers regularly worked over 40 hours per week, but she claims Petco’s practice of falsifying time records prevented them from being credited with the work.

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), non exempt minimum wage employees are entitled to have their hourly rate increased by 1.5x if they work over 40 hours in a work week. Employees are also entitled to a 30 minute meal break every five hours, in which the employee must not work for a full 30 minutes.

Overview of Class Action Wage and Hour Lawsuit

Annette alleges that she clocked in and out each day appropriately, and also clocked out when she needed to for lunch. However, it was during lunchtime that Petco management cut from her hours, according to the lawsuit, with the company deducting a total of two and half hours per week from her pay records.

In addition, alleges the plaintiff, Annette and other groomers were told to clock out at different times for meal breaks from when she normally ate and were also instructed to clock out just before reaching 40 hours. Annette says she complained about these business practices on a number of occasions, asking the company to stop falsifying time records.

These actions, alleges the lawsuit, brought the pay records of Annette and other groomers below 40 hours, which allowed Petco to avoid paying overtime. Annette further stated other groomers were fired under similar circumstances, with the company accusing many of them of failing to “check all the blocks” on grooming forms.

Annette alleges that she was fired for failing to check all of the boxes, but says that this was not the true reason for her termination, and that the company was actually trying cut down on labor costs. Annette alleges she was fired on Oct. 19, 2017, and has been forced to file legal action to claim unpaid pages.

This Wage and Hour Class Action Lawsuit is Case No. 2:18-cv-00247, in the U.S. District Court of Western Pennsylvania.

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