American Airlines Employees Win Class Cert. in Working Off the Clock Lawsuit

A group of American Airlines technicians and hourly workers at Newark Airport have won class certification in a proposed class action lawsuit regarding workers working off the clock and not getting paid.

A federal judge in New Jersey has recently granted class status to three Classes of employees who work for American Airlines at Newark Liberty International Airport as well as employees who have worked for American at the same airport in the past.

These workers claim that for working off the clock, they were not paid properly. There are nine named plaintiffs in this class action lawsuit and they all work as hourly-paid employees for American Airlines. Their jobs include aircraft maintenance technicians as well as fleet service clerks. Their job responsibilities include lavatory services, baggage handling and assisting with water services, among other things.

Chief U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares allowed for the subclasses to be granted because he believes that the common issues in this case dominate any individual issues employees or former employees may have. Class Members allege that American Airlines violated New Jersey Wage and Hour laws.

According to Law360, Judge Linares wrote, “The plaintiffs have satisfied the commonality and predominance requirements here by setting forth allegations and initial evidence that hourly paid American employees at Newark Liberty International Airport are not being compensated for all hours worked due to the manner in which American operates its timekeeping system.”

The three subclasses that Judge Linares approved are made up of hourly workers who allegedly engaged in working off the clock while not getting paid for time worked.

According to Law360, the judge said that working off the clock in this case could be defined as working “before and after their scheduled shifts while on the clock” as well as working “during their unpaid meal periods,” and working “before clocking in for their scheduled shifts, and after clocking out for their scheduled shifts.”

He said that, given the evidence presented, he would grant class certification.

However, American Airlines argued that workers were not engaged in working off the clock and clocked in early for a number of different reasons. Therefore, there should not be class certification granted in this case. American Airlines said that workers clocked in for personal reasons and that instead of working off the clock, they engaged in watching TV, socializing or other personal activities.

The judge did not agree. He made a note that the plaintiffs, in their depositions about working off the clock, said that they did not engage in personal activities while on the job.

Additionally, the judge believed that some plaintiffs did not have the means to litigate on their own, so a Class Action lawsuit would help such plaintiffs make sure they have recovered what they needed to recover and that such a lawsuit is a superior way of adjudicating such a case.

An attorney for the plaintiffs said that the plaintiffs are very happy with this decision and believe that this decision by Judge Linares will help all the hourly employees of American Airlines at Newark International be paid what they are due.

The Working Off the Clock Class Action Lawsuit is Case No. 2:16-cv-02427, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

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