Car Rental Companies Face Unpaid Overtime Lawsuits

A number of car rental companies are facing wage and hour lawsuits for allegedly violating labor laws by failing to pay overtime, failing to provide rest and meal breaks, forcing employees to work off the clock, and committing other wage and hour violations.

Just recently, a federal judge allowed more than 100 additional Avis Budget Car Rental LLC and Budget Rent A Car System Inc. employees to join a wage and hour class action lawsuit accusing both companies of stiffing them out of overtime pay.

The Class Members are all current and former shift managers who worked at 82 Avis/Budget airport locations since Oct. 17, 2008. The unpaid overtime class action lawsuit alleges that while they were paid a salary for their work, they did not actually complete any of the supervisory duties that would exempt them from time-and-a-half pay for each week where they worked more than 40 hours pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Meanwhile, Enterprise Holdings Inc. is not immune to unpaid overtime class action lawsuits. Just last summer, a Pennsylvania federal judge approved a deal between Enterprise and a class of former assistant managers. According to the Enterprise class action settlement terms, regional branches of Enterprise will pay $7.8 million to settle the allege violation of the FLSA when it allegedly exempted the class members from being paid overtime.

According to the unpaid overtime lawsuit, Enterprise knew that its assistant managers of its stores were working more than 40 hours a week and yet the company failed to pay overtime.

Under the terms of the Enterprise class action settlement, Class Members have agreed to drop their wage and hour lawsuits in exchange for compensation from a pool of funds. Class Members may receive up to $50,000 depending on the unpaid overtime worked during the class period. Enterprise denies any liability or wrongdoing but agreed to settle the unpaid overtime lawsuit to avoid the expense and uncertainty of ongoing litigation.

Both parties decided to end the dispute because of litigation costs and the difficulty of obtaining class certification as reasons for agreeing to end the row.

The class action settlement calls for Enterprise to assign assistant branch managers to regional branches where they can directly work with at least two or more full-time employees.

The Avis/Budget Unpaid Overtime Class Action lawsuit is Bernar Espanol v. Avis Budget Car Rental LLC, et al., Case No. 10-cv-00944, U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida.

The Enterprise unpaid overtime lawsuit is Nicholas Hickton, et al. v. Enterprise Rent-a-Car Co., et al., Case No. 2:11-cv-00333, U.S. District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania.

Join a Free Rental Car Company Wage & Hour Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you worked for a car rental company in California and suffered wage and hour violations such as unpaid overtime, unpaid vacation time, missed breaks, and other violations, you may be eligible to join a free class action lawsuit investigation. Submit your information now to see if you qualify to pursue compensation at our Rental Car Employee Wage & Hour Class Action Lawsuit Investigation.