Denny’s Avoided Paying Overtime, Says Misclassified Employee Lawsuit

A group of Denny’s employees filed a misclassified employee lawsuit against the restaurant chain, alleging it misclassified them to avoid paying overtime wages.

The misclassified employee lawsuit was filed by a group of Denny’s assistant managers who were allegedly illegally classified these assistant managers as others as “exempt” employees, or employees exempt from the minimum wage and overtime requirements of state and federal labor laws. According to the misclassified employees lawsuit, Denny’s purposely misclassified them in order to avoid paying these overtime wages.

The lead plaintiff, John F., claims that while working as an assistant manager at a Denny’s location in New York, he was often scheduled somewhere between 50 and 70 hours per week. However, despite the fact that this was over the 40 hours a week limit, he was not paid overtime hours.

Although he was an assistant manager, a position which is generally exempt from these overtime laws, he claims that he and other Denny’s assistant managers were not given the tasks of a person in a management position, and instead treated as regular, nonexempt employees, with all of the non-managerial tasks that go along with those positions, according to the claim.

Indeed, according to the misclassified employee lawsuit, assistant managers at many Denny’s locations were classified as assistant managers while lacking “managerial responsibilities or the exercise of meaningful independent judgment and discretion.”

The Class of employees included in this misclassified employee lawsuit are those who worked as assistant managers at Denny’s locations owned by Feast American Diners, Top Line Management, or Reveille Management in the last three years. Seventeen Denny’s restaurants are included in this misclassified employee lawsuit.

This is not the first wage and hour lawsuit that Denny’s has faced in recent years. The popular diner chain has been hit with litigation in California over overtime wages, as well as meal and rest periods.

Filing a Misclassified Employee Lawsuit

A number of workers that are classified as exempt from overtime may actually be more accurately classified as nonexempt, and therefore eligible for benefits like overtime pay.

If you work or have worked as an assistant manager for a Denny’s owned by Feast American Diners, Top Line Management, or Reveille Management sometime in the last three years, you may be misclassified as an exempt employee rather than nonexempt, which may mean that you have been denied your rightful overtime wages.

Joining an employee misclassification lawsuit can result in substantial back pay from your employer for the hours you worked overtime while incorrectly classified as exempt from overtime pay.

Join a Free Wage & Hour Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you were forced to work off the clock or without overtime pay within the past 3 years, you have rights – and you don’t have to take on the company alone.

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