Fifth Third Wage and Hour Settlement Reached for $1M

The second Fair Labor Standards Act lawsuit against Fifth Third has recently received a preliminary approval for a $1.1 million settlement to resolve claims that customer service managers were misclassified, and thus were denied pay for the overtime they worked.

According to the complaint, Fifth Third provide speaking services to customers through its 1,308 branches and, as of September 2014, the bank held $134 billion in assets.

Under the terms of the Fifth Third wage and hour settlement, each customer service manager who opts in the as a collective member will only be able to receive up to $300 in compensation. Payments below that amount will be based on the number of weeks the collective member worked for First Third during the three years before the team was reached.

In addition, those who opt in as collective members will release First Third bank from any wage related claims.

The plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary approval in the Fifth Third wage and hour settlement stated, “Plaintiffs submit that the settlement readily meets the requirements of a bona fide resolution of contested FLSA claims.” If the proposed Third wage and hour settlement is approved, all of the allegations in the original FLSA collective action lawsuit filed by Judith Kampfer will be resolved.

Kampfer alleges that Fifth Third misclassified her and other customer service managers as being exempt workers. As a result, the bank denied them overtime pay and she and other managers worked more than a standard 40-hour work week.

She claims the duties she engaged in work such as performing direct services to customers, made her nonexempt from laws requiring overtime pay, and she therefore should not have been classified as exempt.

Fifth Third has continually denied the allegations of employee misclassification, and “strongly opposed” a motion filed in May 2015 to conditionally certify a collective Class of customer service managers. The financial institution argued that there was a previous settlement reached in February 2015 over FSLA claims, and that Kampfer declines to opt in to the settlement despite having received notice of it.

The Fifth Third wage and hour settlement reached in the first FSLA lawsuit totaled $3.25 million. Counsel for the Class was awarded an amount exceeding $1 million and each collective a member in that settlement received an average of more than $6,000 each, according to documents provided to the court.

However, in March 2016, the arguments presented by Fifth Third were rejected by a federal judge, and the motion for class certification was granted. A total of 860 customer service managers were notified of their ability to participate as a Class Member, with 201 opting in.

The Fifth Third Wage and Hour Settlement Lawsuit is Kampfer v. Fifth Third Bank, et al. Case No. 3:14-cv-02849, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.

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.

Get a Free Case Evaluation Now