Mattress Firm Employee Lawsuit Seeks Unpaid Wages

A group of retail employees has filed a proposed class action Mattress Firm employee lawsuit, alleging they were not paid proper overtime compensation according to federal and state labor laws.

The plaintiffs claim that the company’s inside sales employees are regularly scheduled to work overtime, more than 40 hours per week. However, according to the Mattress Firm employee lawsuit, the company “intentionally and willfully misclassified the inside sales employees as exempt and consistently misreported wages earned based on hourly work as commissions.”

Mattress Firm inside sales employees are paid hourly. But for the hours that employees work past 40 in a week, they are not paid the required one and one-half times regular pay in overtime compensation, the Mattress Firm employee lawsuit claims.

The plaintiffs are all current or former Mattress Firm employees and worked at Mattress Firm retail locations all across the country, including Massachusetts, Georgia, and Texas. Proposed Class Members include those who worked as inside sales employees for Mattress Firm within the three years prior to the complaint’s filing on Dec. 12, 2017 and have not been paid proper compensation for their overtime work.

“The conduct at issue here, not paying employees overtime they are clearly due, appears to have been widespread and part of a company policy at Mattress Firm that was improperly used both here in Massachusetts and across the country,” the plaintiffs’ attorney told Law360.

The plaintiffs filed their class action Mattress Firm employee lawsuit on Dec. 12 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

This class action Mattress Firm employee lawsuit may encompass a huge number of plaintiffs. Mattress Firm is a chain of thousands of stores, and thus employees thousands of inside sales employees.

Wage and Hour Regulations

There are a series of both federal and state wage and hour laws put in place to protect workers and ensure they are treated fairly. However, many workers across the country do not know the protections that the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) offers, which can lead to employers taking advantage of them, in some cases requiring unpaid overtime work despite the illegality of doing so.

Some workers may find themselves unable to file wage and hour complaints like this unpaid overtime lawsuit because they are not aware of FLSA rules. Others may be afraid that their employers will retaliate or even fire them if they speak up about these kinds of FLSA violations. To protect workers who help to enforce FLSA rules, laws also exist to protect workers from discrimination based on wage and hour complaints.

Filing an Unpaid Overtime Lawsuit

If you have worked for an employer like Mattress Firm that may have failed to follow the Fair Labor Standards Act or state labor laws, such as proper overtime requirements, you may be able to either join a wage and hour class action lawsuit or file an unpaid overtime lawsuit of your own.

The Mattress Firm Employee Lawsuit is Case No. 1:17-cv-12448, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

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