Unpaid Overtime Class Action Lawsuit Hits Avis Budget Car Rental

A former manager has filed a class action lawsuit against Avis Budget Car Rental for allegedly failing to pay overtime compensation in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Plaintiff Robert McWilliams is acting in behalf of Class Members who elected to opt-in to recover their unpaid overtime pay.

According to the Avis class action lawsuit, McWilliams was employed by the defendants from November 2006 through March 2012, as a shift manager, and later as an operations manager at the Avis car rental facility located at the Miami International Airport.

As defined by the unpaid overtime lawsuit, Class Members are “all employees who are currently or were formerly employed by the Defendants as a Shift Manager or Operations Manager at one or more of the Defendant’s rental locations in the past three years preceding this lawsuit, who worked more than 40 hours in a given workweek at least one time, and received anything less than 1.5 times their regular rate of pay for hours worked over 40 in a work week, and who elect to opt-in to this action pursuant to FLSA.”

According to the Avis lawsuit, McWilliams and the members of the class were allegedly under-compensated for their work. They alleged that they were “given the job titles of Shift Manager and/or Operations Manager and were classified as exempt under the FLSA.” They said that they were misclassified and not paid overtime for hours worked in excess of 40 hours in any given week.

McWilliams and the Class Members are alleging that Avis violated the Fair Labor Standards Act for failing to pay them their overtime compensation at a rate of 1.5 times their regular rate of pay.

Despite the positions given them, McWilliams and “the Members of the Class were required to work overtime hours, every week, doing tasks that were not under their job description in order to compensate for the lack of staffing.” They were obliged to “fill in the gaps” of the company’s operations and had the following job duties:

• Renting cars
• Cleaning cars
• Dispatching and driving cars from one location to another
• Moving cars from one area of the operation to another
• Checking in returning customers
• Otherwise filling in areas of operations where they were short-staffed

The class action lawsuit contends that because the Class Members’ job duties primarily consisted of manual, menial work then they should have been classified as non-exempt and paid over time at a rate of 1.5 for all those hours they worked in excess of 40 hours in a given work week. They did not have hiring and firing authority.

McWilliams is asking for the court to declare that Avis violated the FLSA. He is also requesting that the unpaid overtime lawsuit be designated as a class action lawsuit with him as appointed plaintiff to represent the class. He is also asking for compensatory and punitive damages.

Help for Victims of Wage & Hour Violations

Going up against a large corporation for wage and hour violations can be daunting, but banding together with other victims through a class action lawsuit can save you time, money and resources. If you were forced to work overtime or off the clock without overtime pay, were denied meal breaks, were paid less than minimum wage or suffered some other wage and hour violation, you may have the right to seek back pay and penalties from your current or former employer. Don’t delay; the statute of limitations under the FLSA is two to three years, depending on the state.

If you’re a rental car employee, see if you qualify now at the Rental Car Employee Wage & Hour Class Action Lawsuit Investigation. Employment lawyers are actively looking for employees of Avis, Budget, Enterprise, Alamo, and other rental car companies who are owed compensation for wage and hour violations.

All other employees can receive a free claim review at the Unpaid Overtime Lawsuit: Wage & Hour, Overtime Pay Class Action Lawsuit Investigation.