Taco Bell Hit With Unpaid Overtime Class Action Lawsuit

Taco Bell is facing a proposed class action lawsuit for violating federal employee overtime laws. Common wage and hour complaints against businesses include unpaid overtime, unpaid wages, off-the-clock work, employee misclassification as an exempt employee, and several other offenses.

The Taco Bell unpaid overtime class action lawsuit was filed by plaintiff Doris Tyler, a former assistant general manager for Taco Bell. According to the lawsuit, the fast food chain misclassified Tyler as an exempt worker preventing her from receiving overtime wages.

The federal judge in charge of the litigation recently determined that the dispute regarding Tyler’s primary work responsibilities is a question that should be determined by a jury.

The main question in dispute is whether Tyler’s work duties consisted of enough managerial tasks that she could be exempt from overtime wages. Non-exempt employees are required to receive overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

According to Tyler, the majority of her time working at Taco Bell was spent performing the same work as hourly cashiers such as cleaning and cashier work. Taco Bell alleges that Tyler was not instructed to perform primarily non-exempt work but instead she failed to properly perform her managerial duties such as monitoring labor and budgeting.

The two parties are in dispute over why Tyler spent so much time performing non-exempt work rather than her managerial duties and the importance of her contributions stemming from those nonexempt tasks.

According to the unpaid overtime class action lawsuit, Doris worked for Taco Bell for nearly 11 years. She alleges that for at least two of those years she consistently worked more that 40 hours per week with no overtime pay. According to these allegations, this is a violation of the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

Tyler filed her unpaid overtime class action lawsuit on behalf of all assistant general managers who were employed as managers at Taco Bell prior to Dec. 24, 2014. On this date, Taco Bell chose to reclassify its assistant general manager position and began paying these employees overtime wages. This reclassification of employee status was completed without a change in employee responsibilities.

Taco Bell is also says that Tyler does not fairly represent the class of Taco Bell assistant general managers. Because of this, Taco Bell argues that the federal judge should deny the lawsuit’s class action status.

According to Taco Bell, no two assistant general managers are similarly situated enough to certify a class action lawsuit. Taco Bell wants each of the potential lawsuits to be brought against the company individually. The federal judge has not yet ruled on this issue.

Taco bell assistant general managers who worked for Taco Bell Prior to December 2014 may be able to file an unpaid overtime wage and hour lawsuit. Legal professionals can help potential plaintiffs weigh the facts and circumstances of their case to determine whether filing a wage and hour class action lawsuit is right for them. Successful plaintiffs may receive compensation for their unpaid overtime wages.

The Taco Bell Unpaid Overtime Class Action Lawsuit is Tyler v. Taco Bell of America Inc. et. al., Case No.r 2:15-cv-02084 and was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, the Western Division.

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