Urban Outfitters Hit with Wage & Hour Class Action Lawsuit

Hourly employees at clothing retailer Urban Outfitters Inc. reportedly had to subject themselves to bag checks to limit the possibility of theft outside of their normal working hours, according to a recently filed wage and hour lawsuit.

Lead plaintiff Zayda Santizo says that she was a non-exempt hourly employee, meaning that per the guidelines of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) she did not act as a manger. She alleges that she and other people who worked at Urban Outfitters in California over the last several years were subject to bag checks outside of their normal schedule.

Her wage and hour lawsuit attorney alleges that this is a violation of state statutes because the duty is a part of completing the employees’ regular job duties. Santizo and others hourly employees who worked eight hours during a shift also missed out on income because they were reportedly entitled to unpaid overtime if the bag check took them over the eight hours that entitles a non-exempt employee to time-and-a-half overtime pay.

Further, and unlike some other recently filed wage and hour class action lawsuit complaints, Santizo’s includes a potential violation of state statutes regarding the legal question of whether or not “the paystubs provided by defendant were compliant with California law … and gives rise to penalties.” Statutes of limitations lead to a proposed definition of three sub-classes of all current and former hourly paid employees of Urban Outfitters in California:

1) The unpaid wage sub-class includes those who were employed “at any time beginning four years prior to the filing of the complaint through the date notice is mailed to the class.”

2) The waiting time penalty class includes those “whose employment by [the company] ended within three years of the filing to the complaint.”

3) The paystub sub-class includes those “whose employment with [the company] included any period of time during the period beginning one year from the date of the filing of this action.”

According to the complaint, at least 200 employees could be included in the latter two sub-classes and 400 potentially eligible for the first regarding missed wages and unpaid overtime.

The Urban Outfitters Wage & Hour Class Action Lawsuit is Zayda Santizo v. Urban Outfitters Inc., et al., Case No. BC53631G, in the California Superior Court, County of Los Angeles.

If you believe that you have similarly missed out on wages because you were not compensated for time spent on duties related to your job or violations of other regulations and the Fair Labor Standards Act, get educated. Learn more and see if you qualify to file an employment lawsuit at the Unpaid Overtime Lawsuit: Wage & Hour, Overtime Pay Class Action Lawsuit Investigation.