Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Hooters for National Unpaid Overtime
American restaurant chain, Hooters, has recently been sued in a class action, in which several employees have claimed the company deliberately misclassified them in order to avoid paying overtime in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
The lead plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Jacki Stirewalt, Jaqui Shae Brown, and Amber Cox filed the lawsuit in Alabama, claiming that they were misclassified as managers, though their duties did not match the job description. Allegedly, the plaintiffs all worked up to 80 hours a week without overtime pay. Furthermore, the lawsuit claims that the employees’ main duty was sales, and was not the management of other employees. When the employees made schedules, they were “almost always changed” and when the plaintiffs interviewed job applicants their recommendations were left widely ignored by supervisors. Though the plaintiffs were responsible for merchandise, they were not able to control how it was displayed nor could they control pricing.
The lawsuit states, the “defendants have intentionally and repeatedly misrepresented the true status of managerial compensation… to avoid suspicion and inquiry by employees regarding their entitlement to monies owed to them… Plaintiffs, as well as other similarly situated present and former employees, relied upon these misrepresentations by defendants and [were] unable to determine [their] true status under the FLSA by the exercise of reasonable diligence because of those misrepresentations.”
According to the lawsuit, the Hooters chain has engaged in the practice of misclassifying employees for nearly a decade. The plaintiffs also claim that they had to pick up duties outside of their job description that they were never compensated for, like janitorial duties and kitchen work. Additionally, the plaintiffs claim that they were never reimbursed for travel expenses when they needed to travel to other states to check inventory.
The claimants seek the following damages on behalf of the class:
- Unpaid overtime
- Sales incentives
- Commissions
- Bonuses
- Vacation and sick time
The plaintiffs are being represented by J. Allen Schreiber and Lauren E Miles of Burke Harvey LLC. The class action seeks to cover current and former employees of Hooters who have worked for the company within the last three years.
