Chicago Business Litigation Lawyer Blog
Large corporations are often built upon the labor of many hard-working hourly employees. Unfortunately, such companies do not always pay their employees the wages that they have earned, and when such mistakes are made, those employees must do what they can to get what they are owed. When enough employees have been denied their earned wages, a class-action lawsuit may be the most efficient means to get everyone their unpaid wages, and our Naperville overtime class-action attorneys recently discovered another such lawsuit in the Northern District of Illinois federal court.
In Hundt v. DirectSat USA, Plaintiffs were employed by Defendant as warehouse managers who regularly worked more than forty hours per week, but were not paid any overtime because Defendant classified them as exempt employees. Plaintiffs believed that they were misclassified because their job duties did not meet the overtime exemption requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Illinois Minimum Wage Act (IMWA), and filed a class action lawsuit for the unpaid overtime. After sending out opt-in notices to the potential class members, Plaintiffs discovered that the class should not be limited to just those employees with the title of warehouse manager. Plaintiffs therefore amended the complaint to broaden the class to include warehouse supervisors and other workers in similar positions, and filed a motion to send notice to these additional putative class members.
Defendants opposed the motion, stating that there were significant differences between warehouse managers and supervisors and claimed that Plaintiffs failed to sufficiently allege the existence of a common decision, policy, or plan to deprive them of overtime wages. The Court disagreed with Defendants, holding that all of the putative plaintiffs were similarly situated despite their varied job titles. In making its decision, the Court cited several internal communication emails that indicated the titles were interchangeable, and that was enough to meet the minimal burden required. Thus, the Court granted the motion to send notice to the additional class members.
Lubin Austermuehle is a firm of attorneys focusing on nationwide class-action lawsuits and we have successfully handled many large wage and hour disputes. Our Chicagoland overtime lawyers are intimately familiar with the issues that arise during wage claim litigation, and we know the laws that govern overtime cases well. Whether due to an employer’s misclassification or miscalculation, when workers do not receive the wages they should, a lawsuit can help to recover the wages that are rightfully theirs. Lubin Austermuehle is based in Chicago, and represents clients throughout the country who have not been paid for the overtime hours that they worked. If you believe that you are owed overtime wages, contact one of our Bolingbrook wage and hour attorneys by phone at 1 630-333-0333, or through our online form.