The car rental company Hertz Corp. is already facing a string of lawsuits in California accusing them of failing to pay their customer services employees for working through their breaks and off the clock. A class-action suit filed in 2015 claims the company refused to pay overtime wages in compliance with federal and state labor laws. Now, Hertz is facing yet another lawsuit over unpaid overtime — this time in a different state.
The federal Fair Labor Standards Act, with certain exemptions, requires employers to pay one and a half times the normal hourly wage when employees work more than 40 hours in one workweek. A former associate manager for Hertz recently filed a collective action against them, alleging that in order to keep her job and satisfy superiors, she was forced to do unpaid work to complete her job duties. The complaint essentially claims that the company deliberately and knowingly failed to pay overtime wages, thus violating the Act.
While Hertz has not yet filed a response to the complaint, a spokeswoman says they are carefully investigating the allegations. A court-ordered mediation will be held, with a trial scheduled later if the mediation conference reaches an impasse. If the case does move ahead and is then certified as a collective action, other employees would then have the opportunity to opt-in, joining the complaint and sharing in any monetary awards if the lawsuit is successful.
Because of this, cases of this type generally settle out of court, with settlements kept confidential, as otherwise the company faces the risk of multimillion-dollar judgments. In this case, the plaintiff’s attorney will be able to advise her on the best course of action under the circumstances. Likewise, any employees in California who feel their employers are taking unfair advantage and forcing them to work overtime without proper compensation might benefit from seeking the legal counsel of a lawyer with experience in similar cases.
Source: news-press.com, “Hertz faces another lawsuit alleging it failed to pay overtime“, Laura Layden, Jan. 31, 2017