DENVER — Store managers for Colorado Family Dollar Stores Inc. gained final court approval of the $2.3 million settlement in their class action overtime pay lawsuit. The store managers claimed the discount retailer misclassified them as exempt from overtime in violation of Colorado state wage laws. To date there are 488 class members who have opted into the class action and who will receive payments from this settlement.
The Claim Against Exemption
In the proposed class action Julie Farley filed in February 2012 on behalf of herself and other similarly situated store managers in the more than 100 store locations in Colorado, Farley claims store managers regularly worked more than 40 hours each week. The store managers allegedly were classified as exempt under the executive exemption, but their primary responsibilities were non-managerial and did not rise to the level required under the exemption. The managers claim the majority of their time was spent on non-managerial tasks like stocking shelves, assisting customers, and working the cash register. While managers do not have to spend all of their time on supervisory or managerial tasks to qualify for the exemption, the managerial or supervisory duties do need to be the primary role of the managers. In February 2013, after providing sufficient evidence that there was a common policy applied to the store managers which could potentially have been in violation of state law, the proposed class action received conditional class certification.
Settling The Claim
Sometime after receiving class certification, the parties began discussing settlement. And in July the parties were granted preliminary approval of their settlement agreement. With preliminary approval the settlement offer was sent to the 488 class members for review and objections.
Family Dollar continues to deny the allegations and has not admitted to any violations, but with the court’s final approval, the parties have resolved the claim. In granting final approval, the court found that the $2.3 million settlement offer would result in significant recovery for the class members. This finding is particularly important because prolonging litigation extends the length of time class members must wait to receive recovery and increases the costs and potential for smaller or no recovery at all. And in this case, it is very relevant, given that Family Dollar has filed a motion for summary judgment, asking the court to end the case now with a ruling in Family Dollar’s favor, and for class decertification.
If you are a store manager regularly working more than 40 hours a week and you believe you have been misclassified as exempt, contact our experienced team of overtime pay lawyers today by completing our Free Unpaid Overtime Case Review form or by calling us at (855) 754-2795 to discuss your situation. If we accept your case, we will represent you under our No Fee Promise. This means there are no legal fees or costs unless you receive a settlement.