Overtime Lawsuit Against PACCAR for Kenworth and Peterbilt Production Workers

Our employment attorneys and the employment attorneys at Bryant Legal, LLC filed a lawsuit against PACCAR for unpaid overtime wages on behalf of production workers at the Kenworth production facility in Chillicothe, Ohio, and the Peterbilt production facility in Denton, Texas.

What are the Allegations of the PACCAR Overtime Lawsuit?

The PACCAR overtime lawsuit includes two primary claims for unpaid overtime compensation. First, the PACCAR overtime lawsuit alleges that certain production workers at Kenworth and Peterbilt production facilities were restricted in how early they could clock in at the beginning of the day before their shift. The lawsuit claims that many production workers arrived before the scheduled start of their shift and often performed work both on and off the clock. We understand that PACCAR initially maintained a rule that employees could not clock in more than 10 minutes before the shift’s scheduled start. Even when production workers clocked in 10 minutes early, they were not paid until the scheduled start of their shift. Since the lawsuit was filed, we understand that PACCAR has reduced the number of minutes that production workers can clock in before the scheduled start of their shift from 10 minutes to 6 minutes. Because we understand PACCAR generally pays in full quarter-hour increments (every 15 minutes or 0.25 hours), a prohibition against clocking in more than 6 minutes early ensures that time is rounded down in PACCAR’s favor and no compensation is earned for any pre-shift work. We allege that PACCAR’s failure to pay for pre-shift work because it is performed off the clock and/or is rounded down to eliminate the time violates the law. The lawsuit seeks compensation for the unpaid preshift work we allege that production workers performed. In addition, and to the extent that employees worked beyond the scheduled end of their shift without pay, the lawsuit also seeks compensation for the unpaid work performed beyond the scheduled end of production workers’ shifts.

Second, the PACCAR overtime lawsuit alleges that production workers did not receive uninterrupted meal breaks. The lawsuit alleges that production workers experienced missed, interrupted, or shortened meal breaks because of the demands of the production work they performed. For an employer to take a meal break deduction, the employee must receive a “bona fide meal period.” A bona fide meal break means an uninterrupted meal period where employees are “completely relieved from duty for the purposes of eating regular meals” of at least 30 minutes and they cannot be “required to perform any duties, whether active or inactive, while eating.” To the extent that PACCAR production workers did not have a bona fide meal break, they should have received compensation for those meals. This claim would cover missed, shortened, or interrupted meal breaks to the extent that production workers performed work during some or all of their meal breaks.

If you have any questions about the allegations of the PACCAR overtime lawsuit, please contact our office to speak with one of our employment lawyers about your rights and potential entitlement relative to the case. If you were not paid for work performed outside your scheduled shifts (before the start or after the end) or you had meal breaks deducted even though you did not receive an uninterrupted meal break, you may be entitled to compensation.

Who is Covered by the PACCAR Overtime Lawsuit?

The parties have agreed to discuss a resolution of the potential claims of production workers at two PACCAR production facilities. The two facilities are the Kenworth production facility in Chillicothe, Ohio and the Peterbilt production facility in Denton, Texas.  The parties are scheduled to attend mediation on May 2, 2025. At the mediation, the parties will determine whether they can agree on terms that would potentially settle the claims of production workers at the Kenworth production facility in Chillicothe, Ohio, and the Peterbilt production facility in Denton, Texas.

If you worked as a production worker at either Kenworth production facility in Chillicothe, Ohio or the Peterbilt production facility in Denton, Texas, then we would like to speak with you about your experience.

What Can I Potentially Receive from the PACCAR Overtime Lawsuit?

If you were not fully or properly compensated for all of your work, the law provides that you could be entitled to receive: (1) unpaid overtime, (2) liquidated damages equal to any unpaid overtime (also known as double damages), (3) attorneys’ fees and costs, and (4) other miscellaneous relief. The PACCAR overtime lawsuit seeks all relief available to PACCAR production workers at the Kenworth production facility in Chillicothe, Ohio, and the Peterbilt production facility in Denton, Texas.