The skilled Wage and Hour Lawyers at our firm have filed a lawsuit against Shearer’s Foods LLC for unpaid overtime wages on behalf of Shearer’s hourly production employees for Shearer’s failure to pay overtime for several reasons.
On June 13, 2022, our firm filed a Collective and Class Action lawsuit against Shearer’s alleging that it has failed to fully compensate its hourly production employees for all overtime wages they are owed for three reasons. First, the lawsuit states that Shearer’s production and manufacturing employees are required to arrive to work before the scheduled start of their shift but are not allowed to clock in more than 7 minutes before their scheduled start time. By restricting its employees’ clock-in time, Shearer’s is allegedly not compensating them for any work performed before the scheduled start of their shifts such as donning protective equipment, washing hands, attending a pre-shift meeting, etc. Employers, like Shearer’s, are required to pay employees for work performed. If employers choose to round time punches (rather than pay employees for every minute they are clocked in), the time rounding cannot result in the underpayment of wages. Where an employer enacts a rule that ensures that time is consistently rounded down, the round laws will likely be violated.
Second, the lawsuit also states that Shearer’s allegedly requires its hourly production and manufacturing employees to clock-out for rest breaks that are 20 minutes or less. The law requires that breaks of 20 minutes or less be counted as work time and paid. Given that these short rest breaks qualify as work (even if no work is performed), they are required to be paid.
Third, the lawsuit alleges that Shearer’s did not properly compute employees’ overtime rates when they received additional forms of compensation in addition to their base hourly wage. The lawsuit claims that Shearers paid employees non-discretionary bonuses that were required to be included in the calculation of employees’ overtime rates. However, Shearer’s failed to include the bonuses in their overtime rate calculations. Instead, Shearer’s paid overtime at 1.5 times employees’ base hourly rates of pay.
Any of the three violations would result in the underpayment of overtime wages and would violate both federal and Ohio wage laws.
The Shearer’s Foods unpaid overtime lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division (Akron), and is titled Moore, et al v. Shearer’s, Case No. 5:22-cv-1017. If you believe you would like more information about the lawsuit or your rights to overtime, our overtime attorneys are here to answer your questions. Please contact our office by phone at 1-888-619-2729 or by emailing mcoffman@mcoffmanlegal.com if you would like to discuss the details of your employment or your pay structure.
