Joined: 07 Aug 2003
Posts: 50
| Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2003 3:32 pm Post subject: OT CLASS ACTION FILED | |
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A complaint was filed in US District Court and NY Supreme Court seeking payment and damages from Lowes Co. Inc for underpaid Overtime. This complaint was filed by Nelson Thomas, of the firm DOLIN, THOMAS, & SOLOMON, located in Rochester NY. Plaintiffs are Current and former employees of Lowes, and are representing a class comprised of ALL Lowes employees, past and present, who have been paid Overtime and/or Commissions, SPIFFS, bonuses of any type.
Please read these 2 articles: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/biznews/0806VM1DUGI_lowes06_business.shtml http://www.democratandchronicle.com/biznews/0805F21DNN8_lowes_business.shtml A website LOWESCLASSACTION.COM is under construction. It t will be active early next week. This website will inform about the case, will have a FAQ section, and will link to various sites, including the statutes involved. The site will also have a printable Registration form so Class Members may Register, or OPT IN to the suit. All are welcome. The scope of the suit is nationwide, including California and Alaska. The basis of the action is that Lowes did not include Commisions, SPIFFS, any bonuses in calculating the overtime hourly rate. This calcualtion method is in violation of FLSA, and resulted in Lowes employees being underpaid millions of dollars each year this method was practised. The Class covered by this suit includes: *EVERY hourly Customer Service Associate (CSA), who ever recieved paid Overtime, or ANY bonus (Shrink incentives, Credit Card application incentives, SPIFFS, Commissions, Store of the Year bonus, etc.). Cashiers, Delivery, Receiving, Administrative, Loader, and Stocking personnel would also be included in this class. *EVERY Sales Specialist who recived ANY kind of bonus (Commissions, SPIFF, ANY incentive payments) *EVERY Department Manager who received ANY kind of bonus (Commission, SPIFF, ANY incentive payments) ** The potential size of the class is in the tens of thousands of current and former employees. The amount of OT underpaid varies with each employee, and each paycheck. The more Commissions, SPIFF, bonuses paid, the greater the discrepancy. **Each Sales Specialists and Department Manager has been underpaid in the range of $1000 - 6000, annually. ** The statute of limitations for US District Court is 3 years (backpay to be recalculated for past 3 years). In NY, it is 6 years. ** The Plaintiffs will seek backpay, interest, and damages according to the statutes that will DOUBLE the settlement for each member of the class **To receive any settlement, Class Members must Register ("OPT IN") themselves into the action. The statutes require this OPT IN in order to distribute any settlement. Only those who OPT IN will receive any of the settlement. Printable OPT IN forms will be available at LOWESCLASSACTION.COM. **The identities of those persons who OPT IN will be retained in confidentiality by the Court. The law strictly forbids any retailiatory action by either Plaintiffs(Employees) or Defendants (Lowes) against one another. **ANY retailatory action by Lowes against a current or former employee involving this Class Action will be quickly brought before the presiding US District Court judge. the Hon. Michael Telesca by DOLIN, THOMAS & SOLOMON, for no fee. Relief awarded by judges for perceived retaliation would be far more costly in this case than any individual's settlement, and includes Reinstatement of employment, (if fired), back pay, interest, punitive damages (double), attorney fees. **The defendant risks damaging their case by aggravating the court with ANY retaliation, especially if a pattern of retaliation is perceived. **This action is a Class Action collection suit, to collect underpaid EARNED WAGES. No allegations of wrongdoing by individuals are made. No allegations are made as to the character or demeanor of any individuals, or Lowes, as a company. This is a suit to collect money for EARNED WAGES, as wage calculations are defined by the statues named. **PLease contact ANY and ALL former and current Lowes employees who may be members of this class - ask them to OPT IN. Any settlement awarded will be influenced by the number of OPT IN's filed with the court. ** Lowes current employees interested or involved in this Class Action are expected to respect Lowes and Lowes managers by conducting themselves in a professional manner. Current employees are asked to not allow this case, or discussion of this case, to intefere with Lowes business in any way. |
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Joined: 08 Jul 2003
Posts: 214
| Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2003 12:20 pm Post subject: | |
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Joined: 05 Jul 2003
Posts: 23
Location: at my computer desk
| Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2003 3:58 am Post subject: | |
Agreed  Good luck to you guys!
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Joined: 06 Jul 2003
Posts: 41
Location: out west
| Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2003 5:01 am Post subject: | |
| I am glad to hear about the filing. I have contacted several former employees who will be hooking up shortly. All were excited to hear of the suit. A few were trying to pursue on their own without much success. I think as this will snowball in a big way. Best of luck to all! | |
Joined: 08 Jul 2003
Posts: 214
| Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2003 4:15 am Post subject: | |||
Hey oldskool, it looks like war dosen't it? I've told alot of employees and ex-employees about this possible suit, i don't know which way they'll go. I haven't tried to influnce what their decision will be. As for myself if i don't fight now that the chance is here I have no right to say anything again, no matter what they take away from us in the future. AS for as job security we don't have any anyway, if we join the lawsuit or not, i'll maybe have more in the lawsuit because they've been warned about threats aganist employees who join in the suit. The bottom line is we all have to make our own decision. If we make a mistake at work we get nailed to the wall, we're expected to make it right, we expect no less of our employer, if they made a mistake with their employees we expect them to make it right. |
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Joined: 07 Aug 2003
Posts: 50
| Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2003 12:33 pm Post subject: | |
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Cabinetman: You are correct, this Class Action suit is going to be the best chance to recoup payment from Lowes for for all those underpaid OT hours. This suit will seek to maximize that repayment back to the every employee who joins this suit. Please continue to contact, inform any and all that this suit exists.
The webpage LOWESCLASSACTION.COM will be active in a day or 2. IF there is ANY activity by ANY Lowes management to obstruct employees joining this case - any instructions, intimidation, emails on the topic of this suit, threats, ANYTHING - please copy them to me in a private message, or contact the attorneys who filed this suit. I would need specific descriptions the date, time, place (city, store#) of such actions, and names of individuals involved. If Lowes engages in ANY retailatory activities, it will be brought to the presiding judge, and he would address it with Lowes counsel. Employees have to understand that the law protects the rights of citizens to petition. NO employer, NO employer's representative/manager can alter that. Just because we are employed at Lowes - or any employer - does not change that fact: we are citizens with rights, and an employer cannot reduce or infringe upon those rights. We do not become serfs or slaves when we sign in at work, at the whim of masters, and revert back to American citizens when we leave. This is not the Hanoi Hilton. The LAW protects parties to a lawsuit, both plaintiffs and defendants. The presiding court has tremendous authority in a suit such as this: he can direct a defendant to release managers who engage in retaliatory activity. He can dictate cease and desist orders, and stipulate what behaviors are intolerable. He can hold the legal counsels personally responsible (contempt, fines, jailtime) for repeated offenses. The presiding judge can monitor and get involved in any unlit corner of Lowes that influences this case, and his judgement will be influenced by how the parties behave. I truly hope no employee in inconvenienced by this case in any way. Should ANYTHING occur, ANYWHERE, please communicate it to me, or to the counsel for Plaintiff. DEMAND witness of your choice at any disciplinary meeting. DEMAND copies of written disciplinary actions. DEMAND redress to next levels of management - to District Manager, to RVP. DOCUMENT any activites that indicate retailatory action. COMMUNICATE these actions so the presiding judge may address them. |
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Joined: 07 Aug 2003
Posts: 50
| Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2003 12:33 pm Post subject: | |
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Cabinetman: You are correct, this Class Action suit is going to be the best chance to recoup payment from Lowes for for all those underpaid OT hours. This suit will seek to maximize that repayment back to the every employee who joins this suit. Please continue to contact, inform any and all that this suit exists.
The webpage LOWESCLASSACTION.COM will be active in a day or 2. IF there is ANY activity by ANY Lowes management to obstruct employees joining this case - any instructions, intimidation, emails on the topic of this suit, threats, ANYTHING - please copy them to me in a private message, or contact the attorneys who filed this suit. I would need specific descriptions the date, time, place (city, store#) of such actions, and names of individuals involved. If Lowes engages in ANY retailatory activities, it will be brought to the presiding judge, and he would address it with Lowes counsel. Employees have to understand that the law protects the rights of citizens to petition. NO employer, NO employer's representative/manager can alter that. Just because we are employed at Lowes - or any employer - does not change that fact: we are citizens with rights, and an employer cannot reduce or infringe upon those rights. We do not become serfs or slaves when we sign in at work, at the whim of masters, and revert back to American citizens when we leave. This is not the Hanoi Hilton. The LAW protects parties to a lawsuit, both plaintiffs and defendants. The presiding court has tremendous authority in a suit such as this: he can direct a defendant to release managers who engage in retaliatory activity. He can dictate cease and desist orders, and stipulate what behaviors are intolerable. He can hold the legal counsels personally responsible (contempt, fines, jailtime) for repeated offenses. The presiding judge can monitor and get involved in any unlit corner of Lowes that influences this case, and his judgement will be influenced by how the parties behave. I truly hope no employee in inconvenienced by this case in any way. Should ANYTHING occur, ANYWHERE, please communicate it to me, or to the counsel for Plaintiff. DEMAND witness of your choice at any disciplinary meeting. DEMAND copies of written disciplinary actions. DEMAND redress to next levels of management - to District Manager, to RVP. DOCUMENT any activites that indicate retailatory action. COMMUNICATE these actions so the presiding judge may address them. |
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Joined: 07 Aug 2003
Posts: 50
| Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2003 2:24 pm Post subject: | |
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An update on the Class Action agianst Lowes for underpaying Overtime:
The US District Court judge hearing the case granted a 3 month period to Lowes attorneys to prepare their case. Arguments will be presented to the judge immediatly after that, and he will write up his decision. Attorneys for Lowes and the Plaintiffs both told the judge that they would appeal the decision if it is against them. This means that the judge will write his decision in such a way to avoid being overturned by the Court of Appeals. The Court also agreed to allow the Statue of Limitations to be fixed at the point of filing. This means that any OPT-INs up to the decision point will have backpay calculated from the filing date of the suit, and not whenever they OPT -IN. This is good news Lowes employees: The timeframe is more firm, and the path of the suit is laid out. This case will be decided in favor of the Plaintiffs - the FLSA regulations are very direct, very clear. The regulations are also the same: IF YOU OPT IN TO THE CASE, YOU WILL RECIEVE PART OF THE SETTLEMENT. IF YOU DO NOT OPT-IN, YOU WILL RECEIVE NOTHING. Any future suits to attempt to collect backpay after a successful Class Action will be done on an individual basis - and will have to be filed in the jurisdiction where the Class Action was heard. It would not be worth any attorneys time to bring such a small suit up to that court - the individual suits would be almost Small Claims actions. You need to OPT IN to this suit in the very near future, or get nothing out of it. Time is growing short. |
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