Joined: 07 Aug 2003
Posts: 50
| Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2003 1:59 pm Post subject: WWW.LOWESCLASSACTION.COM | |
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The webpage for the Class Action re: Underpaid Overtime is up and accessible. Please look at it, and tell anyone/everyone about it. **OPT IN** Fill out the Consent form and send it in.
http://www.lowesclassaction.com/index.html Once again, ALL employees who got ANY overtime are affected by this suit. Specialists, Department Managers got the most OT, but the settlement will address Hourly employees underpaid, including those not eligible for SOS Commissions (Delivery, Stock, Front End, Receiving. Warhouse, General Office). ANY overtime, ANY form of extra pay that can be defined as "bonus" is being addressed by this Class Action suit. Look at the site, review the information at the site's links, see for yourselves. **OPT IN as soon as possible**. Employees who OPT IN cannot be terminated without due process - terminations would be bvrought to the presiding judge of this suit. There have been some large cutbacks/layoffs this week, so employees MUST do something to protect their positions. CONTACT me or the attorneys of this suit with any terminations, disciplinary actions which are felt to be retaliatory. GET INVOLVED - help us HELP YOU. |
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Joined: 06 Jul 2003
Posts: 10
| Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2003 8:23 pm Post subject: i did it | |
| i sent the attorneys a e-mail to ask a question and 20 seconds after i sent the mail the law office called me and i was speaking to a lawer...no lie 20 seconds | |
Joined: 27 Aug 2003
Posts: 7
| Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2003 1:36 am Post subject: | |
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..Has anyone else noticed that in JUNE they began to refigure our overtime pay??....They are now adding in the commisions //spiffs to the base before they divide it all out..........i happen to be a specialist that gets sos + has been making the spec incen...
signed just wondering if anyone had looked at their stubs latelyjavascript:emoticon('  ')
Very Happy |
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Joined: 08 Jul 2003
Posts: 214
| Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2003 2:58 am Post subject: | |
| I'll have to go back and check mine segou. If they've started doing that then they're admitting that they've been doing it wrong all these years. | |
Joined: 07 Aug 2003
Posts: 50
| Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 4:53 pm Post subject: | |
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No additional pay was made - the label on one of the lines was changed, that's all. CabMan is correct - any increase will be a fait accompli for the Overtime Class Action. What would the judge do if Lowes said "We recently modified our payroll to comply with FLSA regulations....". Check you paystubs - let or the attorney for this class action know of any changes.
If Lowes is paying more, now, then they will owe you for the past years, plus interest, plus penalties (only IF you are registered with the lawsuit). Please let this forum know of any changes to your pay calculations - we should all be paid the same way, except CA and AK, where state laws direct employers to pay real overtime (at 1.5x regular rate for hours over 40, not the diminishing returns OT the rest of us get). You can contact the attorney Nelson Thomas at WWW.LOWESCLASSACTION.COM |
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Joined: 27 Aug 2003
Posts: 7
| Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 9:08 pm Post subject: | |
| I beg to differ.............UNLESS you do not have any incentives(spiffs etc) then your check has been increased somewhat.............do the math....no back pay was added ..just a change for all future.....if u look at your stub...from NOW....then go dig up one from april or so....U will see the change....but ONLY if U earned more than a couple of bucks in commisions... | |
Joined: 26 Aug 2003
Posts: 29
| Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2003 4:20 am Post subject: | |
| no really do the math ,,, they now show you what your hourly rate should be --base salary divided by 40 plus your chinese overtime ..but if you follow the line over and do the math .overtime paid divided by hours worked its still the same old chinese overtime .and yes i make a whole lot in spiffs | |
Joined: 26 Aug 2003
Posts: 29
| Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2003 4:21 am Post subject: | |
| no really do the math ,,, they now show you what your hourly rate should be --base salary divided by 40 plus your chinese overtime ..but if you follow the line over and do the math .overtime paid divided by hours worked its still the same old chinese overtime .and yes i make a whole lot in spiffs | |
Joined: 26 Aug 2003
Posts: 29
| Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2003 4:21 am Post subject: | |
| no really do the math ,,, they now show you what your hourly rate should be --base salary divided by 40 plus your chinese overtime ..but if you follow the line over and do the math .overtime paid divided by hours worked its still the same old chinese overtime .and yes i make a whole lot in spiffs | |
Joined: 26 Aug 2003
Posts: 29
| Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2003 4:21 am Post subject: do the math | |
| no really do the math ,,, they now show you what your hourly rate should be --base salary divided by 40 plus your chinese overtime ..but if you follow the line over and do the math .overtime paid divided by hours worked its still the same old chinese overtime .and yes i make a whole lot in spiffs | |
Joined: 27 Aug 2003
Posts: 7
| Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2003 4:47 am Post subject: | |
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ok i give up..never said time and a half...just said that it is not the same as it used to be....that chinese overtime is in effect but starts out with a bigger base
and YES u have been here to long if U cannot understand this last post...I guess I am the exception to the rule then..... |
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Joined: 07 Aug 2003
Posts: 50
| Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2003 2:12 pm Post subject: | |
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The pay is the same as it was. The newer paystubs simply group what used to be listed as OT PREM and the OT into one overtime rate. Old stubs showed the ot rate w/out bonus included, but paid bonus and additional ot at 1/2 rate. The issue of the class action is that the additional ot for bonus payments must be paid at 1.5x basis, not the .5x basis. In essence, the least Lowes owes each of us can be calculated by multiplying the old OT PREM category by 3, plus damages (double the underpayment), plus interest. This is the minimum
that the suit is seeking. I strongly recommend that anyone interested in the details of how employers are SUPPOSED to pay overtime read the FLSA paragraphs covering overtime - they are accessible through the class action web page, or here is the shortcut: http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/Title_29/Part_778/toc.htm Read them. This suit will be decided on this regulation, a very narrow point of law - it is an easy case for the attorneys, and the judge. It is not real exciting reading, but it is simple. Lowes did not, is still not paying us the overtime correctly. |
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Joined: 25 Sep 2003
Posts: 3
| Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2003 2:23 pm Post subject: Ot Pay | |
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Salary for Workweek Exceeding 40 Hours: A fixed salary for a regular workweek longer than 40 hours does not discharge FLSA statutory obligations. For example, an employee may be hired to work a 48 hour workweek for a weekly salary of $300. In this instance the regular rate is obtained by dividing the $300 straight-time salary by 48 hours, resulting in a regular rate of $6.25. The employee is then due additional overtime computed by multiplying the 8 overtime hours by one-half the regular rate of pay ($3.13 x 5 = $15.65).
This came out of the link to the website you posted and this is how Lowes pays or at least use to. I am not defending them but it was better than working at Builders Square. |
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Joined: 07 Aug 2003
Posts: 50
| Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2003 1:57 pm Post subject: | |
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SteelOne - and anyone else reading this. The Fluctuating Work Week (a.k.a. "Chinese Overtime") is defined by the FLSA the way you described, IF there are no other payments to the employee, in that pay week. Lowes also pays employees through commission/SPIFF/other bonus programs that are widespread in the organization, and can be quite lucrative for employees. They are nice incentive programs, and have worked - sales and credit applications are increased, shrink and customer service and other budget incentives to have improved performance. Nobody wants to see those incentive programs go away. They work for the employees, and for the company.
However, these bonus payments change the payroll accounting for the employer - the FLSA specifies that the employer must pay the bonus portion of OT not at the .5 rate, but at the 1.5 rate. Please read this section of the FLSA, if you are interested. http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/Title_29/Part_778/Subpart_B.htm The FLSA regs. do not exempt from the 1.5 required factor any of the bonuses Lowes has paid out. Its all about following the accounting rules, plain and simple. It is no different from any other regulations: eg: Lowe's sells chemicals that require the stores to have fire fighting systems. If regulations specify a certain system, then Lowe's must have that, or face penalties. Employees payrolls have been calculated incorrectly (not in compliance with this portion of the FLSA) for every employee recieving any kind of bonus and any overtime in the same paychecks. This includes tens of thousands of Lowes employees, every week, every month, every year. The calculation has been in the employer's favor, so the employees are requesting (with this suit) the undepaid portions, plus interest for those underpaid hours. The law also specifies that damages would be due to the employees, since we had to file suit to collect the underpaid portions. I appreciate your interest.Please post again after reading the FLSA chapters linked above, and on the suit's web site. |
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Joined: 17 Oct 2003
Posts: 12
| Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2003 5:30 pm Post subject: ot | |
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just give all us hard working people what the hell we have earned, {the hard way i must add }anyone and i mean anyone who has ever work at lowes know how hard you bust your ass
and for what ???????????? bottom line, time is money, open wide bobby T |
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Joined: 07 Aug 2003
Posts: 50
| Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2003 4:47 pm Post subject: Lawsuit still active, alive | |
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Just so ya'll know, the class action suit to collect back pay from Lowes for underpaid OT is still alive. It is a slow process, with deliberate delays and downtime as part of it. The attorneys are talking, and moving papers back and forth, and filing motions with the court, etc., etc. The recent death of bills before Congress may hasten the suit along. These bills, if passed, would have stifled class action suits against corporations, and would have reverted regulations on how employers pay overtime back to the 19th century (or to present-day China).
Please know that the suit still protects any employee who signs up for it from harassing or retaliatory acts by Lowes managers. The interest and response has been very good - employees from every affected state and every Region of Lowes have opted in to the suit. |
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