Cases & Investigation - Barkan Meizlish DeRose Cox, LLP

Cases & Investigations

Investigations

Tipped Employees

The Columbus Ohio Overtime Attorneys at Barkan Meizlish DeRose Cox, LLP have extensive experience representing tipped employees and continue to investigate wage and hour violations in restaurants, bars, hotels, and other parts of the service industry in which employees receive tips.

Wage and hour violations often arise in this industry because employers fail to abide by the “tip-credit” requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), which allow employers to pay less than minimum wage to tipped employees only under very specific conditions.

“Tipped employees” are those who customarily and regularly receive more than $30 per month in tips. Under the FLSA, employers can pay tipped employees at an hourly rate rate less than the federal minimum wage by crediting a portion of the employee’s tips received toward the required minimum wage. In order to do so, however, the employer must 1) inform the employee that it will be taking a tip credit and 2) may not take or retain any portion of the employee’s tips. 29 U.S.C. § 203(m). If an employer fails to comply with these requirements, it cannot apply a tip credit towards the employees’ wages, and must instead pay the tipped employee at least the full applicable minimum wage and allow the tipped employee to keep all tips received.

Common wage and hour issues surrounding pay and tips can include:

Illegal Tip Pools. Under the FLSA, employers may require tipped employees to contribute a portion of their tips to a general pool to be shared with non-tipped employees. A valid tip pool, however, may not include employees who do not “customarily and regularly” receive tips. Nor will the tip pool be valid if management employees are participants. Employers must notify employees of any required tip pooling arrangements.
Unpaid side work. If a tipped employee spends more than 20% of their time performing general side work, an employer may not take a tip credit for that time. Instead, the tipped employee must be compensated at the federal or state-established minimum wage, rather than the “tip credit” minimum wage.
Overtime violations. Tipped employees are still entitled to receive overtime pay for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek. Employers can violate this provision by paying employees “straight time” wages, rather than 1.5 times their regular rate of pay, for overtime hours exceeding 40 per workweek. Other violations include failing to include all components of the tipped employee’s wages when calculating the regular rate for overtime compensation.
Illegal deductions. In addition, employers often make deductions from employees’ wages in a manner that reduces their wages below the FLSA minimum wage, including deductions for breaks, uniforms, cash register shortages, and customer walk-outs.

If you think you have been the victim of wage theft or would like answers to questions about how you are paid at work, please call the Columbus Ohio Overtime Attorneys at 800-274-5297 or click here. The consolation is free and confidential. The Columbus Ohio minimum wage and overtime attorneys at Barkan Meizlish DeRose Cox, LLP have been helping working families with legal services for over 60 years and they are here to help you.

Call Center Employees

The Columbus Ohio Overtime Attorneys at Barkan Meizlish DeRose Cox, LLP have extensive experience representing call center workers and continue to investigate these types of cases. Telephone customer service is a critical part of many businesses and we have seen the growth of both in-house call centers and companies that provide the call center service to other businesses. The employees affected have job titles such as agent, associate, representative, advisor, and specialist, and responsibilities that include customer care, client services, and technical support, call center personnel handle a variety of inbound and outbound telephone duties. To cut costs, many in-house call centers and call center companies now employ telephone agents and representatives who work from home. Whether you are a telephone agent employed at a call centers or in work-at-home positions you are entitled to be paid for all of the hours you worked and must be paid 150% of their regular hourly rate for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek.

The common wage violations in the call center industry include:

Making telephone agents and representatives work through meal and rest breaks without pay;
Not paying telephone agents and representatives for time spent logging into & out of their computer systems before or after shifts;
Not paying telephone agents and representatives for the time spent downloading their daily work instructions or uploading their daily work reports; and/or,
Not paying telephone agents and representatives for the time spent preparing and completing required paperwork or reading emails before or after shifts.

Active Cases

Coulter Ventures, LLC (Rogue Fitness)-Overtime Lawsuit

On November 18, 2019, attorneys with Barkan Meizlish DeRose Cox, LLP and Marshall and Forman, LLC filed a collective and federal action complaint against Coulter Ventures, LLC DBA Rogue Fitness, a fitness equipment manufacturer.

The complaint states that Rogue Fitness allegedly violated the Federal Labor Standards Act of 1938 (“FLSA”), 29 U.S.C. §§201, et seq., The Ohio Minimum Fair Wage Standards Act [“the Ohio Wage Act”], O.R.C. §§4111.01., 4111.03 and 4111.10, and the Ohio Prompt Pay Act [“the OPPA”]. The complaint states that the company did not properly compensate its non-exempt employees for their full hours worked.

Convergys Corporation – Overtime Lawsuit

Barkan Meizlish DeRose Cox, LLP and Anderson Alexander, PLLC, filed a Class and Collective Action Complaint against Convergys Corporation (“Convergys”), a corporation that operates call centers, to recover unpaid overtime compensation. The Plaintiff and the Putative Class Members allege in the Complaint that they were employed by Convergys, but have not been compensated for a significant portion of their overtime hours worked.

The Plaintiff and the Putative Class Members worked as call-center employees for Convergys at any time in the past three years. The Plaintiff and the Putative Class Members allege that Convergys has enforced uniformed
company-wide corporate policies wherein it improperly required its non-exempt hourly employees to perform work off-the-clock and without pay and has also illegally required Plaintiff and the Putative Class Members to clock out for breaks lasting twenty minutes or less. As a result, the suit alleges, the Plaintiff and the Putative Class Members were not properly paid for all of their overtime hours worked in violation of state and federal law.

Universal Transportation Services – Overtime Lawsuit

On March 6, 2018, Barkan Meizlish DeRose Cox, LLP and Winebrake & Santillo, LLC, filed a Class and Collective Action Complaint against Universal Transportation Systems LLC and Quality Transportation Services LLC (“Defendants”), to recover unpaid overtime compensation. Defendants have jointly employed hundreds of individuals as drivers, including Plaintiff, who are paid on an hourly basis and whose primary duty is transporting Defendants’ customers from location to location throughout Ohio.

The lawsuit is brought on behalf of current and former employees who worked as drivers. The Complaint covers those drivers who were not properly compensated for all of their overtime hours worked in violation the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 201 et seq. (“FLSA”), the Ohio Minimum Fair Wage Standards Act, O.R.C. §§ 4111 et seq. (“Ohio Wage Act”), and the Ohio Prompt Pay Act, O.R.C. § 4113.15 (“OPPA”). Under the FLSA, nonexempt employees must be paid overtime at a rate of 1.5 times their regular rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of 40 in a workweek.

The Plaintiff and other drivers allege that drivers typically pick up multiple customers in a day and are paid for the time they spend transporting the individual customer from location to location. According to the Complaint, Defendants failed to pay Plaintiff and other drivers for all the time elapsed between customer visits. As a result, the suit alleges, the Plaintiff and other similarly situated individuals were not properly paid for all of their overtime hours worked.

Firstsource Solutions – Overtime Lawsuit

On October 4, 2017, the law firms of Barkan Meizlish DeRose Cox, LLP and JTB Law Group, LLC filed a collective action lawsuit against Firstsource Solutions USA, LLC (“Firstsource”). Firstsource is a company that provides eligibility, enrollment, and other recovery services that help hospitals and health systems maximize reimbursement and increase cash flow.

The Plaintiff and those similarly situated worked as employees of Firstsource as Patient Service Representatives, Floaters/Trainers, and Team Leads. During the course of their employment, Firstsource required Plaintiff and those similarly situated to perform a volume of work assignments that could not be completed with the 8-hour daily work schedule or the 40-hour weekly work schedule. Plaintiff and those similarly situated were repeatedly reprimanded for not completing their work in a workday, but were prohibited from reporting or clocking in more than 40 hours of work per week. According to the Complaint, the Plaintiff and those similarly situated regularly worked over 40 hours per week, yet Firstsource failed to pay them overtime compensation for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek. The Plaintiff and those similarly situated seeks to recover unpaid overtime compensation and liquidated damages under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. § 201 et. seq. and attendant regulations at 29 C.F.R. § 516, et. seq.

Producers Service Corporation – Overtime Lawsuit

On December 14, 2017, the law firms of Barkan Meizlish DeRose Cox, LLP and Sanford Law Firm, PLLC filed a Collective and Class Action Complaint against Producers Service Corporation (“Producers”), an Ohio-based company in the oil and natural gas industry.

The lawsuit is brought on behalf of current or former oilfield equipment operators of Producers, whose job duties included assisting those working at oil well sites in pumping and fracking oil wells. The Complaint alleges that Producers knowingly misclassified the Plaintiff and other similarly situated individuals as exempt from receiving overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that Producers did not pay the Plaintiff overtime compensation until after he worked over 60 hours in one workweek, rather than 40 hours worked in one week as required by the FLSA. The Plaintiff seeks damages in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Eastern Division for Producers’ alleged violations of the FLSA, Ohio Minimum Fair Wage Standards Act, and the Ohio Prompt Pay Act.

DBC Food, LLC #2 – Minimum & Overtime Wages Lawsuit

On July 23, 2018, Barkan Meizlish DeRose Cox, LLP and the Kentucky Equal Justice Center filed their First Amended Complaint against DBC Food, LLC #2, d/b/a Mango’s Mexican Restaurant, Cesar Toro, and Benigno Estrada (collectively, “Defendants”), owners of a restaurant located in Louisville, Kentucky.

The lawsuit is brought on behalf of two former employees of the Defendants, one who worked as a server and one who worked as a cook. The Plaintiffs allege that Defendants have violated 29 U.S.C. § 203(m) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), which only allows employers to pay less than minimum wage to employees who receive tips under very specific conditions. Additionally, Plaintiffs seek to recover for minimum wages Defendants owe to them, illegally requiring employees to remit portions of their tips to management, failing to maintain accurate employment records, and failing to timely pay Plaintiffs in violation of Kentucky Wage and Hour laws.

Schmitz v. University of Notre Dame

Schmitz, et al., v. National Collegiate Athletic Association et al., is a case about a former football player for the University of Notre Dame who was diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Mr. Schmitz’ head injuries occurred in the 1970’s when he was playing football for the University, but he was not diagnosed with CTE until he was fifty-seven years old. As a result of his CTE, Mr. Schmitz suffered memory loss, early onset of Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and other healtproblems.

In October of 2014, the law firms of Barkan Meizlish LLP, Locks Law Firm, and Hausfeld LLP filed the personal injury lawsuit against Notre Dame and the NCAA. The Complaint alleges that Mr. Schmitz was exposed to the risk of latent brain disease when he played football at Notre Dame from 1974 to 1978. Although Mr. Schmitz passed away in 2015, the lawsuit continues with Ms. Schmitz who brings claims on behalf of the estate of her husband and her own claims.

LEGAL MATTERS HANDLED PERSONALLY SINCE 1957