Another Fast Food Restaurant Hit with an Overtime Pay Lawsuit

An Arby’s fast food restaurant in Vero Beach, Florida cheated workers out of  overtime pay, according to a lawsuit filed by a former cashier at the restaurant.  Attorneys for the employee claim that Arby’s paid workers at the restaurant straight-time wages for all hours worked, including hours worked over forty per workweek, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The primary duties of the worker who brought the lawsuit consisted of tasks such as serving as cashier, assisting customers with their orders, food preparation and cleaning.  She regularly worked approximately 55 hours per week, but Arby’s failed to pay her time and one-half her regular rate of $9 per hour for all hours worked over forty.  Instead, they paid her a straight-time wage of $9 for hours over 40 in a week.  Attorneys for the workers are seeking to recover unpaid overtime wages for the workers at the restaurant, liquidated damages, and attorneys’ fees. Fast food restaurants across the country have been hit with overtime lawsuits because they either pay employees a weekly salary, pay shift pay, or pay hours worked after 40 on a straight-time basis.  For example, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) found that Subway restaurants throughout the United States committed wage violations in more than 1,100 investigations over the period from 2000 to 2013.  Combined, these investigations led to Subway franchisees reimbursing Subway workers more than $3.8 million.  According to CNN, after Subway, the next most frequent wage violators in the fast food industry are McDonald’s and Dunkin’ Donuts. Pechman Law Group recently settled overtime cases for a worker at a 7-Eleven on Long Island for $60,000, two restaurant workers at Oaxaca Taqueria Restaurants in Manhattan for $82,500, and a Dunkin’ Donuts worker in Queens for $30,000.  Under the FLSA, employees must receive overtime pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek at a rate of at least one and a half times their regular rate of pay.