Lids, a store selling jerseys, hats, and t-shirts, is facing a class action lawsuit for failing to pay managers for overtime. Lids’ managers were paid under a fluctuating work week (FWW) method of payment. Under this method of payment, employees are paid a fixed salary amount whether or not they work more or less than 40 hours a week. The FWW method further permits hours worked in excess of 40 hours a week to be compensated at a minimum of one-half time the worker’s regular rate. However, the lawsuit alleges that Lids store managers were not fully compensated for all of the overtime hours they worked and were instead paid a bonus based on meeting sales quotas.
On January 2, 2018, the District Court for the Southern District of Indiana denied Lids’ motion to dismiss the case and granted the plaintiff’s motion for conditional certification of an opt-in class of current and former store managers. The judge wrote that the lead plaintiff in the case, Julia Shumate, “has made a modest factual showing that she and the potential opt-in plaintiffs were victims of a common policy that violated the FLSA.”
The judge ordered Lids to provide a spreadsheet listing the names and last known addresses of non-exempt store managers who were entitled to overtime pay since Feb. 2, 2014.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana and is titled Julia Shumate, on behalf of all others similarly situated v. Genesco, Inc., Hat World Inc., d/b/a Lids Sports Group, 1:17-cv-3574.
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