Big Lot Stores Sued Regarding Overtime Violations

The suit, brought by three employees from Texas, alleges that furniture department managers, sales managers, and assistant managers at Big Lots stores were misclassified as ‘exempt’ employees, despite spending much of their time performing non-exempt, non-managerial duties, according to a press release by the plaintiffs’ law firms, Fibich, Hampton & Leebron, and Patton, Tidwell, and Schroeder. The plaintiffs were supposedly expected to work 45 to 55 hours each week, despite being paid for only 40 hours worth of work.

The plaintiffs hope to garner class action status for the suit, according to the news release, and hope to receive unpaid overtime pay, damages, attorney’s fees and other relief for misclassifications in the three years preceding the lawsuit.

Big Lots, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, operates over 1,400 stores in 46 states. Big Lots has not steered clear of employee lawsuits in the past, having settled a $10 million suit regarding overtime pay for 1,400 California employees, according to the news release. The current suit does not attempt to cover overtime pay for California employees, according to the news release