Benefits November 18, 2008

McDonald's Assistant Managers Sue for Overtime Pay

November 18, 2008 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - An amended collective action complaint has been filed in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware against McDonald's Corporation on behalf of Assistant Managers nationwide employed at the more than 2,000 McDonald's corporate owned and operated restaurants.
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According to a news release, the lawsuit alleges that McDonald’s Corp. violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by requiring its employees training for the Assistant Manager position to work in excess of 40 hours per week without the legally mandated overtime pay.

The lead plaintiffs in the suit claim that despite their “Assistant Manager” job title, they and other Assistant Managers spent most of their time during their training period doing the work of the hourly employees, primarily cooking, serving food and cleaning trash. According to the lawsuit, during the training period, since they did not have any management authority or discretion, the Assistant Managers were entitled to overtime pay for working more than 40 hours a week.

The lawsuit accuses McDonald’s of willfully and systematically failing to pay these employees any overtime pay, despite requiring 45, 50 or even 60 hours of work a week during the training period, the news release said.

In addition, the suit alleges that the Assistant Managers were assigned special McDonald’s workbooks to complete at home without pay and were also not paid for up to three hours per day of transportation to and from training sites.

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