CHICAGO — Jimmy John’s Enterprises and one of its franchisees, JS Fort Group, were hit with a proposed class action wage and overtime pay lawsuit recently in Illinois federal court. A couple of employees, Karolis Kubelskas and Emily Brunner, from two separate Jimmy John’s locations in Illinois claim the sandwich food chain has a corporate policy requiring hourly employees to work “off-the-clock” and of denying both minimum wage and overtime pay. This corporate policy and practice is allegedly applied uniformly across the country and violates Illinois state law, labor laws in each of the states Jimmy John’s operates, and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Because they claim the violations have occurred in every state in which Jimmy John’s operates, they believe as many as 10,000 current and former hourly employees could have been affected.
“Off-the-Clock” At Jimmy John’s
According to Kubelskas and Brunner, Jimmy John’s, at the corporate level, has set unreasonably low payroll budgets for their stores over the last 10 years. This low store budget means store managers have to find ways of keeping payroll costs down. As a result, hourly employees allegedly have to work “off-the-clock” on a regular basis. And they claim the company willfully and knowingly allowed and encouraged this behavior. The lawsuit also claims hourly employees are frequently given too much work to complete in the time they are scheduled and managers require them to clock-out at the end of their shift, and then finish the assigned work. And the company’s policies allegedly encourage this practice of “off-the-clock” work with bonuses for managers who keep labor costs at or below an established level.
This “off-the-clock” work frequently leads to minimum wage violations because minimum wage is calculated by dividing the weekly pay an employee receives by the actual hours an employee works during that week. If an employee works “off-the-clock,” their true hours worked are not recorded so their actual hourly wage is lower than it appears. This can also lead to overtime violations because, if an employee’s “off-the-clock” work brings the employee’s actual hours over 40, the records will not reflect this overtime status. This also violates labor laws requiring accurate wage statements and records.
If you are a fast food employee at Jimmy John’s or another fast food chain and your employer requires you to work off-the-clock, call our top-rated team of overtime pay lawyers today at (855) 754-2795 to discuss your situation. Alternatively, complete the Free Unpaid Overtime Case Review form and our knowledgeable legal team will evaluate your case. If we accept your case, we will represent you under our No Fee Promise. This means there are no legal fees or costs unless you receive a settlement. There are strict time deadlines for joining or filing lawsuits, so it is important to contact an attorney immediately.