A class-action lawsuit filed against Wendy's on Tuesday alleges the restaurant chain violated the Fair Labor Standards act by not paying overtime for maintenance technician employees.
Massachusetts resident Billy Parham, Jr. also alleged unlawful retaliation in the lawsuit. The suit seeks class-action status for all service technicians who worked for Wendy's from December 2011 to the present.
Each individual restaurant was billed for work done by maintenance technicians. If the work wasn't billed, it counted against the maintenance department, according to the lawsuit. Parham alleges the technicians were under pressure to “minimize unreimbursed costs” to report at least 75 percent of the hours to the individual restaurants.
He further alleges that technicians would routinely underreport actual working hours. Parham said in the lawsuit Wendy's management knew about the practice, and alleges he was in meetings with managers where technicians admitted recording fewer hours than they worked.
The managers never took steps to correct the problem, according to the lawsuit. In the summer of 2014, Parham claims he started reporting all of his time, but received “push back” from managers. Parham was later fired for allegedly violating the restaurant's policies.
The lawsuit doesn't state a specific dollar amount for damages, but claims the technicians should be compensated for unpaid work hours and overtime hours.
Parham is represented by Stephen Churchill of Fair Work, P.C., of Boston.
United States District Court District of Massachusetts case number 1:14-cv-14367.