Unpaid Overtime, Unpaid Wages, Untimely Pay

On Wednesday, September 28, 2022, Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP filed a class and collective action lawsuit against Findlay’s Tall Timbers Distribution Center, LLC d/b/a Ohio Logistic (“Southern Tier”), a warehousing and logistical support services provider throughout the Eastern United States, for unpaid wages. This lawsuit aims to represent similarly situated similarly situated non-exempt hourly positions including but not limited to team leaders, forklift operators, maintenance specialists, packers, warehouse associates, and similarly situated hourly positions (“Hourly Workers”), under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and New York Labor Law (“NYLL”). Affected workers include current and former Hourly Workers that have worked for Findlay’s Tall Timbers Distribution Center, LLC in New York  State between between February 9, 2016 and the date of final judgment in this matter to recover underpayment of overtime, untimely pay and other damages.

The lawsuit specifically alleged that Southern Tier paid its Hourly Workers non-discretionary bonuses, such as attendance bonuses, but failed to correctly calculate them into their overtime rate as required by law. In turn, they failed to provide the correct overtime rate on the wage statements provided to Hourly Workers, leaving them misinformed about the correct overtime rate they were entitled to receive.  Accordingly, similarly situated Hourly Workers are entitled to statutory penalties of two hundred fifty dollars for each workday that Defendant failed to provide them with accurate wage statements, up to a total of five thousand dollars each pursuant to NYLL.

Additionally, Southern Tier failed to issue timely payment of wages pursuant to NYLL. Due to the labor intensive job duties of affected workers that required them to spend more than twenty-five percent of their shifts completing manual labor, they should have been paid weekly as opposed to bi-weekly as required by the NYLL. Doorpersons and concierges spent significant shift time completing physical tasks including, but not limited to: moving, stacking and lifting packages and deliveries, helping residents with luggage, mopping the lobby, vacuuming the lobby, cleaning the desk area and cabinets, and standing for the majority of their shifts. Since Southern Tier failed to pay these employees their wages in a timely manner earned on a weekly basis, which should have been no later than seven calendar days after the end of the week in which the wages were earned, affected employees lost the time value of their money to the benefit of Southern Tier. This lawsuit seeks to recover underpayment for untimely pay in the form of liquidated damages, prejudgment and post-judgment interest, and attorneys’ fees and costs.

If you work for Southern Tier, or a similar company in the industry as a manual worker, make sure you are getting paid for all of your hours worked in a timely manner as well as accurate paystubs. Unfortunately, not all industries that employ manually intensive workers in New York pay weekly as required by NYLL. You can reach our firm, Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP, for a free and confidential consultation at (212)300-0375 or you can visit our website here for additional helpful information regarding your work rights.

You can also view the filed complaint here.