Lowe's is a large U.S. chain of home improvement retail stores. Lowe’s was created in 1946 in North Carolina, the chain now operates 1,225 stores in all 50 states. Lowe’s is now the second-largest home improvement chain in the U.S. Home Depot is the number one home improvement chain. Historically, Lowe's has worked to present a more consumer friendly appearance and experience to the consumer. Their stores are typically a bit more polished and better lit than Home Depot and they try to make the experience of shopping there un-intimidating and user friendly.
Recently, two groups of Lowe’s employees; both current and former, have started a Lowes class action lawsuit proceedings against the home improvement chain. The Lowes lawsuit alleges that Lowe’s consistently and systematically failed to pay employee overtime to its employees. The lawsuits are alleged based on violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act which dictate that employers to pay time-and-a-half to workers who put in overtime over the 40 hour work week. Because salaried managers are exempt some companies will promote individuals specifically to get extra work hours out of them without pay. Hence the filing of the Lowes overtime lawsuit.
The federal overtime laws were updated in 2004 and this change made millions of low-paid hourly workers eligible for time-and-a-half pay. The update also made changes to the standards for determining management level employees, tightening controls on the practice of promoting people merely to save money on potential overtime payment.
Interestingly, actions filed under the Fair Labor Standards Act, like the Lowe’s overtime lawsuit case rose by approximately 86% between the years 2000 and 2004 according to the US Courts. Specifically, in August of 2004, ten former Lowe’s employees, based in Ohio, sued the company on the grounds that they were improperly paid overtime because of the “Fluctuating Workweek Method” of payment. Fluctuating workweek overtime pay is compliant with the FLSA rules on overtime payment but it does benefit the employer more than the employee. The employee is “salaried” and their pay does not increase if they work more than 40 hours, however in weeks where the employee does work more than 40 hours, the employee is paid an overtime premium for the extra hours but the overtime premiums are paid at 50% of the employee’s regular rate of pay.
At Lowe’s this was called the “Salary Plus Overtime Eligible Plan” method of payment and in the case of Lowe’s employees, they believe their wages were not properly calculated. The lawsuit stems from alleged violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This lawsuit is a class action on behalf of all the workers and is presently being litigated in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
Current and former employees of Lowe’s are eligible to join the class action lawsuit against Lowes if they worked for home improvement chain at some point in the last three years, if they were not paid overtime when they worked more than 40 hours in one week and if they received any kind of incentive pay, including commissions or bonuses. If you are eligible for inclusion in the Lowes lawsuit, you may be entitled to compensation if the class action lawsuit is successful.