MIAMI -- July 24, 2013 – A group of workers at several of the nation’s largest airports are seeking class-action status for a lawsuit that contends Servisair, LLC, deliberately denied them overtime pay, docked them for lunches they never took, and even implemented a timekeeping system that automatically reduced the time they worked each day.
The more than 170 initial plaintiffs include ramp workers, cargo handlers, refuelers, cleaners and plane deicers who are employed by Servisair at New York’s LaGuardia and JFK airports, Miami International Airport, Boston Logan International Airport and Chicago O’Hare International Airport. In all, Servisair employs more than 5,000 such workers at 30 airports across the United States.
“Servisair willingly refuses to pay its employees when they work more than 40 hours a week and keeps inventing new ways to rob them of the time they worked,” said Andrew Glenn, a partner at Miami-based JaffeGlenn Law Group, which is representing the workers. “The same workers who sweat each day to insure the flying public has a safe, clean, pleasurable experience are having their hard-earned wages stolen by their employer.”
The request for class-action status alleges that Servisair and Matt Ellingson, an executive vice president with oversight of all U.S. operations, have engaged in a nationwide, systemic practice of violating the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. Under FLSA, non-exempt employees like those at Servisair are entitled to overtime pay after working more than 40 hours per week.
Servisair cheated workers out of tens of millions of dollars in wages over the past three years, Glenn stated, by:
- Deducting 30 minutes each day from worker timecards for lunches that were never taken.
- Using a timekeeping software system that automatically shortens a workday by rounding up start times and rounding down stop times. For example, a worker who clocks in at 10:02 a.m. would be credited for starting at 10:30 a.m.; a worker who clocks out at 11:28 p.m. would be credited for stopping work at 11:00 p.m.
On average, Servisair airport workers are being shortchanged by 5 hours of overtime each week, according to Glenn.
“Servisair and its parent company, Paris-based Derichebourg, have made millions of dollars in profit each year at the expense of the workers who have made the company successful,” Glenn said. “This is corporate greed at its very worst, and we intend to aggressively fight on behalf of the workers to recover the money owed to them.”
The class action was filed in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of New York.
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About JaffeGlenn:
With more than 40 years combined experience, Jaffe Glenn Law Group, P.A., has been helping those workers that were not paid their wages properly throughout the country. The firm specializes in overtime cases and has developed a national reputation for successfully litigating cases dealing with employees that were not paid their overtime. To learn more, please visit http://www.jaffeglenn.com
Contact:
Andrew Glenn
JaffeGlenn Law Group
(305) 726-0060
[email protected]
