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Recently, fitness managers and sales counselors employed by the health club 24 Hour Fitness filed two lawsuits (first lawsuit; second lawsuit) against the company alleging violations of federal overtime law.
According to the lawsuits, while the employees routinely worked more than forty hours a week, they were only paid for forty hours of work per week. These allegations, if true, would likely amount to a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), which requires that most employees be paid one and one-half times their regular rate of pay for the hours they worked over forty per week.
Many employers violate the FLSA by ordering their employees to work “off the clock,” but 24 Hour Fitness’s alleged violations are particularly egregious for two reasons. According to these lawsuits, 24 Hour Fitness has been sued before for very similar violations and apparently directed the supervisors of these employees to falsify the employees’ timesheets in an effort to deprive them of legally mandated overtime pay.
The four 24 Hour Fitness employees who filed these lawsuits are seeking class certification from the court so that they can sue on behalf of themselves and the other fitness managers and sales counselors employed by the company. As has been noted elsewhere on this blog, the threat of losing a class action lawsuit can put pressure on employers and persuade them to settle disputes with employees who have been improperly compensated.
If you are an employee who is not receiving proper overtime pay, or if you want to better understand your rights, you should consult a St. Louis overtime attorney.