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Staggs charges that she worked overtime at Fuyao without being paid a time-and-a-half wages for that overtime work. She contends also that she and others were not completely relieved of duties for meal breaks and more.
Bob DeRose, a Columbus attorney who represents Staggs, said discovery in the legal case hasn’t started, so he couldn’t say with precision how much Fuyao owes his client.
But he argues that automatic deduction from payroll for lunch breaks — whether or not employees take the breaks — is a violation. He said Fuyao deducts for a half-hour break from employee pay, although some employees work through lunch or they don’t take the entire 30 minutes as an uninterrupted break from work.
“They’re not paying for all the hours worked,” DeRose said. “We are maintaining this is a company-wide policy,”
During the Thanksgiving holiday weekend last year, the suit claims, Fuyao “promised” to pay Staggs and about 100 other employees time-and-one-half wages for all hours worked that weekend, as an enticement to get those employees to work extra hours over the weekend.
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“Defendant (Fuyao) has failed to pay plaintiff and approximately 100 other similarly situated employees time and one half of their regular rates of pay for all hours they worked,” the suit charges. Instead, employees received $50 gift cards, the suit claims.
The lawsuit seeks class-action status for Staggs and all current and former hourly Fuyao production employees. The class is in the hundreds, potentially, DeRose said.
He declined to say how Staggs left the company. She is employed elsewhere, he said.
A spokeswoman for Fuyao declined to comment. Staggs is represented by a Columbus firm, Barkan Meizlish Handelman Goodin DeRose Wentz, LLP
Staff Writer Mark Gokavi contributed to this story.
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