On Jan. 10, conditional certification was granted to a nationwide collective action of some 1,750 human resources employees employed by Lowe’s. The workers’ allegation? That they were misclassified by the home improvement chain as “exempt” under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and thus not paid overtime for hours worked more than 40 in a workweek. The workers claimed that although they were titled as “managers,” such nomenclature was inaccurate as their daily work consisted mostly of administrative and clerical duties, as opposed to managerial functions such as employee supervision, hiring and firing.
The collective action in the Lowe’s case is indicative of a growing trend confronting employers across the United States: employee misclassification litigation.
