Ace Hardware Underpays Distribution Center Workers, According to Lawsuit

New to ClassAction.org? Read our Newswire Disclaimer

Ace Hardware Corporation has been hit with a proposed class and collective action filed by a man who claims he was deprived of proper wages while working at one of the hardware retailer’s distribution centers.

The lawsuit alleges that Ace Hardware underpaid employees by deducting from their wages the costs of medical, dental, and vision insurance for periods during which they were not covered by such benefits.

“For example,” the complaint states, “if an hourly-paid employee worked over forty-hours such that their gross pay was approximately $500.00 in the weekly pay-period of the deductions, over $200 was deducted from their gross pay for medical, dental and vision insurance for a prior time period when they were not covered. These deductions amounted to hourly-paid employees earning an effective hourly-rate of less than the federal minimum wage.”

On top of the alleged minimum wage violations, the case claims Ace Hardware also skimped on paying proper overtime wages by failing to include incentive bonuses and cash awards as part of employees’ regular rates of pay before calculating their time-and-a-half overtime rates.

According to the plaintiff, who worked at the defendant’s Maumelle, Arkansas facility, the defendant applied these common policies and practices to all its distribution centers countrywide.