Albertsons Employee Claims Workers’ OT Rates Failed to Include Hazard Pay

New to ClassAction.org? Read our Newswire Disclaimer

A proposed collective action claims that grocery store operator Albertsons Companies, Inc. has failed to include hazard pay in employees’ overtime rates amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The eight-page lawsuit, filed May 6 in Massachusetts, alleges Albertsons has violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which stipulates that a worker’s overtime pay be equal to one-and-a-half times their regular pay rate. According to the case, hazard pay should be included when calculating a worker’s regular pay rate.

The plaintiff in the case, who has worked for an Albertsons subsidiary for roughly 25 years, says the grocery chain began paying workers an additional $2.00 per hour in late March 2020 after recognizing that the pandemic was causing its employees to “expos[e] themselves to danger each time they showed up at work to keep the country fed.”

Per the case, this additional hazard pay, called “Appreciation Pay” by Albertsons, falls under the FLSA’s definition of a worker’s regular pay rate, which encompasses all forms of remuneration, including “such extra premiums as night shift differentials … and premiums paid for hazardous, arduous, or dirty work.”

The plaintiff alleges, however, that when he worked more than 40 hours per week, his overtime rate did not include the additional $2.00 per hour for appreciation pay. The case alleges the plaintiff and similarly situated workers have thus been underpaid for their overtime hours.

The lawsuit looks to represent all Albertsons, Shaw’s, and Methuen and Wells Distribution Center employees who were eligible for and received the $2.00 per hour hazard pay and whose overtime rates during this time did not account for their hazard pay as required by the FLSA.

Get class action lawsuit news sent to your inbox – sign up for ClassAction.org’s newsletter here.