Distributors Sue Flowers Foods Over Alleged Wage Violations [UPDATE]
by Erin Shaak
Last Updated on November 11, 2021
Bryant et al v. Flowers Foods, Inc. et al
Filed: February 23, 2018 ◆§ 3:18cv118
Flowers Foods, Inc., Flowers Baking Co. of New Orleans LLC, and Flowers Baking Co. of Baton Rouge LLC are facing a proposed collective action in which four former distributors claim they were not paid proper wages.
Flowers Foods, Inc. Flowers Baking Co. of New Orleans LLC Flowers Baking Co. of Baton Rouge LLC
Mississippi
Case Updates
November 11, 2021 – Lawsuit Settled
A $9 million settlement has been reached to end a handful of cases filed by Flowers Foods distributors, including the lawsuit detailed on this page.
The deal was approved on February 27, 2019 and, for this case, covered certain distributors who worked for a Flowers Baking entity between February 23, 2015 and September 7, 2018.
For more details about the settlement, check out ClassAction.org’s write-up on this page.
Flowers Foods, Inc., Flowers Baking Co. of New Orleans LLC, and Flowers Baking Co. of Baton Rouge LLC are facing a proposed collective action in which four former distributors claim they were misclassified as independent contractors and were not paid proper wages. The plaintiffs say they were responsible for delivering the defendants’ baked goods products to their customers, but that Flowers controlled “virtually all terms of the relationship.” The suit argues that because the defendants required workers to adhere to specific policies and procedures that were “outside of their control,” the distributors should have been classified as employees and paid time-and-a-half overtime wages in accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The plaintiffs claim they would often work more than 50 hours per week without being paid at a premium rate for hours over 40 and were forced to use their own funds to pay for expenses associated with their job duties such as the cost of equipment, insurance, product loss, and product return.
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