Hertz Corporation Deprives Location Managers of OT Pay Due to Understaffing, Class Action Claims [UPDATE]
Last Updated on July 23, 2021
Kemal et al v. The Hertz Corporation
Filed: June 11, 2019 ◆§ 1:19cv5461
A lawsuit claims Hertz Corporation location managers in New York were deprived of proper OT in that their "managerial" duties matched more closely with those of regular employees.
New York
Case Updates
July 23, 2021 – Hertz Agrees to $200,000 Settlement
Hertz has agreed to settle the case detailed on this page with a $200,000 payment, part of which will be distributed to those covered by the deal.
The settlement, approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on April 13, 2021, is part of a larger $7.1 million settlement through which Hertz will resolve the claims in this and four similar lawsuits.
According to court documents, Hertz filed for bankruptcy in May 2020, after which the lawsuit described on this page was stayed. Following mediation in February 2021, Hertz reached an agreement with the plaintiff that will allow the rental car company’s location managers to collect payment for their allegedly unpaid overtime.
Under the terms of the deal, a portion of the $200,000 fund will be paid to all individuals who were employed as location managers (also known as counter managers or functional managers) by Hertz in New York any time between June 11, 2013 and the effective date of the sale of Hertz’s operating assets and who did not file an opt-in consent form in the lawsuit Aiyekusibe v. The Hertz Corporation, et al., No. 2:18-cv-00816-MRM.
Payments will be calculated based on the number of weeks each class member worked within the relevant timeframe.
According to a stipulation of dismissal filed on May 24, the bankruptcy court will retain jurisdiction with respect to all matters arising from the settlement, and the case has therefore been dismissed.
A proposed class action lawsuit looks to represent locations managers who worked for the Hertz Corporation at any of its Hertz-, Dollar- or Thrifty-brand locations in New York within the last six years and were allegedly denied proper overtime wages.
According to the lawsuit, the main duties of location managers include waiting on customers, driving vehicles from one location to another, washing vehicles, and handling returns, in addition to general customer service. Location managers, the case says, are regularly required by the Hertz Corporation to work more than 40 hours per week without time-and-a-half overtime pay due in part to the company’s alleged understaffing practices.
“In order to minimize labor costs, Defendant staffs its rental locations leanly and strictly manages hours worked by non-exempt, hourly workers to avoid paying them overtime wages,” the complaint reads.
To balance out the apparent understaffing, Hertz, the lawsuit says, relies heavily on location managers to staff locations that lack enough hourly employees to handle the day-to-day business operations. Despite being labeled as “managers,” proposed class members, the suit claims, are responsible for no true management functions. From the case:
“To the contrary, LMs spend the vast majority of their time performing the same duties as non-exempt, hourly employees such as working with customers at the rental counter, shuttling cars between lot locations, washing cars, fueling cars, performing routine data entry and clerical work, working the gate, and handling car returns and checking in cars. These are the same tasks performed by hourly employees.”
The plaintiff, who worked for Hertz from May 2013 through October 2016, claims he worked anywhere from 50 to 60 hours per week without proper overtime pay.
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