Kohl’s Misclassifies Assistant Store Managers as Exempt from Overtime Pay, Lawsuit Alleges

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Kohl’s Department Stores, Inc. and Kohl’s Corporation face a proposed class action that claims the retailer has failed to pay assistant store managers proper overtime wages.

Filed by a former Kohl’s employee, the lawsuit alleges the department store incorrectly classifies assistant store managers (ASMs) as exempt from receiving overtime pay despite the fact the employees are assigned non-management work that takes up more than 50 percent of their time, closely supervised, and paid “only a little more” than non-exempt workers.

Although assistant managers are typically scheduled for 45 hours or more each week—and over 50 during holiday seasons—Kohl’s “schedules so few hourly staff” that assistant managers are often required to work between 50 and 60 weekly hours without overtime pay, the case alleges.

Kohl’s operates approximately 25 stores in Massachusetts, including the Framingham location at which the plaintiff worked between February 2016 and July 2018, the lawsuit says. Per the complaint, assistant managers at each Kohl’s store perform essentially the same non-exempt duties, including unloading trucks, unpacking merchandise, filling online orders, stocking shelves, performing customer service and operating cash registers, despite being assigned to different departments.

The case alleges that all assistant managers are classified as exempt from receiving overtime pay “no matter what state, what size store, or what type of ASM,” and receive a flat weekly salary that fails to include compensation for hours worked in excess of 40 each week.

In order to meet payroll budgets and keep hourly payroll expenses down, Kohl’s requires ASMs to perform hourly work normally assigned to non-exempt employees, the suit says.

“It has done this in part by sending hourly associates home before the end of their shift and not replacing them when they called out,” the complaint relays. “Kohl’s then requires the ASMs to finish the hourly tasks of the hourly associates who had been scheduled but were sent home early or not replaced.”

The defendants’ practice of requiring ASMs to perform hourly employees’ duties frequently causes them to put in more than their scheduled 45 hours per week, the case alleges, adding that while assistant store managers are required to perform some managerial duties, those tasks are routine and “closely and directly supervised” by their superiors.

“ASMs are not given significant discretion to manage and their management work is not more important than their non-management work,” the complaint reads.

According to the case, “the law does not permit employers to classify employees as exempt executives unless their primary duty is management.” Kohl’s, therefore, has willfully misclassified assistant store managers “in conscious disregard” of their right to be paid time-and-a-half overtime wages, the suit alleges.

Originally filed in Massachusetts, the lawsuit was recently transferred to Wisconsin’s Eastern District Court.

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