Lawsuit Claims Hardee’s Failed to Pay Employees for Off-the-Clock Work

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A proposed collective action claims Hardee’s workers have not been properly compensated for time spent working off the clock.

According to the lawsuit, defendant Capstone Restaurant Group, LLC has “chronically understaffed” its Hardee’s restaurants while demand for fast food has increased amid the coronavirus pandemic. Per the case, workers are often required to put in more than 60 hours per week without being paid for all time spent working, including for time spent driving to and working at second or third Hardee’s locations and transporting supplies to other restaurants.

The plaintiff, who worked as a shift lead before being promoted to an assistant manager position, says that she has sometimes worked for 36 hours straight due to a confluence of the defendant’s policies with regard to understaffing its restaurants, staying open 24 hours per day and requiring employees to work beyond their scheduled shifts. Per the suit, the “extreme number of hours” the plaintiff has worked, coupled with Hardee’s method of calculating overtime, has led to “an absurd situation” where the woman’s overtime rate was less than if she had not worked overtime.

According to the case, the defendant employs workers at roughly 300 franchised Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr restaurants across the U.S. The plaintiff says she was hired in March 2020 to work at a Hardee’s location in Fairburn, Georgia and was transferred a few months later to the defendant’s Lithia Springs location.

Per the suit, the plaintiff was promoted to an assistant manager position in September 2020 and was thereafter paid a base salary as compensation for her 50-hour workweek made up of five 10-hour shifts. Despite her 50-hour schedule, the plaintiff has regularly worked in excess of 50 hours and often puts in 60 or more hours, some of which go uncompensated, the case says.

The lawsuit claims Hardee’s has failed to pay employees for off-the-clock work in instances where the workers are required to:

• Work at other locations where they are unable to clock in;
• Spend time driving between stores;
• Pick up and deliver supplies or equipment;
• Attend mandatory manager meetings; and
• Work on their days off.

According to the case, the defendant has also failed to properly record employees’ hours worked, calculate their regular rate, and pay them for every hour worked, including overtime.

The lawsuit goes on to challenge Hardee’s calculation of workers’ overtime wages with the fluctuating workweek method when the restaurant has allegedly failed to meet the prerequisites for applying it, including ensuring that employees understand their base salary is meant to cover whatever hours they work; that the salary is paid irrespective of whether a full schedule is worked; that the salary is sufficient to meet minimum wage requirements during weeks in which the number of hours worked is greatest; and that employees are paid for all hours in excess of the statutory maximum at a rate of at least one-half times their regular rate.

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