Lawsuit Seeks to Inspect Caliber Collisions’ Pay Practices

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Caliber Holdings Corporation (which does business as Caliber Collision Centers), Caliber Collision, and Caliber Collision Express are facing a former employee’s claims that they failed to pay him proper wages. In a proposed collective action, the man says he worked for Caliber Collision as a body technician and a service advisor responsible for examining vehicles, taking pictures of the damage, and entering the data into the defendants’ computer. The case argues that the plaintiff and other employees were forced to “step into the shoes” of insurance adjustors and performed the same services for insurance companies without the authority and training. The plaintiff was paid a commission of approximately five percent of the cost of repairing each vehicle, the suit says, but many times his pay allegedly fell below minimum wage because his commissions did not exceed the weekly advance he received. According to the suit, the defendants had a policy of advancing a weekly amount regardless of commissions earned, and then if closed sales were less than this amount, adjusting the next week’s earnings.

The plaintiff also claims the defendants required him to work at least 50 hours per week but did not pay him time-and-a-half overtime wages for the hours he worked above 40. A 30-minute lunch break was deducted from his wages each day, the suit alleges, regardless of whether he took a break or not. The plaintiff says he complained to the defendants about their pay practices and was terminated in retaliation.