NJ Corporate Cleaning Company Denied Workers Proper Overtime Pay, Lawsuit Alleges

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A proposed class and collective action claims DME Janitorial Services LLC and EH Flooring Services LLC have required workers to put in significant amounts of overtime without paying them proper time-and-a-half wages.

The two plaintiffs say they worked for the defendants, who provide corporate cleaning and decontamination services, during the COVID-19 pandemic and put in up to 90 hours per week without receiving statutory overtime wages.

According to the lawsuit, the defendants’ failure to pay workers in accordance with state and federal labor laws has been “intentional, willful, and in bad faith.”

Per the case, the plaintiffs respectively began working for the defendants in April and March 2020. According to the suit, the workers provided cleaning services at several Wayfair facilities in Cranbury and East Windsor, New Jersey and a 500,000-square-foot Global Industries Services facility in Robbinsville Township, New Jersey. The plaintiffs and other cleaners were considered essential workers during the pandemic and primarily responsible for wiping, mopping, sweeping, sanitizing and disinfecting office spaces, hallways, cafeterias, bathrooms, parking lots and other areas, the suit says. While performing their duties, the plaintiffs wore face shields, disposable gowns, face masks and other personal protective equipment, according to the complaint.

The first plaintiff says that while he worked 32.5 hours during his first week with the defendants in late April 2020, his weekly hours steadily increased over the next few months until he was working 111.5 hours per week between September 2020 and January 2021. From April through November 2020, the plaintiff was paid $12.00 per hour before his hourly wage increased to $16.00 for the rest of his employment, the case relays.

The second plaintiff says she regularly worked 70 hours per week between March 2020 and January 2021 and received $12.00 per hour.

According to the suit, the defendants failed to pay the plaintiffs time-and-a-half overtime wages for all hours worked in excess of 40 each week, in direct violation of state and federal labor laws. The case claims it was the defendants’ common policy and practice to “willfully deny[]” employees proper overtime pay and instead pay them instead at their straight-time rate for every hour worked.

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