Progressive Waste Solutions of FL Sued for Unpaid OT, Retaliation

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A welder formerly employed by Progressive Waste Solutions of FL, Inc. has filed a proposed class action against the company alleging he is owed unpaid overtime wages and that he was unlawfully fired for complaining to a supervisor about the non-payment.

The plaintiff alleges he worked at least 20 overtime hours during his first weeks of employment for no pay. In December 2016, when he complained about needing to get paid for the 20 overtime hours, he also said “he should not be obligated to work through his lunch” while his employer was deducting 30 minutes from his daily pay, the suit claims. The case alleges a supervisor confronted the plaintiff shortly after, telling him “he needed to work through lunch regardless and he needed to stop complaining about unpaid overtime” or he was likely to get himself fired. According to the lawsuit, however, complaining about unpaid overtime was only one factor in the plaintiff’s eventual termination.

The allegations of “retaliatory discharge” stem from when the plaintiff suffered a work-related injury in November 2016, according to the suit. The plaintiff says he requested medical treatment, to which he was told by a supervisor to “get an ibuprofen” from another worker. After complaining of persistent lower back pain and alerting his employer that it was interfering with his ability to do his job, the suit claims, the plaintiff was allegedly told by the supervisor that he “must stop complaining or else he would be fired.”

After this went on for some time, the case says, the plaintiff was called into a meeting with superiors in February 2017 after “he had been heard complaining” about lower back pain, at which point he was fired.