USL Soccer Club Phoenix Rising FC, Owners Carded with Unpaid OT Suit

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United Soccer League club Phoenix Rising FC, LLC, which does business as Phoenix Rising Football Club, and 14 individuals with ownership of the team are the defendants in a proposed collective action claiming the parties improperly classified employees as exempt from overtime pay. 

Citing potential Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Arizona Minimum Wage Act violations, the eight-page complaint claims the plaintiff, who worked in sales and client retention, and similarly situated employees were expected by the defendants to work seven days a week, up to 16 hours per day. The lawsuit further alleges proposed collective members were told by the defendants that Phoenix Rising does not pay overtime and that employees should expect to work long hours during the season, the time for which “could be made up during the offseason.”

The case later claims a co-worker of the plaintiff was fired after informing the team’s CEO that they were allegedly violating federal overtime law. The terminated co-worker, the lawsuit continues, then sent a letter to the individual defendants notifying them that they were in violation of the FLSA’s overtime rules. The team’s owners then reportedly paid sales team members “an anomalous additional salary” on their May 2017 paychecks yet failed to explain the additional compensation amounts, which the case claims were tracked, for all intents and purposes, as a bonus to keep the workers quiet.