Crash Champions Employees Illegally Underpaid?
Last Updated on June 1, 2026
At A Glance
- This Alert Affects:
- Crash Champions estimators, customer service representatives, paint preppers, technicians, parts assistants, accounts payable specialists and associate service advisors who may have been underpaid.
- What’s Going On?
- Attorneys working with ClassAction.org believe that both salaried and hourly employees of Crash Champions may have been underpaid, either through employment misclassification or through miscalculation of their overtime rates. They’re now looking to speak with more workers who may be affected and could potentially join a lawsuit against the company.
- How Could a Lawsuit Help?
- If successful, the Crash Champions lawsuit could help employees recover unpaid wages and other compensation, as well as potentially force the company to alter its business practices.
- What You Can Do
- If you’ve worked for Crash Champions in one of the above-listed roles and believe you may have been underpaid, fill out the form on this page.
Attorneys working with ClassAction.org have filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of Crash Champions employees who may have been underpaid, and they are looking for current or former employees who would like to opt in to the action.
They believe that Crash Champions may have violated both the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the New Mexico Minimum Wage Act (NMMWA), and that both salaried and non-exempt hourly employees may have been underpaid for their overtime in various ways.
Specifically, the Crash Champions overtime lawsuit says that some salaried employees may have been misclassified as exempt from FLSA overtime pay requirements and that some hourly employees’ overtime rates may have been miscalculated, both potentially resulting in underpaid overtime for certain Crash Champions employees nationwide.
If you’ve worked for Crash Champions as an estimator, customer service representative, paint prepper, technician, parts assistant, accounts payable specialist or associate service advisor and put in more than 40 hours in at least one week, fill out the form on this page to learn more about what you can do.
What Is Employee Misclassification?
Under the FLSA, employees are classified as either exempt or non-exempt from receiving certain protections, including minimum wage and overtime pay.
The following factors are generally considered when determining which classification an employee falls into:
- The amount of money the employee makes per week;
- Whether the employee is salaried or hourly; and
- What duties the employee performs in a regular workweek.
Generally speaking, manual laborers and other blue-collar workers, as well as paramedics, firefighters, civil servants, and police and other first responders, are classified as non-exempt and entitled to minimum wage and overtime. Workers who make less than $684 per week are also considered non-exempt.
The following types of employees, should they meet all the relevant exemption criteria, are generally classified as exempt and not entitled to overtime:
- Executives;
- Administrative employees;
- Computer employees;
- Learned or creative professionals (such as scientific specialists or certain artists);
- Outside sales employees; and
- Highly compensated employees (meaning those who make $107,432 or more annually and routinely perform at least one of the duties of an executive, administrative or professional employee).
In these cases, one of the most important criteria in determining exempt or non-exempt status is whether an employee spends the majority of their working hours performing duties or tasks unique or otherwise specific to their role.
For example, a store manager who spends most of their time working a register or stocking shelves may not qualify for the administrative employee exemption if they are not performing managerial tasks for most of their working hours. In this case, the manager may be classified as a non-exempt employee entitled to overtime pay.
According to the Crash Champions lawsuit, estimators were classified as exempt from receiving overtime even though their duties did not “involve management of the business, formulation of company policy nor the exercise of independent discretion on matters of significance,” which the suit says are key qualifying factors in determining whether the workers fall under one of the FLSA’s exemptions.
Notably, Crash Champions reclassified its estimators from salaried, exempt employees to hourly, non-exempt employees in January 2025, the lawsuit says. The attorneys argue that estimators, and potentially other Crash Champions employees, could be owed back pay for overtime worked before the reclassification. They also believe that Crash Champions may still underpay non-exempt employees for their overtime by failing to properly calculate their overtime pay rates.
How Is Overtime Calculated?
According to the FLSA, overtime pay is calculated as one-and-a-half times an employee’s regular pay rate. That regular pay rate, the Department of Labor specifies, includes both an employee’s average hourly rate for a given pay period and the average of all other forms of compensation they receive in that period, including bonuses and other non-discretionary pay (with a few exceptions).
The Crash Champions overtime lawsuit claims that the company failed to include “all non-discretionary bonuses and incentive compensation in [its employees’] regular rate[s] of pay.”
Specifically, employees’ “ATE” bonuses (awarded for meeting certain sales goals) and “Transition” bonuses (awarded each month an employee remained employed at their Crash Champions location) were not included in their regular rate and overtime calculations, the lawsuit alleges.
Because of this, the suit claims, Crash Champions employees were underpaid for their overtime and are owed back pay.
How Could a Crash Champions Lawsuit Help?
If successful, the overtime lawsuit could help Crash Champions employees recover unpaid wages and potentially force the company to alter its business practices.
What You Can Do
If you worked as an estimator, customer service representative, paint prepper, technician, parts assistant, accounts payable specialist or associate service advisor for Crash Champions and put in more than 40 hours of work in at least one week, fill out the form on this page.
After you get in touch, an attorney or legal representative may reach out to you directly to ask you some questions and explain how you may be able to join the lawsuit. It costs nothing to fill out the form or speak with someone, and you’re not obligated to take legal action if you don’t want to.
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