Express Sued by Former Co-Manager Over Unpaid Overtime

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An individual formerly employed as a co-manager by apparel retailer Express, Inc. has filed a proposed collective and class action against the company claiming she and similarly situated workers were not paid proper overtime wages. According to the 20-page complaint, Express employs a “nationwide policy” of depriving its co-managers of time-and-a-half wages for all hours worked past 40 in a workweek by improperly classifying the employees as exempt from overtime. As with many wage and hour cases, the plaintiff claims that her job title was misleading given the actual nature of her day-to-day tasks.

“Although hired as a co-manager, [the plaintiff’s] primary duties were largely unrelated to the management of the store and were not meaningfully different from the hourly associates,” the case says of the plaintiff’s time working at a New Jersey Express location. “On a daily basis, [the plaintiff] primarily performed tasks including but not limited to: stocking and running merchandise, store recovery, trash disposal, and folding clothes, taking care of customer services, taking returns and exchange and other duties typically expected of hourly associates.”

The lawsuit alleges violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and New York and New Jersey wage and hour laws, since the plaintiff reportedly worked at stores in each of the states.