A former housekeeper for Clarion Hotels has filed a class action lawsuit taking aim at Clarion Hotels’ overtime policy. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and many state laws prohibit employers from paying less than time-and-a-half to employees that work over 40 hours per week.
The complaint, filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, alleges that the Philadelphia-area hotel promised to pay housekeepers an additional $5 for every room cleaned beyond the required 16 rooms during their scheduled eight-and-a-half hour shift. The complaint alleges the supervisors routinely added more rooms to the housekeepers’ service list causing them to regularly work overtime. Assuming that each room takes at least half an hour to clean, $5 per room likely does not equate to required time-and-a-half rate.
The suit seeks class and collective claims under both the FLSA and Pennsylvania’s minimum wage laws. The complaint reports that the class could include a few thousand members.
The FLSA was enacted in 1938 and established standards for minim wages, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and child labor. If you believe you are owed overtime, you have a right as an employee to request to be compensated overtime wages. While there are anti-retaliation laws, not all comments qualify for anti-retaliation protection. You should talk with an attorney to see if your employer has potentially withheld overtime wages.