From PostalReporter.com
“This collective class action was filed under the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act and seeks damages on behalf of class members who (1) have had overtime disallowed; (2) have had time changed by a supervisor; (3) have worked through lunch to complete their route; (4) have worked “off the clock” and/or (5) have worked overtime and not been paid. If you are a City Postal Carrier in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma or New Mexico, contact us today to join the lawsuit. You may be entitled to compensation, however, the law requires that you join this lawsuit in order to be entitled to a monetary recovery, if any.”
Please call us toll-free today at (800) 460-2756 or visit www.USPSLawsuit.com to join online.
According to the suit filed June 10, 2009
The Collective Class (“Class Members”) is made up of all persons who are or have been employed as City Postal Carriers by the USPS as non-exempt employees in the Southwest Area of Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma at any time during the Class Period that commences as of three years prior to the filing date of this Complaint and continues until the final disposition of this case.
During the relevant Class Period, the USPS failed or refused to pay overtime compensation to the Plaintiffs and the Class Members as required by federal law in addition to not compensating the Plaintiffs and the Class Members for “off the clock” labor, requiring the Plaintiffs and the Class Members to work through lunch to complete their routes and improperly altering the time records of the Plaintiffs and the Class Members to deprive them of full compensation. Plaintiffs seek relief individually and for the Class Members pursuant to the applicable provisions of federal law, to remedy the Defendant’s failure to pay all wages due and pay appropriate overtime compensation.
Plaintiffs and similarly situated Class Members are employed, or have been employed, with USPS in the past three years at City Postal Carriers. The Plaintiffs and similarly situated Class Members work as City Postal Carriers in the USPS throughout the Southwest Area of Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma Each of the Plaintiffs and similarly situated Class Members are paid hourly.
In an effort to save overtime costs, the officers and executives of the USPS have determined to give the Plaintiffs and the Class Members overburdened routes (i.e., routes that require more than eight (8) hours to deliver) but require the Plaintiffs and the Class Members to deliver the mail in eight (8) hours or less.
After casing a particular day’s mail volume and prior to leaving the post office to begin delivery, the Plaintiffs and Class Members inform the USPS (by and through their supervisors) on a daily basis if it will take more than eight (8) hours to complete their routes. The Plaintiffs and Class Members are able to determine whether it will take longer than eight hours to case the day’s mail, deliver the mail and return to the post office based on their knowledge and experience and the mail volume on the particular day. Plaintiffs and Class Members have been routinely denied overtime (or disallowed overtime) even when it is clear that more than an eight hour shift will be required to complete their tasks and deliver the mail. Because many Plaintiffs and Class Members are denied overtime before they begin actual delivery of the mail, Plaintiffs and Class Members regularly work through their lunches, or take abbreviated lunch breaks, in order to deliver mail as quickly as possible on overburdened routes.
Many days, however, even if the Plaintiffs and Class Members work through their lunches, their routes take longer than eight hours to complete and overtime is incurred. Upon returning to the post office after spending more than eight hours casing their mail and delivering it to their customers, the Plaintiffs and Class Members are still denied overtime compensation. Defendant, through policy implemented from within the USPS headquarters and that filters down to Regional Vice Presidents and local station managers, routinely and knowingly refuse to compensate the Plaintiffs and Class Members for time in excess of eight hours in a given day. Defendant, acting by and through its various managers, routinely alters time records to deprive the Plaintiffs and Class Members of earned compensation and overtime, requires Plaintiffs and Class Members to complete beginning or end of day tasks “off the clock” and disallows overtime requests.
The USPS has created an environment, specifically in the Southwest Area, wherein Plaintiffs and Class Members are working during their lunch hours (not relieved of all duties) in order to deliver their route in the time demanded so as to avoid harassment or potential discipline. Moreover, Plaintiffs and Class Members also work “off the clock” before and after their work shift in order to deliver the route that they have been assigned in the time demanded by the USPS. Class Members who have not been able to deliver the route in eight (8) hours or less have faced discipline, including emergency suspension and proposed termination.