A lawsuit filed against Publix in October that claims employees weren't paid for all the overtime they worked has grown to include 18 department managers.
Lawyers for Morgan & Morgan and Shavitz Law Group filed the lawsuit on Oct. 26 in a federal court based in Tampa. Initially, the complaint was brought by three employees.
More people are expected to join the lawsuit, a spokesperson for Morgan & Morgan said. In October, Andrew Frisch, a lawyer at Morgan & Morgan, said they expected the lawsuit to eventually
include hundreds if not thousands of people.
“If they have knowledge and they’re aware that this work is happening off the clock, they need to pay it. They can't just hide their head in the sand and say, oh, we didn’t know about it because it wasn’t on a time sheet or time clock it,” Ryan Morgan, a lawyer at Morgan & Morgan, said in October.
The complainants worked at Publix stores in Florida, Georgia and Tennessee. The updated lawsuit includes employees who worked locally in the Tampa Bay area at stores in Weeki Wachee, Spring Hill, Palmetto and Bradenton.
Publix Amended Complaint by ABC Action News on Scribd
According to the lawsuit, Publix allegedly required assistant department managers to work overtime hours, didn't pay them for all hours worked, including pre-and post-shift work off-the-clock required by the company, didn't pay for unpaid meal breaks and any time spent outside of Publix stores "communicating with supervisors and co-workers, and other directives, off-the-clock."
“This is something we see in our cases across the country, of off-the-clock work. Especially with being more and more connected every single day with our devices,” said Morgan.
Publix responded with the following statement in October when the lawsuit was filed. Normally, the company said it doesn't comment on pending litigation.
"As an associate-owned company, we are proud to provide our associates with a comprehensive benefits package – including company ownership – in addition to paying our associates in accordance with the law. We take these claims seriously and will respond appropriately.
