Burberry Pays $2.54 million in Overtime Settlement

Luxury retailer Burberry has agreed to pay $2.54 million to its workers in settlement for its failure to pay employees overtime , aka “wage theft“. The class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of employees who say they were regularly required to perform work “off the clock”.

Employees claim Burberry forced them to stay an extra 30 minutes to an hour prior to clocking in or after clocking out in order to clean up or complete paperwork — for free. As in zero pay. Clearly a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. During the holiday season, the employees’ unpaid time would increase to an extra three to six hours a day. Burberry would defend its actions to its employees by simply stating “Burberry doesn’t pay overtime”.

Employers committing wage theft is much more common than a lot of people realize. Employees are legally entitled to at least minimum wage for all work performed and 1.5 times their regular rate of pay for all hours over 40. Forcing employees to perform work off the clock can result in employees not receiving all monies they are legally entitled to receive. This is what is known as “wage theft“- employers pocketing monies legally belonging to their employees.

Working off the clock can be a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act if it results in an employee making less than minimum wage for all hours worked or resulted in an employee working more than 40 hours a week without overtime compensation at 1.5 times their regular rate of pay.

Our office handles collective and class actions on behalf of employees who were not properly paid minimum wage or overtime regularly. If your employer has ever required you to work “off the clock”, feel free to contact us and we will gladly discuss the matter with you at no charge.