A Georgia restaurant worker is suing Capstone Restaurant Group LLC, which operates hundreds of Hardee's and Carl's Jr. fast-food franchises, claiming in federal court Tuesday that the company is forcing assistant managers to work unpaid overtime because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a potential collective action filed Tuesday in the Northern District of Georgia, Shonda Townsend of Union City said Capstone forced employees to "work an extreme number of hours consecutively" because of chronic understaffing and refused to pay overtime for the work.
Townsend's attorney Douglas R. Kertscher of
Hill Kertscher & Wharton LLP told Law360 his client worked for 36 hours straight multiple times, but because of the way overtime was calculated, her hourly rate ended up being less than her regular pay.
"Shonda has been required to work 60-80 hours a week, and this has taken a predictable toll on her physical health and family," Kertscher said.
Townsend said she and other assistant managers were required to work excess hours to keep stores open 24 hours a day during the pandemic and stay on the job when workers for the next shift were late or didn't show up.
Townsend is seeking to represent all assistant managers at Capstone stores who worked unpaid overtime in a collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Townsend wants assistant managers paid overtime at the standard time and a half method for time worked more than 40 hours a week and not using the fluctuating workweek method, which pays half-time for each hour worked more than 40 hours a week.
The fluctuating workweek method results in Townsend being paid less per hour than her regular pay rate, Kertscher said.
Townsend said she worked five 10-hour shifts since September as an assistant manager.
"However, she has been instructed to consistently work in excess of (but never less) than 50 hours," Kertscher said in the lawsuit.
Townsend said nonexempt workers were required to work off the clock and weren't paid overtime for driving between stores, working at stores besides the one they were assigned to, were not being paid for mandatory managers meetings and weren't being compensated for working on off days.
One Sunday, Townsend said, a general manager called her while she was in church and said fries and meat needed to be taken from the store in Newnan to the store in Fairburn, about a 20-mile drive.
After complaining that it was her day off and asking to be paid for the trip, the general manager refused, saying it was part of her duties as a manager to make the delivery. In another instance, Townsend said, another general manager told her the company was paying her enough already to do the extra work.
Under federal law, the collective group covered by the suit is anyone affected by the policy for two years before the case is filed, or three years if Capstone is found to have willfully violated the law.
"We contend that this violation was willful since, among other reasons, she complained to them directly about this," Kertscher told Law360.
A representative for Capstone Restaurant Group was not immediately available for comment Thursday.
Townsend is represented by Douglas R. Kertscher and Julie H. Burke of Hill Kertscher & Wharton LLP.
Counsel information for Capstone Restaurant Group was not immediately available Thursday.
The case is Shonda Townsend v. Capstone Restaurant Group LLC, case number 1:
21-cv-00494, in the
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
--Editing by Stephen Berg.
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