The Auto Zone employee class action lawsuit was settled in January 2005 and involved allegations that the company engaged in a number of practices which deprived employees of their right to organize a union and to be paid for their work. The complaint further alleged that the company failed to compensate workers for their time when they were away from the job. The case was settled before going to trial. The judge in the case, Judge Jack W. Lewis, found that there was sufficient evidence that the corporation’s management and maintenance policies deprived employees of their rights to receive fair wages and were guilty of negligence.
Auto Zone Class Action Lawsuit
The autozone class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of various employees who were employed at various Auto Zone stores in California and Massachusetts. There are more than twelve class actions that have been filed against the corporation. These include a claim that the corporation owed an African American employee overtime compensation for working eight hours per day, seven days per week, and three days per month, regardless of whether he was present in the store at the time.
Another case involves an African American employee who was entitled to two weeks of unpaid time off, but was not granted this entitlement. Another case involves an employee who was owed four weeks of unpaid time off but was not given any time off during the time he was absent from work. A claim was also lodged against the corporation for denying an employee his requested bonus because he did not qualify for the bonus based on his performance.
In its answer to the complaint, the corporation attempted to argue that it is not liable for punitive or negligent damages that are awarded to individual class members.
However, the court found otherwise and held that the corporation could be held liable for its failure to pay the overtime wages to employees. Accordingly, on July 4th, 2009 the court ordered a Class Action Lawsuit No. 4 on behalf of the eight overtime-dwelling employees.
The first step in filing a class action lawsuit is to notify the franchisor that there is such a lawsuit pending.
Failing to do so would result in a default judgment being entered by the judge. The next step in the process would be for the franchisor to notify the attorneys who would be handling the case. Once the attorneys are notified, they could start looking for a suitable Auto Zone franchisee to represent the class. If the attorneys find that there is no one suitable to represent the class, the case would need to be continued by the judge.
Prior to the beginning of the mediation process, the attorneys would determine how much money will be paid to the overtime class action settlement plaintiffs.
During the mediation, the process would be divided up between the lawyers who would be handling the case and the franchisees who are involved. Each side would send its own expert/itness witnesses to testify about what the specific circumstances were that led to the overtime compensation claim being granted.
The lawyers’ goal is to show that the non-exempt employees should be paid their regular wages because the company was liable for not paying them their regular wages. The franchisee’s goal is to show that the store closed down quickly and there was no negligence on the part of the company that caused the store to close down. The franchisee would be able to prove that the store was never legally closed down.
After the conclusion of the mediation and the filing of the complaint in the case, the lawyers would work out an amount that will be paid to the overtime-class action lawsuit plaintiffs and an amount that will be distributed among all the defendant franchisors. The money that is paid to the overtime-class action lawsuit plaintiffs will come out of the contingency fund that is built into the franchise agreement. The money that is distributed among the defendant franchisors will come out of the profits that they make from the sale of the franchise.
