Dr. Brian Kriegler consulted with a molding and manufacturing company

A wage & hour class action lawsuit was filed against a molding and manufacturing company in California. The class consists of hourly employees, who allege that their employer systematically deleted overtime from timekeeping records, thereby denying class members compensation for hours worked. The class members also allege reporting time violations, i.e., they claim they were told to arrive for work without the guarantee of at least four paid hours which is required by law.

Econ One was retained by counsel for the molding and manufacturing company to analyze timekeeping records and address reporting time pay issues. Dr. Kriegler addressed plaintiffs’ allegations that overtime was systematically deleted from the timecards by examining a representative sample of over six years of electronic timekeeping records. Dr. Kriegler found that: (1) if an employee worked overtime, that time had to be approved by a supervisor; (2) the vast majority of overtime deletions were for less than 10 minutes per day; and (3) oftentimes, an employee’s timecard showed overtime that was approved by a supervisor. Collectively, these results suggested that the time deletions were not systematic, but rather, that the supervisors were exercising judgment as to whether overtime was worked and approved. In order to address reporting time pay issues, Dr. Kriegler utilized daily rosters and sign-in sheets, as well as declarations of class members and supervisors. Dr. Kriegler concluded that for a given work day, there was sufficient information to identify whether an employee showed up for work, as well as the amount of work performed according to the time card. In this ongoing matter, Dr. Kriegler has provided deposition and trial testimony during the liability phase.