April 26, 2024
In re Lowe’s Companies, Inc. FLSA and Wage and Hour Litigation
In re Lowe’s Companies, Inc. FLSA and Wage and Hour Litigation, U.S. District Court MDL Docket No. 5:20-MD-2947-KDB-DSC (Western District of North Carolina, Statesville Division) was a proposed nationwide class and collective action on behalf of hourly managers. Plaintiffs alleged that Lowe’s required these employees to perform a series of loss prevention and security-related tasks off the clock. Econ One and Dr. Brian Kriegler were retained by the plaintiffs to devise and ultimately implement a methodology for determining the amount of alleged compensable time off the clock and estimated unpaid wages.
To aid the Court in determining the alleged amount owed to members of the putative class and FLSA collective, Dr. Kriegler presented a number of analyses in his expert report, including: (i) summary statistics based on hundreds of putative class members’ interrogatory responses and deposition transcripts, (ii) a breakdown of various types of alleged off-the-clock work, (iii) a data-driven methodology for identifying/quantifying when employees likely performed work off the clock, and (iv) an unpaid wages “calculator” for each additional compensable minute per shift, for each of 20 geographic regions at issue. The parties reached a settlement agreement for an undisclosed amount in 2021.