Payless Shoes Settles Another FLSA Executive Exemption Misclassification Suit

On the crest of the FLSA collective action wave that has swept the nation in recent years is the never-ending parade of exemption misclassification cases targeting Manager/Assistant Manager positions.  In yet another iteration of this phenomenon, Payless Shoesource Inc. has agreed to settle such a class action for just under $3,000,000.   The case is entitled Shallin et al v. Payless Shoesource, Inc. et al and was filed in federal court in Connecticut.

One-third of the settlement (a cool million) goes to the lawyers and the balance will be divided up among the almost 2200 class members who worked at Payless stores from March 2011 to the present.  The theory of the case was that the Company misclassified the Managers as exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act.  The case began in March 2014 when former store managers filed the suit.  This is so often the pattern—a fired or separated employee starts an action and all of a sudden, in typical FLSA collective action