Waldbaum's, A&P and Food Emporium Overtime Pay Lawsuit
On June 24, 2004, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, with co-counsel, filed a class action lawsuit against The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, Inc., which operates A&P, The Food Emporium and Waldbaum's supermarkets. The plaintiffs, former employees of the stores, charge that the chains fail to pay employees overtime wages and delete hours actually worked from time records in violation of New York labor law.
The complaint seeks certification of a class of current and former full-time hourly employees of The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, Inc. (including A&P, Food Emporium, and Waldbaum's stores), in New York for past six years. The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, Inc., operates approximately 140 supermarkets in the state of New York.
Plaintiffs' motion for class certification has been fully briefed and argued and, as of January 2007, the parties are waiting for the Court's decision.
Previously, Lieff Cabraser represented approximately 900 current and former employees of A&P supermarkets in the greater New York City metropolitan area in a collective action lawsuit in federal court brought under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. The plaintiffs there likewise sought unpaid overtime compensation resulting from A&P's alleged failure to compensate them for work performed "off-the-clock." In May 2004, the federal court approved a settlement providing $3.11 million to the plaintiffs.
The current suit is brought on behalf of many thousands of current and former Waldbaum's, A&P and The Food Emporium employees throughout New York state.
Case Status
On July 3, 2007, New York State Supreme Court Judge Herman Cahn entered an Order granting class certification to plaintiffs' claims that A&P systematically denied overtime pay to their hourly employees. This Order means that the case will continue on behalf of thousands of cashiers, clerks, bakers, deli, and other hourly-paid workers in New York State who are challenging A&P’s alleged failure to pay overtime since 1998.
"We are pleased that the Court recognized that the workers' claims against A&P for willfully forcing employees to work 'off-the-clock' to reduce payroll expenditures are suitable for review on a class-wide basis," said Rachel Geman, a partner at Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein.
Contact Lieff Cabraser
Current and former hourly employees of A&P, The Food Emporium and Waldbaum’s who wish to report their work experiences and learn more about this lawsuit, please click here to contact a Lieff Cabraser attorney.
About Lieff Cabraser
Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, is a 50-plus attorney law firm with offices in San Francisco, New York and Nashville. Our firm is committed to protecting the rights of employees nationwide to equitable treatment and fair wages. Lieff Cabraser employment attorneys have represented thousands of employees seeking to vindicate their rights in cases involving gender and race discrimination, overtime pay and wage and hour violations, and the mishandling of funds in pension and 401k plans.
We served as counsel in a class action suit against Abercrombie & Fitch, which led to a novel, precedent-setting settlement in 2005. The settlement required the retail clothing giant to pay $40 million to Latino, African-American, Asian-American and female applicants and employees who charged the company with discrimination. In addition, Abercrombie was required to promote diversity among its workforce and to prevent discrimination based on race or gender.
We served as class counsel for approximately 25,000 female employees of,
and applicants for employment with, Home Depot. In 1998, the Court approved
a settlement of the case in which Home Depot agreed to modify its hiring,
promotion and compensation practices, and paid $87.5 million, one of the highest
amounts ever paid in a gender discrimination case.
Lieff Cabraser has obtained lost wages and benefits for employees in overtime pay lawsuits, including the successful representation of employees of Denny's, Carrow's, the advertising firm TMP Worldwide, the California State Automobile Association, as well as several corporations in the computer industry including IBM and Computer Sciences Corporation.
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