Publix sued over alleged off-the-clock work

Three former employees of Florida-based Publix Super Markets filed a collective action lawsuit on Thursday in Florida's Middle District Federal Court against the grocery retailer over alleged off-the-clock work.

According to the lawsuit filed by the former hourly assistant department managers at Publix grocery stores in Florida, Tennessee and Georgia, the supermarket chain failed to pay for hundreds of overtime hours. The plaintiffs allege Publix owes them overtime pay for these off-the-clock hours, which included time spent doing tasks in the supermarkets before clocking in and after clocking out.

The former employees claimed they would clock out for meal breaks but were routinely interrupted during unpaid breaks to handle work matters, such as answering text messages from supervisors or assisting customers.

According to the lawsuit, the former employees estimate that for years they worked an average of five unpaid overtime hours per week. They are asking Publix to pay the unpaid overtime, as well as damages, though a dollar amount is not specified in the suit.  

Publix, in an email to Winsight Grocery Business, said it "takes the claims seriously and will respond appropriately."

“As a practice, Publix does not comment on pending litigation," the grocer said. "However, due to the nature of the claims involved, we find it necessary to respond. As an associate-owned company, we are proud to provide our associates with a comprehensive benefits package–including company ownership–in addition to paying our associates in accordance with the law."

The lawsuit proposes a collective action under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act to include similarly situated employees who worked within the past three years across Publix’s 1,300 locations throughout the Southeastern part of the U.S. Any Publix assistant department managers who may have been affected can join the collective action.

Morgan & Morgan and Shavitz Law Group, the firm representing affected Publix employees who worked in  Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina, said they believe the grocer committed wage left beyond what is alleged in the filing. 

“Every year, according to the Economic Policy Institute, American workers lose as much as $50 billion per year to wage theft," Morgan & Morgan attorney Ryan Morgan and Shavitz Law Group attorney Gregg Shavitz said in a statement. "Our clients have experienced something many workers face as we all become reachable on our phones at any time of day or night—that companies expect employees to be in constant communication but fail to track this time worked. It’s unacceptable to force hourly workers to work outside of their shifts and to not pay workers for their time. We believe that the assistant department managers’ allegations only scratch the surface of Publix off-the-clock conditions. We will work to uncover all the evidence about the extent of these alleged harmful practices in order to hold Publix accountable and recover every possible dollar of these workers’ rightfully earned money.”

Publix is one of the country's largest employee-owned grocers, with more than 240,000 associates on its payroll. The Lakeland, Florida-based grocery retailer operates stores in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia.