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Whole Foods Market Group, Inc.
ABBEY SPANIER INVESTIGATES WHOLE FOODS FOR UNFAIR EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES RELATED TO UNPAID OVERTIME COMPENSATION AND UNCOMPENSATED OFF-THE-CLOCK WORK Abbey Spanier is currently investigating Whole Foods Market Group, Inc ("Whole Foods") for unfair employment practices. Whole Foods allegedly does not pay its retail store workers for all time worked, thereby denying those employees overtime wages for any hours worked over 40 hours in a workweek. The affected workers include hourly employees who held or hold positions as Team Leaders or Assistant Team Leaders in any of the company's retail stores throughout the nation. Upon information and belief, because of explicit or implicit pressure exerted by corporate management and general understaffing in Whole Foods stores, these employees regularly perform uncompensated off-the-clock work. Off-the-clock work includes, but is not limited to, time spent arriving at the store early to check and respond to work-related e-mails and paperwork before clocking-in; work performed during time designated as personal time off; work performed during uncompensated meal periods; work performed after clocking out; and work performed at home. For covered, non-exempt employees, the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") and state wage and hour laws require that an employer pay for all time worked by an employee. The FLSA requires overtime pay at a rate of not less than one and one-half times the employee's regular rate of pay for each hour worked in excess of 40 hours in a given workweek. An employee's workweek is a fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours – seven consecutive 24-hour periods. A workweek does not need to coincide with the calendar week; it may begin on any day and at any hour of the day. Some states also have enacted overtime laws. Where an employee is subject to both the state and federal overtime laws, the employee is entitled to overtime according to the higher standard (i.e., the standard that will provide the higher rate of pay). Abbey Spanier has been representing employees in class actions and collective actions in federal and state courts throughout the United States for over a decade. Please visit our unfair employment practices page for more information about the firm's recent recoveries and achievements in this field. If you are a current or former employee of Whole Foods and would like to discuss our investigation, please tell us your story. Nancy Kaboolian |