Los Angeles, CA: A settlement has been reached in a potential unpaid overtime class action lawsuit filed against Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. by an employee who alleged the restaurant chain failed to pay associate managers overtime. Terms of the settlement are not currently available.
Filed last April by Kenneth L. Proper, an assistant manager in an upstate New York eatery, the complaint alleged the chain of restaurants and gift stores was in violation of federal and state labor law and New York State Department of Labor codes, rules and regulations.
In the lawsuit, Proper alleged that despite being classified as a salaried employee, he performed duties that are not defined as "professional"under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and state labor code therefore entitling him to overtime pay for the more than 40 hours a week which he regularly worked.
The lawsuit further claimed that Cracker Barrel failed to reimburse associate managers for expenses incurred when driving their own vehicles between restaurant locations for delivery and pickup of supplies.
The suit sought to certify two subclasses of current and former associate managers: a federal group including more than 2,000 current and former Cracker Barrel employees who worked at the restaurant from April 11, 2011, onward, and a New York class including more than 100 current and former employees who were employed at New York state locations beginning April 11, 2008.
The case is Kenneth L. Proper v. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc., case number 3:14-cv-00413, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York.
