Whiteman Law Firm successfully resolved the wage and hour lawsuit filed in 2019 against The Bruson Group, Inc. and two of its controlling officers. The suit was filed on behalf of four former employees who were denied overtime pay and other compensation in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the North Carolina Wage and Hour Act. A copy of the complaint may be viewed here.
The plaintiffs worked as caregivers in three residential treatment facilities operated by The Bruson Group. The group homes provide residential living, behavioral therapy, and psychiatric care to teenagers who have mental illnesses and/or behavioral problems. Plaintiffs, who were paid on an hourly basis, typically worked 50 to 75 hours per week, but were not paid overtime pay for hours worked in excess of 40 per week.
Plaintiffs alleged that the defendants violated 29 U.S.C. § 207 of the FLSA and section 95-25.4 of the NCWHA by refusing to compensate plaintiffs for hours they worked in excess of forty hours in a workweek at a rate of not less than one and one-half times their hourly rate per hour. Plaintiffs further alleged that defendants violated sections 95-25.6 and -25.7 of the NCWHA by failing to pay plaintiffs all wages earned. Plaintiffs requested the court to order defendants to pay them their unpaid wages, an equal amount of liquidated damages, and an award of attorney’s fee and costs.
On February 16, 2021, the Court entered a consent judgment in favor of the plaintiffs, and ordered the defendants to pay 100% of the plaintiff’s claimed damages, an equal amount of statutory damages under the FLSA and the Wage and Hour Act, and interest at the rate of 8% per annum. On April 29, 2021, the Court ordered the defendants to pay plaintiffs’ $75,020 in attorney’s fees and $527.15. The key rulings in the case were the Court’s denial of defendants motion to dismiss the attorney’s fee claim on mootness grounds and the Court’s allowance of plaintiff’s motion for attorney’s fees and costs. Those rulings may be viewed here and here.
© Andrew Whiteman 2021
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