Lawsuit claims Detroit Tigers failed to properly pay hundreds of hourly workers overtime
(CBS DETROIT) — A lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court claims that the Detroit Tigers organization failed to accurately calculate overtime pay for potentially hundreds of its hourly workers.
The case, filed Tuesday in the Eastern District of Michigan federal court against the Tigers, seeks status as a collective action suit.
Derron Jones of Detroit is listed as the plaintiff. Should the court grant collective action status, attempts would be made to contact all current or former hourly employees who worked for the organization during the past three years to allow them to opt into the case.
The number of those people, according to allegations in the lawsuit, could be in the hundreds.
As non-exempt employees, the lawsuit said, the hourly workers could expect to receive pay at a rate of 1.5 times their regular rate of pay for any overtime hours worked.
In Jones' case, he was a shipping and receiving employee at Comerica Park from March 2017 through August 2024. His base pay was $15.91 an hour at the end of his employment. There also were shift premiums and non-discretionary bonuses included in his contract, and that is the focus of the dispute.
The lawsuit claims that shift premiums and other non-discretionary reimbursements were not specifically excluded from the overtime calculation; and should, by default, be included along with the base pay.
"There is a statutory presumption that remuneration in any form must be included in the regular rate calculation," the lawsuit claims.
Jones is seeking what he claims as back pay, attorney fees and other costs "as appropriate under the Fair Labor Standards Act."
The Tigers organization says it cannot comment on the lawsuit as it has not received the complaint. You can read the full text of the lawsuit below:
Derron Jones vs. Detroit Tigers, Inc. by CBS Detroit on Scribd