Janitors Suing Target for Unpaid Overtime

San Antonio, TXApproximately 29 janitors who used to clean Target stores in the San Antonio area will be presenting their case to a mediator in order to resolve their lawsuit over wages that the employees claim were unpaid. The employees state that a number of duties were performed in excess of 40 hours a week and that they were not for work over 40 hours.

In a ruling issued by Xavier Rodriguez, the U.S. District Judge, he ordered both Target, based out of Minneapolis, and the plaintiffs to have the case heard before a mediator. The damages and the unpaid wages that the former janitors are estimating are owed to them are between $1 million and $2 million. There is also a pending companion case in Houston federal court that is similar to this one.

The stores that are being sued in the case are five Target stores in Austin, nine stores in San Antonio, and the Oklahoma-based business called Jim's Maintenance & Sons. All the stores and Jim's Maintenance were named as defendants as early as 2006. It was May 2006 that Jims was terminated from the contract it held with Target. However, Target states that it never used workers employed by Jims in which Target maintains its innocence in the case due to that fact.

The decision by the judge to have the case heard before a mediator simply means that the case continues and not that anyone has won or lost the case or that Target is at fault. This prolongs the case, but can result in a better outcome for one or all parties involved in the case.

The suit states that both Jim's and Target employed the janitors. The janitors state that they were required to work anywhere between 55 and 70 hours per week while only receiving one day off every other week. They all worked overnight shifts and did regular maintenance and cleaning in the stores that included cleaning bathrooms and mopping floors.

For the hours put in performing these duties, the workers claim they did not receive overtime pay for the hours worked in excess of 40 hours each week. Federal law states that employers must pay 1 1/2 times the employee's rate of pay per hour for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours. However, an attorney for Jim's stated that the Internal Revenue Service made the determination that the workers were independent contractors and that they had signed contracts with Jim's that stated that is all they were. But the suit alleges that managers at Target scheduled the work hours, required them to work the excessive hours, and directed the crews in their job duties.

This particular case comes at a time when a pending case in Houston involving 160 janitors who performed work for Target are stating that they were not paid overtime wages from the major retailer. The attorney for the plaintiffs state that the two cases should let large employers know that they cannot prey on workers who may seem unaware of legal rights, may seem unskilled, or may not speak English very well. It has also been said that the reason why Target is responsible for the unpaid wages is because Jim's went under. The attorney for the plaintiffs has also stated that the companies cannot avoid their responsibilities to pay workers by simply stating they are independent contractors. However, Target did state that they never employed employees of Jim's; therefore they deny that there was ever a joint contract in place between them and Jim's Maintenance & Sons.

By Ginger Gillenwater