Overtime for Assistant Managers

May 24, 2006, 12:00AM. By Jane Mundy

"The way this company does business is so unfair, especially for so many young kids, not being paid overtime. As soon as I quit my job, I went on the Internet and found www.lawyersandsettlements.com. Within a few days a lawyer got in touch with me and it hasn't cost me a cent. I highly recommend it for anyone who has had this kind of treatment," says Deborah Fleming of Livermore, California.

Fleming worked at Dollar Tree as an assistant manager. Part of the job required a lot of overtime just to get the work done. "They refused to approve my overtime but they knew it had to be done and they would schedule cashiers for four-hour shifts, they were all part-time. During that time the cashiers all had specific duties and it was impossible to meet all the demands of the job within that time frame," says Fleming.

"The stores close at 9 p.m. and they scheduled cashiers from 5 to 9 p.m. But they expected the store to be cleaned and cash counted by 9 p.m. As assistant manager, I would be cleaning the store and counting cash for about two hours after closing, and after my eight-hour shift. I usually got home around midnight, five days a week, for nine months. Sometimes seven days in a row. It really was too bad, the way we were treated. Everyone was treated this way.

I quit because they were only paying me $10 an hour and they paid male employees in my same position, even after they hired me, $14 an hour. I requested to speak to the District Manager. He asked me what my problem was and I said I couldn't work at this rate, it wasn't fair. He said 'I will give you a dollar an hour more and if you don't like it, you can leave.' I couldn't accept that so I said I would have to give two weeks notice. He said, 'You can leave right now.'

I found out through my co-workers that, three days later, he hired a man with no experience, at $14 an hour. (And they recently fired him for theft).

A law firm that contacted me from www.lawyersandsettlements.com is working on my case right now. They are following through with my overtime issue and also with a violation of the equal pay act. And they are also filing a class action lawsuit in regards to the out-of-state checks Dollar Tree issues to employees, i.e., making the employees incur a fee when the checks are cashed.

Before I opened a checking account in a bank, I had to pay anywhere from $5 to $10 for each check at a check cashing facility - such as Superior Check Cashing - because our checks came from Richmond, Virginia.

I figure I am owed a few thousand dollars in overtime. The few times Dollar Tree did pay overtime, it wasn't even the correct amount. Overtime should have been $15 an hour and they computed on the pay stub $9.46 an hour.

I have encouraged some of my co-workers to contact my lawyer. I still keep in touch with these kids, they are all good kids and I feel sorry for them. What incentives are being taught to young kids in these kinds of businesses? About five of them are now involved with my same lawyer, and that is just one store.