Migliaccio & Rathod LLP is investigating whether Pilgrim’s Pride properly calculated overtime compensation for hourly employees who received shift differentials or other guaranteed or nondiscretionary pay.
Reports provided for this investigation indicate that certain Pilgrim’s Pride employees may have received shift differential pay and other guaranteed or nondiscretionary compensation while also working overtime.
Under federal law, ordinary shift differentials and certain other forms of nondiscretionary compensation generally must be included in a Pilgrim’s Pride employee’s regular rate when overtime is calculated.
If an employee regularly receives additional compensation for working a particular schedule or satisfying predetermined conditions, calculating overtime solely from the employee’s base hourly wage may result in an overtime rate that is too low.
Employees May Have Experienced:
- Receiving evening, overnight, weekend, or other shift differential pay;
- Receiving guaranteed or recurring additional compensation;
- Working more than 40 hours during weeks when additional compensation was earned;
- Having overtime calculated only from the base hourly wage;
- Receiving differential pay separately from overtime on paystubs; and
- Receiving no overtime adjustment associated with qualifying additional compensation.
Potential Claims May Include:
- Failure to include shift differentials in the regular rate;
- Failure to include qualifying additional compensation in overtime calculations;
- Underpayment of overtime compensation;
- Improper calculation of overtime premiums;
- Violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act; and
- Violations of applicable state wage laws.
Signs You May Be Affected:
- You worked for Pilgrim’s Pride as an hourly employee;
- You received a shift differential or other recurring additional compensation;
- You worked more than 40 hours during weeks when you received that compensation;
- Your overtime rate was based only on your base hourly wage;
- Your additional compensation did not appear to increase your overtime rate; or
- Your paystubs show differential or other additional pay without a corresponding overtime adjustment.
If you have encountered these issues, we would like to hear from you. Please complete the contact form on this page, send us an email at [email protected], or give us a call.