Suits on Behalf of Home Depot Assistant Managers Moving in US District Courts

Attorneys for retailing giant Home Depot have responded to class action lawsuits filed earlier this year in U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey, which claim current and former
"assistant store managers" were misclassified as managers and denied millions in overtime pay and pension benefits. According to plaintiffs' co-counsel Della Bahan of Bahan and Associates, Pasadena, CA, the suits will now proceed into the discovery phase and plaintiffs can move for class action certification.

"The allegations are indeed true. These men and women have been given the phony title of 'assistant store manager,' but in fact have primarily been performing the work of hourly employees and are, therefore, entitled to overtime pay."

The plaintiffs argue that Home Depot purposely misclassified employees as assistant managers in violation of federal and state overtime laws and forced employees to work more than 40 hours a week without receiving standard overtime pay as required by law. Misclassifying them as "assistant store managers" also reduced their participation in a Home Depot employee retirement plan.

"We're dealing with the largest home improvement retailer in the country. In order to boost profits, the company is bilking hundreds of employees out of overtime pay and benefits that were rightfully theirs," said Ms. Bahan. "They have manipulated the system at the expense of the employees and it's wrong and unlawful."

The lawsuits, one on behalf of current assistant store managers and the other on behalf of former assistant store managers, were filed by four co-counsels: Ms. Bahan; Joseph Fine (Reitman Parsonnet, Newark, NJ); Gerald Jay Resnick (Deutsch Resnick, P.A., Hackensack, NJ); and Lee Squitieri (Squitieri & Fearon, LLP, Morristown, NJ). The suits were brought "on behalf of individually named plaintiffs and all assistant store managers employed by the
Home Depot in similar situations." All assistant store managers employed by Home Depot during the three years prior to the filing of the suit are eligible to participate in the class action. It is estimated that this number exceeds 500 current and former Home Depot employees nationwide.

A suit on behalf of former assistant managers Nick Aquilino and Ahmed Elmagraby and others and a suit on behalf of Edward Novak have been consolidated in U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey, in Newark.

The suits, brought as class actions, claim that Home Depot violated the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act as well as the Employment Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), and the New Jersey Wage and Hour Law, and statutory laws of Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan,
Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin.

Federal wage and hour regulations and the New Jersey State Wage and Hour Law define an employee as "exempt" (ineligible for overtime pay) when their primary duty consists of management of the company, or the department or subdivision of which they are employed, when they regularly direct two or three other employees, when they have the authority to hire or fire, they have and use discretionary power, when they devote less than 40% of their work to
non-exempt activities and when their weekly salary is a minimum of $400.00.

"Assistant store managers at Home Depot do not meet any of these criteria," said Mr. Fine. "In many instances, the employees' responsibilities and duties remained the same as before they were given their new titles. Many so-called 'assistant store managers' primary responsibilities are still mopping floors, taking out the garbage and stocking shelves -- all tasks
traditionally assigned to hourly employees."

The plaintiffs also say that the misclassification deprived them of benefits in the retirement benefit plan for Home Depot employees. Misclassifying employees as assistant store managers made them ineligible to receive the supplemental annual matching contribution of 4.5% that 'non highly' compensated employees were eligible to receive. It also delayed the
employees' eligibility for accrual of benefits in the plan.

Home Depot is the world's largest home improvement retailer and second largest retailer in the United States. The company employs over 300,000 workers and owns and operates over 1,700 stores in North America. Last year, Home Depot recorded $68.4 billion in net sales.