A Florida federal judge has granted conditional certification to a collective action of service managers who alleged that Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. misclassified them as exempt and failed to pay them overtime. The collective action includes current and former Goodyear service managers who have worked more than 40 hours during one or more work weeks on or after January 2008 in any U.S. state, but did not receive overtime pay. The lawsuit seeks overtime compensation relief under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Goodyear argued that the Plaintiffs were not similarly situated because the duties of service managers varied from store to store. The court pointed out, however, that a Goodyear corporate representative testified that the basic responsibilities for service managers were consistent throughout the 663 stores and there was a reasonable basis for the Plaintiffs’ claim that there were other similarity-situated employees who wished to opt-in to the action.

Source: Law360