"Menard Hit With Class Action Suits", 13 Mar 2018

...[T]wo law firms are suing the company in federal court in Columbus, Ohio “on behalf of workers who say they weren’t properly paid wages and overtime.”  The suit alleges “that Menards failed to properly pay about 160 current and former hourly Menards employees in 13 states, violating the Fair Labor Standards Act… and state wage and hour laws.”  The suit claims that Menards has violated this law by not paying overtime of 1.5 times the regular rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of 40 per work week, by not paying workers for short breaks lasting 20 minutes or less, not paying them for attending certain store meetings and for job training required of workers...The lawsuit comes just months after three similar suits were filed last fall in Indiana and Ohio...[I]n response to the recent class action suits, the company responded that any workers’ disagreements must be handled through private mandatory arbitration, without the right to appeal, rather than in public courts...But “the workers pushed back, pointing out that Menards had agreed” as part of the NLRB settlement “that it wouldn’t force employees to waive their rights to sue.”...