July 15, 2005
Last week in the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, MLA trial counsel Bob Brewer and Bob Cocchia from the San Diego office helped RadioShack Corporation prevail in the first of four class action lawsuits. In this and three other cases pending in federal courts throughout the country, RadioShack's store managers have sued, demanding payment for past overtime hours worked under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). For several years, RadioShack has fought Plaintiffs' allegations, arguing that its store managers were properly classified as "exempt" from the overtime requirements of the federal law as managerial employees.
Although RadioShack was the Defendant, the company carried the burden of proof to establish that its store managers were not entitled to overtime under the FLSA and identical state statutes since they were managerial employees. The Plaintiff class (533 present and former store managers in PA) claimed that the "manager" title did not mean anything, as the position of store manager was focused on sales rather than on management of the store and its employees.
Despite bearing the burden of proof and facing numerous outdated training documents which suggested that store managers focus on their personal sales numbers, the MLA trial team demonstrated to the jury the numerous management responsibilities of these employees, as well as the testimony inconsistencies of the Plaintiffs' witnesses. As part of the defense, RadioShack's President and CEO testified at trial. After a ten-day trial, the jury was out less than three hours before reaching a 10-0 defense verdict.
Providing invaluable assistance and support were partner Ross Hyslop; of counsel Marybeth Christensen; associates Jim McNeill, Randy Grossman, Luke Pistorius, John Hayashi, Amy Ljungdahl, Johnny Traboulsi, and Joseph Casas.
Despite the number of these types of cases that are filed and pending throughout the country, very few have gone to trial. This fact makes the victory secured by MLA even more significant to the retail industry, as well as to our client RadioShack. The next scheduled trial is a nationwide class action (3,300 members) slated for trial in Chicago in February 2006, as well as two other cases in Wisconsin and Florida not yet scheduled for trial.