Two restaurant cooks are suing their former employer, alleging they weren’t paid overtime despite working more than 40 hours a week.
Carl Sturm of Orleans Parish and Jacob Hays who lives out of state, individually and behalf of others similarly situated, filed the suit Aug. 4 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana against 240 Decatur Street and corporate officer Jude Marullo, alleging their employer willfully violated the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
According to the complaint, Sturm and Hays were hired as “non-exempt” employees entitled to overtime pay under FLSA. But despite frequently working more than 40 hours a week, they were paid their hourly rate of $9 an hour for the overtime hours rather than the 1.5 times the hourly rate they were owed, according to the suit. The cooks left their jobs at the restaurant in July.
Sturm and Hays seek unpaid overtime wages, penalty wages and attorney fees, plus costs for themselves and other employees of the business who weren’t paid the overtime they deserved. They are represented by attorney Christopher L. Williams of Williams Litigation in New Orleans.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana case number 2:15-cv-03242-EEF-DEK.