BATON ROUGE – A laborer hired to perform disaster restoration work after the August floods in the state alleges he was not paid and has filed a class-action suit.
De'Marcus Thomas filed a complaint on behalf of all others similarly situated on Aug. 29 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana against Wallace, Rush, Schmidt Inc. alleging violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and other counts.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that between Aug. 19 and Aug. 27, he served as a non-union contract employee for the defendant for 10 hours per day without being properly compensated. The plaintiff holds Wallace, Rush, Schmidt Inc. responsible because the defendant allegedly unlawfully failed and refused to pay him wages for hours worked, pa overtime premiums for extra hours worked in excess of 40 per week and failed to keep accurate time records.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks an order certifying this as a class action, appointing plaintiff as class representative and plaintiff's counsel lead counsel, statutory damages of 90 days of wages or twice the wages owed or both, attorney’s fees, costs and any other relief the court deems appropriate. He is represented by Galen M. Hair of Varadi, Hair & Checki in New Orleans and David Vicknair and Chris Meeks of Scott, Sevin & Vicknair in Metairie.
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana Case number 3:16-cv-00572