Mashel Law Files Wage and Hour Lawsuits Against Commercial Trucking Company for Failing to Pay Dispatchers Overtime Pay While They Were Working

Mashel Law recently filed separate lawsuits in the Middlesex County Superior Court on behalf of two former dispatchers who worked for a freight shipping and hauling company named Auscor Transportation Services, a division of Auslander Corporation (Auscor), for violating, among others, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by failing to pay our clients lawful overtime wages while they were working one week per month on-call. The lawsuit alleges that while working on-call, the Plaintiffs were required to take their company laptops and phones home with them and respond to calls from drivers throughout the course of the night. Despite the Plaintiffs having to perform on-call duties for a full workweek after having worked a full day at work at the transportation company's offices, Auscor saw fit to pay them a meager $100.00 stipend for all this extra time worked.

The lawsuits allege in detail how the Plaintiffs were required while working on-call to log on their laptops to assist on the road drivers no matter the hour of the night and could hardly catch a moment of sleep because the phone constantly rang. In the morning Plaintiffs would then have to report to the company office and share with their supervisors all the calls and business matters which took place during the night. It is further alleged that while on-call, the Plaintiffs were confined to their homes because they could not leave their company laptop and phones unattended. Consequently, the lawsuits claim that the on-call conditions were so restrictive, and the calls so frequent the Plaintiffs were unable to effectively use that time for personal purposes, and therefore, were entitled to overtime compensation at their regular rate for all hours worked.

The lawsuit seeks to recover damages against Auscor for willful violation of FLSA for all unpaid overtime wages calculated at a rate of 1.5 times the clients' regular hourly wage for all time worked in excess of 40 hours in a workweek, plus liquidated damages in an amount equal to the amount of unpaid overtime, and an award of reasonable attorney fees and costs.