Lawsuits
Lowe's was involved in a small cluster of class action lawsuits, that all revolve around Lowe's employee payment system. The cases focused on a pay practice known as "variable rate overtime". Variable rate overtime has the effect of paying a decreasing overtime rate the more hours a person works in a week. The suits alleged that salaried managers who worked 40 to 50 hours per week, were improperly compensated for that time. The variable rate overtime ended in the first quarter of 2006.
The first case was filed in October 2002 by employees of the Lowe's store in Shawnee, Kansas. In September 2005, the cases were certified as class action. Lowe's has four similar cases in New York, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. The lawsuits for New York, Indiana, and Kansas resulted in an out-of-court settlement on September 22, 2006.
The lawsuit in Pennsylvania became a class-action lawsuit in June 2004, with 550 employees. The case in Ohio was filed by ten former Lowe’s employees, in August 2004.
Lowe's is still facing multiple lawsuits from its Loss Prevention Managers citing that they were ← as exempt employees and therefore denied overtime pay. The managers assert that they were forced to work a minimum of 48 hours per week which saved Lowe's and its investors, millions of dollars every year. Lawsuits have been settled for $2.95 million in California and $6.2 million in Texas.
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