McDonald's shaved hours off of employees' time cards

In the latest of unpaid overtime lawsuits popping up nationwide, one of the most recent is recently filed class action lawsuit alleging that McDonald's is tampering with shift records in an effort to cut costs. Allegedly more than 12 McDonald's restaurants in New York — all owned by the same person — have shaved hours off of employees' time cards.

Plaintiff Jeffrey Schuyler is at the forefront of these unpaid overtime lawsuits that target Ralph Crawford, a successful McDonald's franchise owner. The alarms went off when Crawford began requesting alarmingly high time punch changes. Suddenly, hundreds of employees' overtime hours were changed to eight-hour shifts. But Crawford might not be the only one to blame.

While Crawford was the person actually physically changing the time cards, the class action lawsuit claims that the McDonald's corporation encouraged it. Allegedly, a manager is alerted with a warning message on the time card management screen when an employee works overtime, scaring the managers into changing the records since being paid time and a half isn't conducive to making money.

“Time Shaving” a regular practice at McDonald's

Schuyler was told by his supervisor that “time shaving” was a regular practice at McDonald's. When he checked other employees' time records he was shocked to find managers were regularly erasing one full hour from employees' shifts. According to the lawsuit, when he realized what was happening, he complained and as a result was demoted and then fired.

Schuyler was given $1,000 to make up for his lost hours. When the time shaving continued, he complained again — this time to Crawford directly.

Following a meeting between Crawford and Schuyler, Schuyler consulted a wage and hour attorney and filed a class action lawsuit against McDonald's along with the support of hundreds of employees. The case alleges that McDonald's tampers with time sheets and forces employees to work through breaks.

Peter K. Levine A Professional Law Corporation http://www.peterlawfirm.com