U-Haul Suit to Proceed as Class Action

A lawsuit accusing U-Haul International of not paying its California store managers overtime pay has been certified as a class action, allowing some 550 current and former employees to press their claims collectively, their lawyer said. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleges that the Phoenix-based company unfairly claimed that its California store managers were exempt from a state law requiring all employees who work more than 40 hours a week to be paid overtime. Under the exemption, employees who spend more than 50% of their time performing management duties do not receive overtime. But the U-Haul managers contend they often had to work cash registers and perform other duties for their subordinates, spending less than half their time managing. The managers’ lawyer, William E. Harris of Los Angeles, said he estimated the company owes his clients $8 million in overtime for the last four years. U-Haul’s lawyer, Mary Oppedahl, said she would file a writ to have the certification overturned. Because the plaintiffs would not have to account for their individual work activities, Oppedahl said the judge’s order “will seriously deny U-Haul its opportunity to prove that most, if not all, of the general managers are indeed properly classified as exempt.”