First Management Services (Dispatchers and Mechanics)

The Defendant

Defendant First Management Services provides CDL-licensed drivers to perform both school bus and charter transportation services.

The Employees

• Position(s): hourly-paid dispatchers and mechanics
• Location(s): anywhere in the United States
• Time Period: February 2020 through the present.

The Claims in the Lawsuit

The Complaint alleges that dispatchers and mechanics regularly worked over 40 hours per week, but did not receive overtime compensation for all such hours due to First Management Services’ common unlawful policies that violate the FLSA, including causing hourly-paid employees to report fewer hours on their timesheets than they actually worked.

Case Status

02/10/23: the case was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.

How to Participate If you believe you are owed wages from the FLSA claims in the lawsuit, you can join the case by signing a “Consent to Join” form, which you can obtain HERE.

Until the Consent to Join form is filed with the Court, the statute of limitations for FLSA claims ordinarily continues to run. The statute of limitation under the FLSA is 2 years, and 3 years for willful violations. Thus, if you claim wages under the FLSA from 2 or more years ago, they may become unrecoverable if you delay in signing your Consent to Join form. You can also take other routes to preserve your rights, which may include hiring your own counsel at your own expense.

If you choose to join this lawsuit, you will be bound by any judgment on any claim you may have under the FLSA, whether favorable or unfavorable. This means that if you win, you may be eligible to share in the monetary award (if any); if you lose, no money will be awarded and you will not be able to file another lawsuit regarding the matters raised in the lawsuit.

If you are interested in participating in this case or have further questions, please contact our office by emailing FLSAGroup@jtblawgroup.com or calling (877) 561-0000.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Defendant discipline or fire me if I join the case?

No! The Fair Labor Standards Act prohibits retaliation and imposes harsh measures against employers who retaliate. For further information, please consult the Department of Labor’s Fact Sheet.

Will I have to testify or provide documentary proof?  

Not necessarily. Many employees obtain monetary recoveries in Fair Labor Standards Act cases without ever having to appear at court or for depositions. You are not required to provide documentary proof of your unpaid wages. In most cases, the employer is required to provide the employee’s payroll records to the employee and his or her attorney. In fact, the Fair Labor Standards Act mandates that employers keep accurate time and payroll records. The employer cannot escape this duty by requiring you as the employee to provide proof. However, it is still important that you preserve any physical or electronic evidence relating to the case that you currently possession.

Will Brown, LLC be my attorneys?

Employees who sign Retainer Agreements and/or Consent to Join forms will be represented by Brown, LLC with respect to the lawsuit and claims described above. You will not be required to pay any attorneys’ fees or court costs to the Plaintiffs’ lawyers at this time and not pay any attorneys’ fees unless you prevail. Rather, in the event the Plaintiffs prevail in the lawsuit, by either judgment or settlement, the Plaintiffs’ attorneys will request that the Court order Defendant(s) to pay the Plaintiffs’ lawyers their reasonable attorneys’ fees and reimburse them for any expenses.

How long will the case take?

It is very difficult to predict exactly how long a case will take. It depends on a variety of factors including the number of parties and claims involved, the rules and pace of the court, the complexity of the proofs, and the manner in which the employer defends the case. When and if a settlement is reached, additional time is needed to prepare settlement documents, calculate settlement allocations, and seek and await the court’s review and approval of the settlement. wage-and-hour cases typically take 2-3 years, but this can be shorter or increase considerably.