COLLECTIVE ACTION WAGE LAWSUIT
PLEASE READ THIS CAREFULLY
INTRODUCTION
This is to inform you of the existence of a collective action lawsuit seeking unpaid overtime wages and statutory penalties on behalf of individuals who worked for Honda Development & Manufacturing of America, LLC but were not timely paid all overtime wages for weeks where they worked more than 40 hours in a single workweek since the time of the Kronos outage in December 2021 through February 28, 2022.
Even if Honda may have repaid some or all of your unpaid wages, Plaintiffs are asserting that you (and others) may be entitled additional money in double statutory damages since you weren’t paid when the payment was due. Also, if Honda’s calculations were inaccurate for your repayment, or if your actual hours were not identified, joining this case will allow you to work with lawyers to obtain the additional money you may be owed.
Based on company records, it has been determined that you have a right to participate in the lawsuit. If you wish to participate, you must sign and complete the “Consent Form” mailed to you and return by February 8, 2025. You may also submit your Consent Form online.
DESCRIPTION OF THE LAWSUIT
On February 15, 2022, the Plaintiff in this case, Michael Albert, filed a lawsuit against Defendant Honda Development & Manufacturing of America, LLC (hereinafter referred to as “Defendant”). The lawsuit is proceeding in the United States Federal District Court in Columbus, Ohio, and includes other related cases that have been consolidated with this action.
The lawsuit alleges that as a result of the Kronos outage in December 2021, Defendant failed to pay employees all the overtime that it should have paid. The lawsuit also alleges that Honda is further liable for statutory damages under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
More specifically, the lawsuit claims Honda violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by failing to properly record all hours employees worked and further failing to timely pay employees all overtime wages for weeks where they worked more than 40 hours in a single workweek. In the absence of complete, accurate time records, Plaintiff contends employees may establish hours worked through other means such as individual testimony and other non-written evidence. The lawsuit seeks the recovery of unpaid overtime wages and liquidated damages alleged to be due in addition to any late payment of compensation by Defendant. In other words, although the Court has been apprised that Defendant has issued some payments during the pendency of this lawsuit due to the Kronos cyber security incident, Plaintiff alleges that additional liquidated and statutory damages are still due. Specifically, Plaintiffs claim double statutory damages above the 10% premium paid by Honda with its reconciliation payments are still due. Plaintiffs further claim Honda's analysis of the Kronos records and determination of the reconciliation payments was inaccurate. The lawsuit further seeks payment of attorney’s fees and costs.
Honda Development & Manufacturing of America, LLC denies the allegations and asserts that it acted lawfully in response to the Kronos outage by paying employees a set amount of overtime pay at the beginning of the outage, establishing an interim timekeeping method within a few weeks of the outage, paying associates with a 10% premium as soon as it could for any differences between the amounts they were paid and what Kronos records indicate they should have been paid, and declining to require associates to pay back any overpayments it made to them during the outage.
The lawsuit is in its early stages. The Federal Court has not decided who will win this lawsuit.