ADM has been hit with a class action lawsuit accusing the agribusiness giant of allegedly not paying its day rate workers all of the overtime pay which they allegedly are owed.
The plaintiffs accuse ADM of failing to pay overtime wages to its so-called day rate workers. According to the lawsuit, the company allegedly misclassifies these workers as "exempt seamen" and pays them a flat daily rate, irrespective of the total hours worked in a week. The suit alleges that this practice violates the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by depriving non-exempt employees of overtime wages for all hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek.
According to the complaint, Marret and other similar workers spend most of their time loading or unloading barges, and not working as a "seaman."
The plaintiffs seek to expand their action to include all ADM day rate workers on ADM's barge fleet who were not paid overtime wages in the past three years.
The plaintiffs are represented in the action by attorneys Maureen A. Salas and Douglas M. Werman, of the firm of Werman Salas, of Chicago; Michael A. Josephson and Andrew W. Dunlap, of Josephson Dunlap, of Houston; and Richard J. (Rex) Burch, of Bruckner Burch PLLC, of Houston.