A class action lawsuit accuses in-home geriatric health care provider WellBe of shorting pay of its customer service representatives.
Christine Purnell and Larry Lewis, former employees of WellBe, filed a lawsuit alleging wage and hour violations against the company, according to a complaint filed Oct. 24 in Chicago federal court.
The plaintiffs were initially hired as customer service representatives and were paid a salary. Despite working more than 40 hours per week, they did not receive overtime wages, according to the suit.
In March 2023, the plaintiffs claim they and other CSRs were changed from salary-exempt to non-exempt hourly employees without explanation, although their job duties remained the same.
Later, they were promoted to Supervisor CSRs, but were still classified as salary-exempt, according to the suit.
The plaintiffs claim that they were misclassified as exempt employees, as their roles primarily involved routine tasks and pre-determined phone calls under WellBe's strict control.
The plaintiffs claim they did not exercise independent judgment, manage employees or contribute to strategic business decisions.
WellBe applied a common policy, classifying all CSRs as salary-exempt based on the "administrative exemption," according to the suit.
The lawsuit claims that WellBe's actions violated wage and hour laws, demanding compensation for overtime hours worked and alleging the misclassification of the plaintiffs as exempt employees.
The plaintiffs are seeking judgment for unpaid overtime compensation.
They are represented by attorneys Samuel D. Engelson and John William Billhorn, of Billhorn Law Firm in Chicago.