TruGreen Ltd. Partnership employees must resolve through arbitration their class action allegations that the company shorted its workers on wages, a Texas federal judge ruled, Law360.com reports.
Texas residents Aaron Johnson, Georgia Jackson and Bruce Bunning brought suit in February against TruGreen, accusing the ServiceMaster Co. subsidiary of violating minimum wage and overtime requirements through its use of a “fluctuating workweek” compensation system, in which employers may pay workers a salary plus a half-time rate of overtime when employee hours fluctuate from week to week.
“Review of the pleadings and the parties’ contract reveals that the contract at issue contains a valid agreement to arbitrate, that the dispute between the parties and all issues raised fall within the scope of the arbitration agreement, and no federal statute or policy renders the claims nonarbitrable,” U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel said.
“Further, the court finds that the class action waiver contained in the 2012 [contract] revision is valid,” the judge said. “Accordingly, the court will grant TruGreen’s motion to compel, strike plaintiffs’ class claims and compel the parties to arbitration.
“It is undisputed that plaintiffs were all at-will employees, and their signed compensation plans indicate that they continued employment with knowledge of the arbitration policy,” the judge said.
Plaintiffs’ counsel Galvin B. Kennedy of Kennedy Hodges LLP said, “We will likely appeal the decision and simultaneously pursue arbitration on behalf of our other more than 100 other TruGreen clients.”
The case is Johnson et al. v. TruGreen Limited Partnership et al., case number 1:12-cv-00166, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.
