On June 28, 2013, Riggan Law Firm, LLC, a St. Louis employment law firm, filed a collective action lawsuit on behalf of a group of its clients against St. Louis-based Directory Publishing Solutions, Inc. ("DPS") and its owner, Paul Dufour, to recover damages for the Defendants' failure to pay overtime wages. The plaintiffs in the case work for DPS as telephone sales representatives, and their job is to sell ads that are printed in telephone books and directories, including the Yellow Pages and White Pages.
The lawsuit alleges that prior to April 2013, DPS telephone sales representatives were unlawfully classified as exempt from overtime pay, and that the plaintiffs worked overtime hours (hour over 40 in a workweek) without receiving overtime pay in the amount of one-and-one-half times their regular rate of pay. The suit also alleges that in April 2013, DPS re-classified the telephone sales representatives from exempt to non-exempt status and switched them to an hourly pay arrangement, but that DPS did not pay the employees back overtime pay incurred prior to April 2013, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and Illinois law. The lawsuit also alleges that DPS failed to keep records of the hours worked by its employees, in violation of the law. The suit seeks recovery of unpaid overtime wages, liquidated damages, statutory penalties, attorneys' fees, costs, and expenses. To read a copy of the lawsuit, which was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, click here.
According to its advertising materials, DPS is a production and sales company that serves the independent telephone company market across the United States, and it provides full production and complete sales, including a print and online suite of Internet Yellow Pages, Websites, Video, and local search engine optimization. DPS is based in Wildwood, Missouri, and employs telephone sales representatives in various states, including Illinois, Nebraska, Tennessee, and California.
If you work more than forty (40) hours per week and are not provided with overtime pay, you may be entitled to additional compensation. To assert a claim, or to learn more about your rights, you should contact a St. Louis overtime lawyer.
