$2 Million in OT Going to Furniture Chain's Workers
A court's ruling entitled more than 500 current and former delivery employees of Raymour and Flanigan Furniture to receive extra pay for overtime hours they worked.
The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development announced it is distributing more than $2 million to some 500 current or former delivery employees of Raymour and Flanigan, a 62-year-old, family-owned furniture business that is based in Liverpool, N.Y., and has stores in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, because the workers earned overtime pay but were not properly compensated by the company.
Raymour & Flanigan Furniture® has 86 locations and more than 4,400 employees according to its Web site, which traces the company's history since it was founded in 1947 in Syracuse, N.Y.
The company argued its delivery unit was a separate trucking business eligible to pay a special OT rate for which only trucking companies qualify, but a court ruled the delivery workers were part of the retail business and thus entitled to be paid time-and-a half for overtime hours they worked. Delivery workers who worked overtime hours between March 13, 2004, and April 31, 2009, are receiving checks, according to the announcement from the department's Office of Wage and Hour Compliance.
"This case is a victory for the workers of Raymour and Flanigan and underscores Governor Corzine's ongoing commitment to fair treatment of workers and fair competition among businesses," New Jersey Labor Commissioner David J. Socolow said in the news release.