SAS Retail Services Employment Lawsuit

Workers have complained about labor-related issues at SAS, and specifically about issues related to driving:
– “[U]se personal car, poorly reimbursed for mileage.”
– “[P]ayroll is the worst experience ever”
– “[C]hecks are always short gas mileage not being pa[i]d as said”
– “[I]nsane driving distances with no mileage reimbursement”

Merchandisers are frequently asked to drive long distances to worksites where they will stay overnight. Under federal labor law, if this driving occurs during the hours when the worker normally works, the merchandising employee should be paid for both their hours driving and gas expenses. For example, if a merchandiser ordinarily works 4:00 PM to 10:00 PM, four days a week, then SAS Retail Services should purportedly be paying for any driving to an overnight worksite that occurs between 4:00 PM and 10:00 PM. This is true whether the driving occurs the day before the scheduled workday, or if it occurs any other day of the week that wouldn’t normally be a work day.

In November 2018, customer development managers (CDMs) for Advantage Sales & Marketing LLC filed a lawsuit against Advantage Solutions alleging they were misclassified as exempt from receiving overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

The California CDMs also alleged that they were misclassified as exempt under California law and should have received California overtime pay. The Advantage employee lawsuit also alleges that Advantage Solutions violated California meal and rest break requirements and failed to provide itemized paystubs required by California law.

The Advantage employment lawsuit is limited, however, to CDMs who worked on the North American Nutrition team since December 2016. The named plaintiff worked for the Gatorade team at Advantage.

[Click here to read a copy of the complaint.]

Some wonder whether a broader employee class action will be filed on behalf of all merchandising employees who work for Advantage, Daymon, or SAS Retail Services.

Daymon is reportedly issuing a new arbitration clause to workers at Advantage Solutions or SAS Retail Services asking them to agree to arbitrate all disputes on an individual basis — waiving their right to participate in a class action. Daymon reportedly is allowing employees to opt out if they submit an opt out notice by late 2018.

However, allegedly, not all SAS or Daymon employees received this arbitration policy. This arbitration policy may not be enforceable, if the workers were unable to view the contract and then opt out.

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