Dive Brief:
- A roofer for Florida-based Ultrack Construction filed a proposed collective-action lawsuit under the Fair Labor Standards Act on Thursday, alleging the company failed to pay overtime and retaliated against him for complaining (Cedeno v. Ultrack Construction).
- The plaintiff in Cedeno allegedly worked as a roofer for 11 hours daily, six days a week, with a one-hour lunch break, for a total of 60 hours per week. When he complained to the owner about not being paid overtime, he was allegedly told that “no one pays overtime in construction work.” He was fired shortly after raising the issue again.
- The roofer is seeking unpaid overtime for every hour worked over 40 during his four-month employment, retaliatory discharge damages, liquidated damages and attorney’s fees. He also wants to include any roofer and similarly situated individual that worked for Ultrack over the past three years.
Dive Insight:
The Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers to pay covered, nonexempt employees overtime pay for hours worked over 40 per workweek.
While it is common for salaried administrative, professional, executive and outside sales workers to be exempt from the FLSA’s overtime requirement, blue-collar workers — defined by the U.S. Department of Labor as those “who perform work involving repetitive operations with their hands, physical skill and energy” — are nonexempt.
“FLSA-covered, non-management employees in production, maintenance, construction and similar occupations such as carpenters, electricians, mechanics, plumbers, iron workers, craftsmen, operating engineers, longshoremen, construction workers and laborers are entitled to minimum wage and overtime premium pay under the FLSA, and are not exempt … no matter how highly paid they might be,” a DOL fact sheet explained.
According to the complaint in Cedeno, the roofer allegedly worked 5 a.m. to 4 p.m. from Monday through Saturday at a set hourly rate of $20. The company set and knew the workers’ hours and controlled his schedule, per the court document.
The roofer alleged the company also violated the recordkeeping requirements of the FLSA by paying him in cash and failing to provide paystubs showing the number of days and hours worked, wage rate and amount of taxes withheld. They also allegedly did not post any notice informing employees of their minimum wage and overtime rates, violating the law’s posting requirements.
The worker estimated he was owed $6,800 in overtime pay and liquidated damages.
According to a filing on Florida’s Division of Corporations website, Ultrack Construction filed articles of dissolution in February 2025 and is currently inactive. It listed a lack of customers and low revenue as the reason for its dissolution.
Overtime pay has been a volatile area throughout the last few years, as DOL raised the overtime threshold in July 2024 from $35,568 to $43,888, with the threshold set to increase again on Jan. 1, 2025. The rule was briefly in effect until a Texas federal court judge struck it down in November 2024, determining the agency had overstepped its authority. The Trump administration formalized its commitment to the previous threshold by rescinding the Biden-era rule earlier this year.
