Lawsuit Claims State College Area Qdoba Failed to Pay Overtime Wages

A federal lawsuit filed this week alleges the Centre Region location of a fast-casual Mexican restaurant chain failed to pay required overtime wages to employees.

Former employee Daniel Sbar claims Qdoba Mexican Eats, 1908 N. Atherton St., violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by not paying eligible staff one-and-a-half times their regular rate for work exceeding 40 hours in a week.

Sbar, who worked at the restaurant in the last three years, filed the complaint against Qdoba Restaurant Corporation on Tuesday in the U.S. Middle District Court of Pennsylvania on behalf of himself and all other “similarly situated” employees. His attorney, Patrick Howard, is seeking to have the lawsuit certified as a class action.

The lawsuit alleges that the practice of not paying hourly wage employees the proper overtime rate “has been broadly imposed” by the company.

Qdoba has has previously been sued for violations of the FLSA, Howard noted, and court records show a similar lawsuit filed against the company last year in U.S. Western District Court of Michigan is still pending.

Sbar claims that he and others “had hours that were required to be worked off the clock” and even when documented were docked from their paychecks “in an intentional effort to deny [them] pay for all hours worked, including overtime hours,” Howard wrote.

The FLSA, which was passed by Congress in 1938, requires employees to be compensated one and one-half times their regular rate for time worked in excess of 40 hours in a week, unless they are paid a monthly or annual salary. Sbar and other potential plaintiffs were paid hourly wages and classified as non-exempt, meaning they were required to be paid the overtime premium rate, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit is seeking back wages, interest, damages and attorney fees.