Lawsuit Alleges Payroll Records Falsified at High-Grossing Home Depot Store, According to Outten & Golden LLP

FLUSHING, N.Y., July 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Two former bookkeeping employees at the Flushing, N.Y. store of home improvement giant Home Depot, Inc. filed a federal class action lawsuit alleging that hours were routinely shaved from payroll reports, improperly cutting wages from hundreds of workers' paychecks.

The practice violated state and federal labor laws, according to Outten & Golden LLP, the New York law firm that filed the case Tuesday on behalf of Dora Hernandez and Debra Gutierrez in the United States District Court of New York for the Eastern District.

The lawsuit alleges that Home Depot store managers were pressured to keep labor costs low and that a Flushing store manager ordered computer payroll records to be altered in violation of federal Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") and New York state labor laws. The law firm will seek certification of the case as a class action.

According to the complaint, after Ms. Hernandez objected to the scheme, the manager was transferred out of the Flushing store and the practice stopped. He returned as the store's head manager, however, and the scheme resumed. In October 2003, he terminated Ms. Hernandez, who had worked for the company for more than five years, while she was on vacation. Ms. Gutierrez reported receiving the same instructions from the manager to shave payroll hours after Ms. Hernandez had left the company.

Attorney Jack Raisner, of Outten & Golden, said, "Shaving hours from payroll is all too common in the retail workplace. But it is distressing to find it at this store which has been reported to be the chain's highest- grossing in the nation and in the community where Home Depot co-founder Arthur Blank was raised."

Outten & Golden attorney Adam Klein said, "Overtime-eligible employees are commonly misled by managers about issues such as working through lunch or what 'approved' overtime is, but the bottom line is, shaving payroll hours is a violation of wage-and-hour laws."

Ms. Hernandez said, "We brought this suit because this type of activity hurts the workers who can least afford it. Most people working at companies like Home Depot need every penny they earn, and we certainly earned what we believe we are owed."

The case is "Dora Hernandez and Debra Gutierrez v. The Home Depot, Inc.," (CV-05 3433).

Attorney Contacts: OUTTEN & GOLDEN LLP Jack Raisner (jar@outtengolden.com) Adam Klein (atk@outtengolden.com) Tarik F. Ajami (tfa@outtengolden.com) Web: http://www.outtengolden.com/ Toll-Free Phone: (877) 468-8836