South Carolina – Alleging that the firm neglected to pay him and his colleagues for overtime, a former Volvo employee has sued the automotive giant claiming violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). According to the lawsuit, staff members of the Volvo facility in Ridgeville, South Carolina, were often refused compensation for time spent completing required activities both before and after their regular hours.
The claims
Working in the paint shop of the factory from February to September 2024, the former employee contends that he and his coworkers were forced to participate in activities like setting on and removing personal protective equipment (PPE) necessary for their duties. The lawsuit claims that these tasks cannot be completed at home or in the parking lot, thus staff members must arrive early and stay late without pay.
In his complaint, the plaintiff states that he often arrived at the facility 30 minutes before his shift to put on the necessary PPE and remained after his shift ended to remove it. This time, he says, was significant unpaid work. Under the FLSA, work done outside of regular shift hours—including preparation activities like wearing and doffing necessary gear—should be paid, especially if it helps an employee surpass a 40-hour workweek.
Altered records
The lawsuit also accuses Volvo of purposefully changing staff members’ timesheets to show just their scheduled hours, ignoring the actual working hours. This supposed practice essentially stripped employees their due pay for overtime. According to the complaint, Volvo “knew or should have known” that under federal labor laws these actions were illegal.
The complaint emphasizes that paired with regular work hours, the unpaid PPE-related duties regularly drove employees above the 40-hour limit. The FLSA requires workers who put in more than 40 hours a week to get overtime pay at a higher rate; this is something the plaintiff and his colleagues say they were routinely denied.
Other Volvo plants in South Carolina allegedly involved
The lawsuit claims that these procedures are not exclusive to the Ridgeville plant. It implies that other Volvo facilities in South Carolina might have similar practices for unpaid PPE time, so impacting potentially more employees. The lawsuit is demanding pay for others as well as for himself that he says is systematic wage theft…