A class-action lawsuit accusing Sonic Automotive Inc. and a number of its Houston-area stores of violating labor laws will proceed, a Texas federal judge has ruled.
The decision rejected Sonic’s bid to dismiss the case filed on behalf of porters, valets, car washers, detailers and shuttle drivers. The suit accuses the dealership group and the stores of failing to pay minimum wage and overtime and failing to pay for all the hours the employees worked. Sonic has disputed the allegations in court filings, arguing it wasn’t the workers’ employer for purposes of the wage and hours law.
The plaintiffs were employed through now-defunct Rascoa, which had a supply and service agreement with Sonic, the Feb. 25 decision said. They claim they were assigned to individual stores and received uniforms or badges with the dealerships’ individual logos, and that Sonic and Rascoa “had joint authority to hire and fire them,” jointly controlled their pay rates and jointly supervised and controlled work schedules and conditions of employment.
The parties are now conducting pretrial discovery to identify which employees are covered by the suit.
An Idaho dealership has agreed to pay $45,000 to a fired service employee who was injured in an on-the-job accident. The Jan. 5 settlement resolved an Occupational Health and Safety Administration lawsuit against Dennis Dillon Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram.
According to court filings, Ronald Frederick Jr. was one of three employees involved in a 2016 accident at the Caldwell, Idaho, store, but the only one injured.
After he reported the incident, the store twice ordered Frederick — but not the other two workers — to take a urine test. He unsuccessfully protested to the service manager that the requirement was unfair. He then contacted OSHA and was fired three days later, according to the suit OSHA filed on his behalf.
The dealership didn’t admit to any violations in the consent judgment, which requires the store to provide Frederick with a “neutral” job reference and prohibits the dealership from discussing why he left the company “other than to say that it was for personal reasons.”
The order also prohibits discrimination against employees filing OSHA complaints.