Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 25, 1992 TAG: 9203250083
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY BUSINESS WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Former Food Lion workers, however, are to testify that the company has a scheduling system that has forced them to work without pay "off the clock."
The grocery chain will be spotlighted when the House subcommittee on employment and housing begins an investigation into the efficiency of the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division.
The Salisbury, N.C., company, which has supermarkets in Western Virginia, is involved because 205 claims for unpaid overtime have been filed against it since September. The company is one of six targeted for national investigations by wage and hour officials.
Complaints against Food Lion were collected by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. They included claims from at least 15 Virginia workers, including employees in Roanoke, Bedford, Staunton, Waynesboro and Bristol.
The claims were filed in two groups: 150 in September and another 55 on Feb. 27. The February filing also asked that the government file a class action lawsuit to stop the three-year statute of limitations on claims and that the government seek a civil penalty of $1,000 per violation, the union said.
No violations have been found against Food Lion. The company said in a news release that it welcomed the opportunity to correct "the half truths and innuendoes the UFCW has been promoting over the past decade."
The aggression of the union in collecting the complaints, even to providing a toll-free 800 number for employees to call, was an effort to "stir up employment claims and lawsuits" against the company and pressure it into "accepting unionization or staying out of unionized territories," Food Lion said.
The company said the UFWC had generated only 205 claimants, or about 0.2 percent of more than 100,000 current and former employees at 890 stores in 12 states.
by CNB