Aldi Employees Agree to Settle Class Action for $2 Million (2024)

Discount grocer Aldi has agreed to pay $2 million to settle a class action lawsuit brought by some of its workers in California who say they were not properly paid minimum and overtime wages, among other things.

The settlement came after the two sides entered into mediation in December to try to reach an agreement. It marks the second time in two years the Aldi has faced allegations of wage and hour claims and the second time the company chose to settle.

Under the terms of the settlement, submitted to U.S. District Court for the Central District of California for its approval, affected Aldi employees will receive anywhere from a couple of hundred dollars to around $1,700. The two lead plaintiffs stand to receive as much as $10,000 each.

California Class Action Claims

The California class action against Aldi started as two separate cases in 2019 filed by former employees who had the same basic complaints. Jeree Gant was employed by Aldi as an hourly-paid, non-exempt employee from October 2017 to May 2018 and filed a lawsuit against the company in February 2019.

Jennifer Lacey-Salas was also employed as an hourly-paid, non-exempt employee, in her case from August 2017 to January 2019. Lacey-Salas filed her lawsuit against Aldi in June 2019.

The cases were consolidated into one class action case, covering about 2,000 current and former Aldi employees, in federal court in March 2020.

Gant and Lacey-Salas accused Aldi of failing to pay minimum and overtime wages and of not providing them with meal and rest periods during their shifts. Once they left their jobs, the plaintiffs said, Aldi failed to pay their owed wages in a timely manner, failed to reimburse them for business-related expenses and filed to give them proper wage statements.

The former employees claimed Aldi’s behavior violated the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and California Labor Code.

The Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers in the public and private sector to pay a minimum wage ($7.25 per hour, as of 2009), pay overtime wages (not less than one and half times the rate of regular pay) for any time worked in excess of 40 hours during a work week, and sets certain recordkeeping and youth employment standards, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The California Labor Code requires employers provide workers with a 10-minute break for every four hours worked, in the middle of that work period, the state’s Department of Industrial Relations says.

Aldi has denied all the claims against the company.

Previous Settlement with Aldi Employees

In 2016, Aldi employees in Syracuse, New York filed a class action lawsuit against the grocery store chain claiming the company paid some of its staff flat-rate salaries for the same work its hourly wage earners were doing. The hourly workers qualified for overtime pay, but the salaried employees, who were store managers, did not.

According to a report on that case published by Syracuse.com, the website of the Post-Standard newspaper, the managers involved in the lawsuit were working “60 to 70 hours a week for an average pay of about $80,000.” A total of 520 plaintiffs ultimately joined the legal action.

Aldi agreed to settle the case, for $10 million, in 2018. The payouts varied widely based on the length of time each plaintiff worked for Aldi. The largest settlement was $20,000, Syracuse.com reported.

The discount grocer is also facing a lawsuit filed by four store managers in Maryland who claim they, too, were denied overtime wages in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The Aldi Class Action Lawsuit is Jeree Gant and Jennifer Lacey-Salas, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, v. Aldi Inc., Case No. 2:19-cv-03109-JAK-PLA, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Join a Free California Wage & HourClass Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you were forced to work off the clock or without overtime pay within the past 3 years in California, you have rights – and you don’t have to take on the company alone.

Get a Free Case Evaluation Now