BCS facing second employee lawsuit

Cynthia DeLong was employed as the custodial coordinator for Barrow County Schools from Feb. 25, 2008 until her termination on Oct. 27, 2008.

In a lawsuit filed on Nov. 12, 2009 in Federal Court, DeLong claims that she “worked an amount of time that was more than forty (40) hours per workweek for which she was not paid the overtime differential.”

At the time she was hired, DeLong’s position was advertised as being non-exempt from the overtime provisions codified in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA).

DeLong’s attorney, Janet Hill said one of the reasons DeLong took the position was her expectation of overtime wages due to the number of hours that would be required in the position.

“At the time she was hired, she was told it was an hourly position,” Hill said.

DeLong’s responsibilities included processing custodial work requests, ordering materials, maintaining records and completing other associated responsibilities.

According to her attorney, the position was not managerial in nature and should not have been exempt from requirements to pay overtime wages.

In May 2008, DeLong complained that she was not being paid overtime. Allegedly, DeLong was demoted and transferred to a new supervisor immediately thereafter. Five months later she was terminated.

Hill said Barrow County Schools provided a “rather convoluted reason” for ending DeLong’s employment. According to Hill, once DeLong complained about not being paid overtime, her career “went South.” Hill said DeLong was essentially terminated for claims of insubordination stemming from her wage complaint.

In the suit, Hill claims the Barrow County School District willfully violated the FLSA by refusing to pay DeLong overtime and attempted to justify their actions by classifying DeLong’s position as managerial.

Hill said DeLong is owed approximately $27,000 in overtime pay. Under Federal law, if a jury finds that Barrow County Schools willfully violated the FLSA, the school district may be required to pay double that amount in addition to attorney fees and costs of litigation.

The school district has yet to respond to the suit and did not provide a comment on the pending litigation.

The lawsuit is not the first FLSA complaint filed by DeLong.

In April of 2002, DeLong sued the Forsyth County School District regarding minimum wage and overtime compensation.

The suit was dismissed in November of that same year.