Winn-Dixie Accused of Misclassifying Workers to Avoid Paying OT

A proposed collective action accuses the Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. grocery chain of improperly classifying cashiers and other workers as managers to dodge having to pay them overtime wages.

Winn-Dixie—a subsidiary of defendant Southeastern Grocers LLC—classifies customer service managers as executives exempt from the overtime pay requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act, but their primary duties—including cashiering, processing returns, cleaning stores, and restocking shelves—are non-managerial and so don’t qualify, according to the complaint filed Monday in US District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

“Winn-Dixie has maintained this common policy not to pay overtime wages to CSMs to save ...