Absopure Loses Bid to Nix Driver’s Wage Case Collective Status

Absopure Water Co. failed to undo a ruling allowing a former delivery driver to pursue overtime claims on behalf of a collective after a federal judge said the workers were similarly situated.

The bottled water distributor argued that the Fair Labor Standards Act collective should be decertified because Absopure compensated the workers in different ways. But that doesn’t “square with the record,” the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan said Tuesday.

Ex-delivery driver Justin Guy sued Absopure in 2020 for allegedly failing to make overtime payments when drivers worked more than 40 hours per week. Judge Mark ...