Panera Settles Class Action Wage Lawsuit for $2 Million

Panera Bread Co.'s $1.99 million settlement of a class action employment case was approved by a federal court March 29.

The settlement is fair, reasonable, and just, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said.

The plaintiffs argued that the restaurant chain improperly classified its assistant managers as exempt from federal and state overtime requirements, even though they “predominantly performed non-managerial work related to customer service, cashiering, food preparing, and cleaning.”

Panera changed its classification of assistant managers in November 2016 in anticipation of upcoming revisions to the Fair Labor Standards Act’s “white collar” exemptions.

Salaried assistant ...