Ex-workers Sue Hershey for Overtime

Thursday, April 17, 2008

BY TOM DOCHAT

Of The Patriot-News

Three former sales employees with The Hershey Co. have sued the chocolate candymaker, saying they were denied overtime pay after their responsibilities were altered under a realignment plan earlier in the decade.

They are seeking class-action status on behalf of sales employees. The suit was filed last week in federal district court in northern California.

The former employees said Hershey changed their responsibilities in 2003, resulting in less time spent on the sale of products and services.
Instead, the lawsuit contends, the workers would stock Hershey products and realign them by freshness dates, and make sure that pricing and marketing materials were in place and accurate.

In short, the lawsuit says, the sales workers became "glorified merchandisers."

The lawsuit adds that merchandisers are not exempt from overtime regulations requiring payment of time and half for work of more than 40 hours a week. The lawsuit says Hershey required sales employees to report to their first customer by 7 a.m. and continue meeting customers throughout the day.

"Hershey identified virtually every task that its sales force workers were to perform, and these tasks nearly all fell within the general responsibility of what is known in the food and snack industry as 'merchandising,'" the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit says Hershey executives should have been aware of the overtime rules.

It says that former Hershey CEO Richard H. Lenny and current CEO David J. West -- Hershey's senior vice president of sales in 2003 -- were with Nabisco in the late 1990s when the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment Standards Administration, brought an enforcement action against Nabisco over the classification of more than 3,000 sales representatives.
Nabisco resolved the matter by changing the work classifications and paying $5 million to the workers, the suit says.

Hershey spokesman Kirk Saville said the company does not comment on litigation.

Thomas J. Brandi of The Brandi Law Firm in San Francisco, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said his firm has received "very favorable feedback"
from former and current sales workers supporting the allegations. He estimated the number of affected workers will reach the high hundreds.

"Clearly, Hershey's executives have tried to increase their profits on the backs of their devoted sales workers, without paying them their due," he said.

Filing the lawsuit were Julie Campanelli, Sabrina Anderson and Nancy Smith. Campanelli and Anderson worked in California, while Smith worked in Charlotte, N.C., and Tennessee.

In addition to Brandi's firm, the plaintiffs are represented by David C.
Feola of Evergreen, Colo. Feola represented some former Hershey sales employees in an age-discrimination lawsuit related to the 2003 sales staff realignment. The parties in that lawsuit reached undisclosed settlements.

TOM DOCHAT: 255-8216 or tdochat@patriot-news.com

ON THE WEB

For information, go to: www.hersheyovertime.com