Santander Bank Loses Bid To Toss Mashel Law Overtime Class Action Suit

Morganville, N.J., March 8 2017 – This past Tuesday a federal District Court Judge sitting in Trenton, New Jersey denied a motion filed by Santander Bank, N.A. (Santander) seeking to dismiss a nationwide putative collective and class action lawsuit brought against it by a former employee on behalf of herself and the class of Santander branch operation managers (BOMs) she seeks to represent to recover for the bank’s failure to pay overtime wages in violation of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and New Jersey’s Wage and Hour Laws (NJWHL). The lawsuit alleges, among others, that Santander compelled its BOMs to work “off the clock” without pay to avoid their branch offices having its scorecard lowered due to paying overtime wages.

In denying Santander’s motion to dismiss as premature, United States District Court Judge Peter G. Sheridan rejected the bank’s argument that Sanchez’s complaint failed to adequately plead facts capable of satisfying class action requirements. Judge Sheridan concluded that, “When viewing the Complaint, in the light most favorable to Plaintiff [Sanchez], it is pled with sufficient facts to support a plausible claim for class certification. In her Complaint, Plaintiff describes the role of BOMs and claims that these BOMs were coerced into not reporting overtime hours, despite being entitled to overtime pay as non-exempt managers. As such, since the Complaint sufficiently pleads a claim for class certification … Defendant [Santander]’s motion to dismiss class allegations is premature.”

Crystal Sanchez’s attorney, Stephan T. Mashel, Esquire of the law firm of Mashel Law, L.L.C., located in Morganville, New Jersey, says his client seeks class certification and an award of money damages because Santander unjustly enriched itself by failing to pay its workers overtime pay at the legal overtime pay rate required under federal and state laws. “We are very pleased the court found our second amended complaint sufficiently pled facts supporting plaintiff’s FLSA collective and NJWHL class action claims. We now look forward to discovery, establishing class certification, and proving these claims at trial on behalf of our client Crystal Sanchez and the class of Santander branch operation managers she seeks to represent.”