Schwebel’s responds to lawsuit

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Youngstown’s Schwebel’s Bakery Co. said Tuesday it would vigorously contest a class-action lawsuit that claims its driver-salesmen should be paid for overtime like hourly-paid employees.

The recently filed federal lawsuit specifically says the company misclassified its Ohio route-sales delivery drivers and denied them overtime.

But the company said it “properly pays those employees on a commission basis in full compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act.”

“The company pays all of its employees in accordance with all applicable laws and looks forward to the opportunity to demonstrate that this lawsuit is without merit,” the company said in a statement.

The case was filed this month under the Fair Labor Standards Act, which requires that hourly and other nonexempt workers be paid overtime at a rate of 1.5 times their regular rate for every hour worked in excess of 40 hours a week.

The bread-baking company that has been in business since the early 1900s is accused of classifying its route drivers as exempt-sales employees, so the workers are not paid overtime.

The lawsuit alleges the drivers are misclassified because their primary duty is to deliver baked products and manage inventory, not to make sales.

Schwebel’s has four baking facilities and 30 distribution centers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and West Virginia, according to the company website. Its products include Schwebel’s, Country Hearth, Cinnabon, Sun-Maid and Roman Meal brand names.