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Important Notice, Please read carefully:
Southwest Research Institute (SWRI)
and/or Alion Science and Technology
Corporation (ALION)
May Owe you Money for Your Work as their
Employee
If you WORK or worked for SWRI and/or ALION AS
LABORATORY TECHNICIANS, ANALYSTS,
CHEMISTS, MONITORING TECHNICIANS, AND
OTHER NON-EXEMPT EMPLOYEES,
or in another similar hourly-paid
position in the last three years, you
must act to receive any unpaid overtime
that SwRI and/or Alion may owe you. |
A
number of employees have filed lawsuits against Alion Science and
Technology, Inc. ("Alion") and Southwest Research
Institute ("SwRI") to recover alleged unpaid wages and overtime
for pre- and post-shift activities, and work during "lunch periods."
Plaintiffs allege that it was policy and practice
of both Alion and SwRI to deny wages and overtime pay to its hourly employees at the NECDF in
Newport, Indiana. Alion's and SwRI's willful failure to
pay employees their earned wages and overtime compensation violates
the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”)
and Indiana Laws.
The lawsuits
are brought as collective action and class actions to recover unpaid
wages and overtime compensation and interest thereon, liquidated
damages and other penalties under Federal and Indiana
laws.1
The lawsuits are
currently pending in the United States District
Court for the Southern District of Indiana (SwRI Case
Number:
2:09-cv-00328-LJM-WGH and
Alion Case Number:
2:09-cv-00329-LJM-WGH). As of this time, the
Courts have not established any liability on the
part of Alion or SwRI.
If you are a current or
former employee of Alion and/or SwRI, who is or was
employed in the past three years, as
Laboratory Technicians, Analysts, Chemists,
Monitoring Technicians,
and/or in another similar hourly-paid position at the NECDF, you
may be entitled to join in this lawsuit, and if
the case is successful, you might be able to
recover lost wages or overtime alleged in these
lawsuits.
This Website tells you how to
participate in
the lawsuit(s) if you so desire, and provides
important information about these cases.
If you work or worked as
a
Laboratory
Technician, Analyst, Chemist, Monitoring Technician, or in another similar position
hourly-paid position at the NECDF for Alion and/or SwRI,
you were supposed to be paid for all the time you were permitted or
required to work. Further, any time you were permitted to work over 40 hours in a week
should have been paid to you at a rate of time and one-half of your
"regular rate" of pay.
Plaintiffs allege that
SwRI and/or Alion failed to pay for the time spent in the following activities
that were performed by plaintiffs and other similarly-situated
employees each work day:
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At the beginning
of the shift: Employees picked up their mask carriers
at the mask trailer, went through the ECF, (monitoring techs changed into
Alion or SwRI provided clothing), performed shift turn over with the
out-going shift, and then "officially" started their work
day. Employees were considered on the clock at their
official shift start time and thus were not paid for the
pre-shift activities from the time they picked up their mask
carriers to the time their shift officially started.
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At the end of the shift:
Employees deposited their mask carriers in the mask trailer
at the end of their shift. Employees were not paid for
the time from the official shift-end time to the time they
deposited their mask carriers back at the mask trailer.
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Meal periods:
Employees were not paid for the 30-minute meal periods, during which the, among other
restrictions, employees:
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were required
to be "on call" at all times including during the
meal periods;
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were not
permitted to leave the double-fenced area (CLA);
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were required
to respond to call backs immediately; and
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were
frequently and regularly called back to work.
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Plaintiffs
have filed the lawsuits on behalf of themselves and also on behalf of other
current and former SwRI and/or Alion employees with whom they are
similarly situated.
To
join the lawsuit(s), you
should meet the following conditions:
-
anytime in the past
three years (i.e., from October 2006), you worked for Alion and/or SwRI; and
-
you were an hourly
employee who worked as
Laboratory
Technician, Analyst, Chemist, Monitoring Technician, or in another similar position
hourly-paid position at the NECDF, Newport, Indiana.
Additionally, you can
contact us to see if you qualify. We will keep your
communications strictly confidential.
If you fit the
definition above, you may join the lawsuit(s) (that is, you may "opt
in") by mailing the "consent
form(s)" to Plaintiffs' counsel at the following address.
Please note if you worked for both Alion
and SwRI, please complete the two consent forms--one for the Alion Case
and one for the SwRI case:
Attn:
Alion/SwRI
Case
Law Office of Jesse Brar, P.C.
670 East 3900 South, Suite 101
Salt Lake City, UT 84107
If
you believe you are eligible to participate in
the lawsuit(s) and you would like to join the
lawsuit(s), please complete and mail us the
consent form(s).
We
will file your
consent form(s) with the Court. If you would like, you can call us toll free at 1-888-699-2432 or at 801-269-9541 to discuss your personal situation.
Please note that you are under no obligation to
join. You are free to
initiate your own legal action, if you choose to
do so, or consult with
another attorney of your choice.
If you file the "consent
form(s)”, your continued right to participate in the suit may
depend upon a later decision by the District Court that you and the
Plaintiffs in this action are actually "similarly situated" in
accordance with federal and Indiana laws.
Under FLSA (which governs payment of overtime
wages), there is a two- or three-year statute of
limitations. Under Indiana Law for overtime
wages (Ind. Code Ann.
§ 22-2-2-4 and
§ 22-2-2-9)
there is a three-year statute of limitations. This means that a court will allow
you to recover unpaid wages or overtime going back
only two (2) or three (3) years from the
date on which you file your
Consent to Join
form(s) and become a "Party Plaintiff."
Because of this limited time frame, for every
day that you delay either joining this lawsuit
or taking legal action on your own, you may lose
one day of recovery, and your ability to recover
lost wages or lost overtime may be reduced by
one day. Therefore, you should not delay in
either joining in this lawsuit or taking legal
action on your own.
If you choose to
join in the lawsuit(s), you
should fill out the
Consent to Join
form(s)
and mail it to us without delay.
If you choose to
join the lawsuit(s), you will be bound by the Judgment, whether it is
favorable or unfavorable. While this suit is proceeding, you may be
required to respond to written questions, sit for depositions and/or
testify. The attorneys for the class will work to ensure that this is
with minimum inconvenience to you.
By
joining the lawsuit(s), you designate the class representatives as your agents to
make decisions on your behalf concerning the litigation, the method
and manner of conducting this litigation, including accepting or
rejecting any settlement, the entering of an agreement with Plaintiffs' counsel
concerning attorneys' fees and costs, and all other matters
pertaining to this lawsuit. These decisions and agreements made and
entered into by the representative Plaintiffs will be binding on you
if you join this lawsuit. The named-plaintiffs understand that, as
class representatives, they assume a fiduciary responsibility to Class members, to represent their interests fairly and adequately.
Plaintiffs recognize that, as class representatives, they must
represent and consider the interests of the Class just as they would
represent and consider their own interests.
If you choose
not to
join the lawsuit(s), you will not be affected by any judgment or settlement
rendered in this case as to the federal claims, whether favorable or
unfavorable to the class. If you choose not to join in the lawsuits,
you are free to file your own lawsuit under federal law. However, if
you delay in joining this lawsuit, the statute of limitations will
keep running and may
bar or reduce any recovery.
Federal and Indiana laws
prohibit Alion and/or SwRI from discharging or in any other manner
discriminating against you because you have exercised your rights
under the Fair Labor Standards Act and Indiana Law.
If you choose to
join the lawsuit(s) your interests will be represented by the named
Plaintiffs through their attorneys as Counsel for any Court approved
Class. Counsel
for the Plaintiffs are:
Jesse S. Brar (Pro Hac Vice)
Law
Office of Jesse Brar, P.C.
670 East 3900 South, Suite 101
Salt Lake City, UT 84107
Tel: (801) 269-9541
Toll Free:
1-888-MYWAGE-2 or 1-888-699-2432
Fax: (801)
269-9581
Email:
jesse@swriclassaction.com
Sharon Preston (Pro Hac Vice)
Sharon L. Preston, P.C.
670 East 3900 South, Suite 101
Salt Lake City, UT 84107
Tel: (801) 269-9541
Toll Free:
1-888-MYWAGE-2 or 1-888-699-2432
Fax: (801)
269-9581
Email:
sharon@swriclassaction.com
Mick G. Harrison
The Caldwell
Center
323 South
Walnut Street
Bloomington,
IN 47401
Telephone:
(812) 323-7274
Facsimile:
(812) 323-7274
Toll
Free: 1-888-MYWAGE-2 or 888-699-2432
Email:
mickharrisonesq@earthlink.net
RUDOLPH SAVICH (Local
Counsel)
205
North College Avenue
Graham
Plaza Suite 315
Bloomington, IN 47404-3952
Tel.
(812) 336-7293
Fax:
(812) 336-7268
Toll
Free: 1-888-MYWAGE-2 or 888-699-2432
Email: rudolph@swriclassaction.com
FURTHER INFORMATION
If you have any
questions or need further information about this lawsuit or about
filing the "consent form(s),” please
contact the class counsel.
NOTE 1:
Under Section 216(b) of the Fair Labor Standards Act and
Indiana
Ind. Code Ann. § 22-2-2-9,
a
lawsuit for unpaid wages or overtime compensation is called
a "collective action" which is similar, but not identical,
to a "class action" under Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of
Civil Procedure. One important difference
between these two types of cases is that only people who
actually opt in to a Fair Labor Standards Act collective
action (file a Consent Form to Become a Party Plaintiff ) are
affected by any settlement and/or judgment/decisions in the
lawsuit.
Although Plaintiffs have filed this action as a collective action, the Court has not
yet certified this lawsuit as a collective
action or a class action as of this time.
NOTE 2:
This
website is maintained by the attorneys representing the
Plaintiffs in this case. The plaintiffs are current
and former employees of SwRI and/or Alion who have filed a
consent to join this lawsuit. Although the
attorneys are sometimes referred to as "class counsel," this
lawsuit has not yet been certified as a collective or class
action by the Court as of this time.
