Former and current employees of Boss Doggs hot dog stands have sued Ohio State, claiming the university deducted pay from their checks for breaks they never took.
Dylan Pierce, Gary Thomas and Matthew Nord claim that OSU did not properly compensate them for their five-day-a-week, eight-and-a-half-hour shifts. Starting in March 2007, OSU automatically deducted a half hour a day from their paychecks for break time.
However, the vendors said they never left their stands except to use the restroom. Now they are seeking back wages, attorney’s fees, prejudgment interest and damages of two times the minimum wages denied to them.
The attorney for the men, Edward R. Forman, said the exact amount they are asking for is uncertain because a three-year statute of limitations applies to the lawsuit, which was filed April 12.
“About $50 a week for the last several years would be accurate,” Forman said. “Around what they would have made had a break not been taken out.”
OSU took control of Boss Doggs in March 2007, making the workers OSU employees. Before that, Nord had been selling hot dogs on campus out of an independently owned stand since 2004.
After OSU purchased the company, Thomas began working a second stand, and in April 2008, Pierce handled a third one.
Beginning in March 2007, the university started taking the break-time money out of their paychecks automatically, as it does to other university employees with jobs of a similar nature. But the Boss Doggs employees say they never actually took breaks.
From 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and additional hours on football Saturdays, Pierce, Thomas and Nord were expected to manage their stands except when leaving to use the restroom. Their inventory and money could never be left unattended.
For the majority of the day, they worked alone and had to trust passing students to watch their stands when they needed to use the restroom.
The men complained to their managers about the issue and in Autumn 2009, OSU shut down two of the stands and eventually transferred Pierce and Nord to other university jobs. At this time, the university began giving the Boss Dog vendor a 30-minute break. But it refused to compensate them for the back wages.
The lawsuit said OSU never investigated their complaints, and in December 2009, the union representing the men filed a union grievance on their behalf. However, OSU and the union could not reach an agreement.
Finally, Pierce, Thomas and Nord filed the lawsuit seeking compensation for lost hours at either their hourly rate of about $12.50 to $14.50 or at an overtime rate of one-and-a-half times their base wage.
They are claiming overtime pay because they were working more than 40 hours per week, they said.
“It is not Ohio State’s policy to discuss the specifics of pending litigation,” said Jim Lynch, director of OSU Media Relations, in an e-mail. “However, the university expects that once the facts are known by the court, the administrative actions and decisions of the university will be upheld.”
Thomas, who greets his customers with a friendly “Hey, how you doin’?,” is not accustomed to waging a legal battle.
“This is the first time I’ve ever been involved in something like this,” said Thomas, who students might recognize as the vendor with the gray, bushy moustache.
“It’s nothing against OSU. I don’t have a problem with anybody. I’m just much in support of the other two guys who feel more strongly about it than I do.”
Thomas operates the remaining hot dog stand outside University Hall, and Nord is now employed at Pizza at the Drake. Pierce works for Sloopy’s Diner in the Union.
“A mistake has been made on behalf of Boss Doggs,” Pierce said in an e-mail. “I’m sure you would have occasionally seen one of us striking a conversation with a student when things were slow, but that was not a half hour to ourselves.
“Don’t get me wrong, for the most part the three of us would be happy to serve you. All we are asking is to be paid what the law says it should.”
Nord could not be reached for comment.
Forman said his clients are merely trying to get back what they are owed.
“It bothers me,” Forman said. “It’s not like they’re taking $50 out of [President E. Gordon] Gee’s check each week.”
