A federal jury on Friday cleared Lindsey Management Co. of Fayetteville, the largest apartment complex manager in Arkansas, of any wrongdoing in a federal lawsuit from former employees claiming violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
The case is one of several federal lawsuits filed against the Fayetteville company. All claim violations of FLSA.
This particular case was filed in U.S. District Court in Fayetteville by former salaried employees of Lindsey Management who claimed misclassification under FLSA and the failure of overtime pay. After a week-long trial that began Sept. 22, the jury determined Lindsey Management properly classified the salaried employees as exempt.
“This decision allows the apartment industry to continue to classify salaried apartment managers as exempt employees,” Kimberly Miers, a shareholder in Littler’s Dallas office and lead attorney representing Lindsey Management, said in a news release. “As employers across all industries continue to contend with exempt misclassification claims that have the potential to cause significant issues for their operations, this is an important decision that will likely influence other cases that challenge similar positions.”
Other complaints are still pending around Arkansas, and include plaintiffs that held several positions at Lindsey’s complexes, including apartment managers and maintenance workers. The plaintiffs claim they were not paid overtime for the work they did.
Lindsey Management began operations in 1985 and now has more than 39,000 apartment units throughout Arkansas, Alabama, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Tennessee.