Topgolf Settles Workers Pay Lawsuit

Topgolf, an international company, will pay an undisclosed amount to its workers to settle claims that it incentivized U.S. managers by underpaying staff.

This settlement resolves a lawsuit that was first filed in Texas federal courts in 2020 by two former employees of Chron.com reports.

The lawsuit claims that Topgolf exploited a loophole within the Fair Labor Standards Act in order to pay his staff $2.13 an hour. This is well below the $7.25 minimum wage because they were given tips during their workday.

Staff members claimed that they were paid $2.13 an hour for untipped work such as cleaning and sanitizing, but not tipping.

The plaintiffs also claimed that Topgolf had software that would have allowed it to differentiate the different tasks and increase pay up to $7.25 per hour for non-tipped labor. But it never did.

Plaintiffs claimed that Topgolf instead encouraged its managers not to pay their workers enough by rewarding those who kept labor costs low.

According to the class-action lawsuit, managers were entitled to bonuses if they met or exceeded certain labor cost targets. This created an incentive to lower the tipping amount.

Topgolf refuted the claims.

Topgolf Back Pay-Class Action To Benefit Thousands

The lawsuit sought to recover wages for non-tipped employees at $7.25 an hour. Staff members with similar claims to the lawsuit will be benefited by the lawsuit.

Chron reported that Topgolf, which is owned by Callaway Golf Company has been the subject to several large-scale lawsuits.

Top Golf was required to pay $750,000 in back pay to 25 U.S. employees for unpaid overtime. According to the company, employees were promoted without pay increases commensurate with their performance and they failed to compensate for overtime worked beyond 40 hours per week.

Topgolf also agreed to a $2633,400 settlement in 2021 to benefit employees who used a biometric fingerprint scan to clock in or out.

Topgolf was sued in a class action suit. Topgolf was accused of violating the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy act, or BIPA. Topgolf did not give employees written notice or get their consent before collecting fingerprint data. The plaintiffs also claimed Topgolf failed to destroy the fingerprint data promptly.

In financial reports for the 2021 fiscal year, Callaway reported 1 billion in revenue from Topgolf properties.

from lawyers.buzz https://lawyers.buzz/topgolf-settles-workers-pay-lawsuit/241/
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