Former techs at Nissan store refile lawsuit alleging wage violations

Two former technicians at a Nissan store have revived a proposed class-action lawsuit accusing Nissan North America of wage violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act and Florida's minimum wage law.

Jose Ayala and Jeff Santos filed a revised complaint July 9 arguing Nissan is the joint employer of technicians, along with individual car dealerships, and that Nissan controls dealership compensation policies. Nissan has denied this.

Nissan's "implementation, manipulation and use of piece-rate pay and/or flat-rate pay violated Florida and federal laws and statutes," the suit contends. "Nissan manages its business by engaging in joint venture relationships with various qualifying individuals or business entities who manage the day-to-day operation of a dealership, under the direction and control of Nissan."

No individual dealerships were sued, and the suit doesn't identify Ayala and Santos' former employer.

At least 100 and possibly as many as 3,000 present and former technicians could be affected by the case, said plaintiffs' lawyer Jolynn Falto of Altamonte Springs, Fla.

The new filing follows a ruling by U.S. District Judge Roy Dalton Jr. that dismissed the case for procedural reasons.

A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has upheld a service dispatcher's claims that a Langley City dealership wrongfully dismissed him after he objected to a lack of social distancing and COVID-19 protective equipment in his office.

Justice Elaine Adair ordered Preston Chevrolet-Buick-GMC-Cadillac to pay Robert Ehman $23,685 in damages.

"There is no dispute that Ehman was dismissed, that his dismissal was without cause and that he did not receive reasonable notice" in August 2020, Adair wrote. She also said he acted reasonably to mitigate his damages by applying for more than 90 jobs.

Ehman became a service dispatcher, or "tower operator," in 2007, controlling and distributing the flow of work to Preston's service departments, the decision said. He shared an office with a foreman and the dealership's other tower operator.

After the Canadian province declared a pandemic state of emergency, he discussed work coverage questions that might arise from physical distancing requirements, the judge said. She said there were no plexiglass barriers or physical distancing when he was dismissed, steps taken after he left.

Adair calculated damages based Ehman's contractual three-day workweek rather than the temporary one-day-a-week schedule he'd agreed to before the dismissal.