TEXARKANA, Texas - A federal lawsuit filed Thursday accuses Texarkana Independent School District of failing to pay cafeteria employees overtime for hours worked in excess of 40 in a week.
Jemalyn Pynes filed suit in a Texarkana, Texas, federal court with the help of Tyler, Texas, lawyer William Hommel Jr. The complaint alleges TISD is violating the Fair Labor Standards Act by failing to pay hourly food service workers time-and-a-half for overtime.
TISD Spokeswoman Tina Veal Gooch said the district has not yet been served with a copy of the complaint and cannot comment on pending litigation.
The suit seeks certification as a collective action which could include as a plaintiff any TISD food service employee who alleges they have been denied overtime pay. A number of area schools contract with TISD to provide their districts with food service. Those include DeKalb, Bloomburg, Linden-Kildare, Malta, McLeod, New Boston and Red Water in addition to Texarkana, Gooch said.
According to the complaint, Pynes has worked in food service for DeKalb, Texas, schools from 2005 until the present. The complaint alleges that food service workers were required to clock in and clock out and that a record of the actual hours worked by cafeteria employees should exist.
Among the damages sought for Pynes and other TISD food service workers are unpaid wages, court costs and attorney fees.
The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Robert Schroeder III and referred to U.S. Magistrate Judge Caroline Craven in the Texarkana Division of the Eastern District of Texas.