Consolidated Nuclear Security in 2017 took a paycheck’s worth of pay from certain employees at Department of Enegy’s Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, three employees alleged in a federal lawsuit.
The short happened after the Bechtel National-led site management contractor shifted to a biweekly pay schedule in 2015 from a monthly pay schedule, according to the lawsuit filed in April with the U.S. District Court for Eastern Tennessee.
The employees seek class-action status for the suit, which they want to cover all salaried exempt Y-12 workers. They say Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) committed breach of contract, fraud, and civil theft, among other things. They seek the return of the allegedly withheld wages, court costs, and “any such other and further relief, at law or equity, which may be appropriate,” according to the complaint.
In an answer to the plaintiffs’ complaint filed on May 14, CNS denied the key claim in the lawsuit: that it essentially took one paycheck from all salaried exempt Y-12 employees in 2017, thereby depriving them of almost 4% of their pay for that year. The company said it ultimately paid what it owed its employees.
“CNS paid all employees within the time limits permitted by Tennessee law for all weeks that the employees performed work,” the company stated in its response to the lawsuit. “CNS denies it misled any employee regarding any wage payment.”
Salaried exempt employees typically include those who are paid at an annual rather than an hourly rate, and who are paid their full wages each pay period regardless of how many hours they actually worked in that period. Such employees also cannot earn overtime pay.
A CNS spokesperson reached early Wednesday had no immediate comment about the lawsuit. In its May filing, the company also raised jurisdictional issues with the case, including that none of CNS’ parent companies are citizens of Tennessee.
