Former Cedar Point intern files class action lawsuit regarding unpaid overtime

Kevin, you are a professor right? Do you assign work over the weekend? My boys are still HS but take a somewhat rigorous, college prep course-load and rarely a weekend goes by they don’t have to spend at least 3-4 hours on homework or meeting for some group project. Even a Scout campout when they are home early Sunday afternoon can be a challenge, they are tired.

If that policy is indeed in place, I don’t see that working out for most serious students. (Or at least ones with Tiger Dad like me).

Tigers as in Tiger Cubs? I remember being the den leader for that a loooong time ago. Now I have an Eagle and the next one is well on his way to Eagle.

Dutchman said:

I worked there the year that they raised the minimum wage after they had set their budget for the year, 1974. The wage had been set at $1.85/hr which was set for all base level employees,(Ops, food service, merchandising, hospitality). The government up the minimum wage to $2.00 before opening day. How they handled this is that they tacked on 15 cents an hour to every hour you worked that season when your processed out. People who paid more than minimum (foreman, asst foreman, locomotive engineers) were paid what their contract said.

I (barely) remember 1974. It was the year I graduated high school and my first summer at CP. I worked for Interstate United making $1.60 per hour plus free room & board. LOTS of hours and no complaints. I did make a trip to the emergency room my very first day of work, but, that’s another story!

^^ Correct, and I think we agree. The "80 or nothing" policy seems like it would be prohibitive to a large pool of potential staff that would otherwise want to work there.

Especially the children of a tiger-dad in cargo shorts.

Hopefully your kids don't sue you for encouraging them to work overtime ;)

There is always something assigned waiting to be completed...except for now. We just started Spring Break, and I am pretty adamant that it needs to remain a break.

Shades, no Tiger Dad as in that Asian Tiger Mom book that was making the rounds a few years ago. Basically accepting nothing but a 100% effort in academics. Screen time, amusement parks etc are all earned privileges by doing your job, work hard in school. Paying off with my 14yo as he has accelerated himself 2 years in math and is bored with HS math classes again. So he is prepping for SAT/ACT right to math and computer science classes at OSU next year, not sure he will make it but he is trying.

But yes I was a Cub Leader for both boys and now in Boy Scouts.(er.... Scouts USA). My oldest lost interest in Eagle but still enjoys Scouts and is active in OA, but my youngest is Star and should have Life by the end of summer.

Kevin, at 18 I could see my boys interested in picking up some hours on the shoulder season weekends but more like 16 hours, not the whole thing. They would probably prefer to pitch a tent than stay in the dorms. :)

Kevinj said:

I'm going to go out on a tiny limb and make the assumption that Cedar Point has a legal team that looks over contracts to make sure the appropriate laws are being followed.

It took me all of about 50 seconds to find this:

https://webapps.dol.gov/elaws/whd/flsa/screen75.asp

And subsequently this:

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/18-flsa-seasonal-amusement

The point being, yes, the overtime laws were updated, but there is still a laundry list of exemptions. That list just got a little smaller, but seasonal employees are still exempt. If you are wondering, the first "test" Cedar Point passes is "a business that operates fewer than 7 months per calendar year". And by operate, that means "fully functional", not off-season duties fulfilled by full-time staff.

I wonder if this is her lawyer?

And please...easy on the "slave" and "abuse" language. This isn't a sweat shop in a 3rd world-country; it's a frickin' privilege to earn an internship at a place like Cedar Point. You had to work a 60 hours a week for a whole summer? Cry me a river, and best of luck as an adult.

Lawyers write bad contracts all of the time. That subject is probably up for adjudication. We don't know the details and that's where the devil is.

Some seasonal positions get paid overtime. For instance in the union (er... Union) maintenance trades they get what the CBA says (usually 1.5/pay over 8/hr/day). As far as I know, all of these classified people get two days in a row off per week (per their CBA). Pretty much guaranteed NOT to be on a weekend.

Sure but let’s be honest, a union carpenter or plumber or whatever trade is certainly a much more skilled worker than the kid working the happy fat vat that gets confused about what the beeping timer means while they cook fresh cut fries.