A dispute over vacation pay has led to a class action lawsuit against Lund Boat Co. and its parent company, Brunswick Corporation.
The lawsuit, brought by a group of former and laid off Lund employees, claims the company violated the law by failing to provide employees with all of their paid vacation time that they say was earned between the model year beginning June 30, 2004 and ending July 1, 2005. Plaintiffs allege that when the company converted to a new paid vacation policy on July 1, 2005, the company failed to credit employees for paid vacation time they say they earned during the previous model year. Plaintiffs contend they lost up to four weeks vacation and seek money damages for their claims, and the claims of class members.
The company opposes the lawsuit and denies the allegations, this according to a notice mailed to Lund employees. It is the company's position that employees received all of the vacation to which they were entitled and that in connection with the conversion to a new vacation policy, employees received the same or greater vacation benefits than they would have received under the original policy, the notice states.
The class representatives in this case are listed as Darwin Roberts, Dave Dubs, Greg Morse, John Westhoff, Kenneth Mathewson, Jeff Small, Arthur Buntrock, Roger Grindstaff, James Baron, Jack Herr, Vincent Bernu, Richard Sydow, Steve Eklund, Leroy Atkinson, Michael Kroupa, Diana Makinen, Suzzy Harper, Gary Harper, and Thomas Kimmes. The action was filed in Otter Tail County in the State of Minnesota under the title Roberts, et al. v. Brunswich Corp. and Lund Boat Company, Court File No. 56-CV-07-1307.
A Brunswick spokesperson when contacted said the company could not comment on pending litigation.
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In a class action lawsuit, "Plaintiffs" or "Class Representatives" sue individually and on behalf of a group of people with similar claims, who are known as the "Class." The party being sued is the "Defendant." The claims against the Defendant are resolved for all members of the Class, except for those who have signed statements stating they do not want to be included.
Trial is scheduled to start on Jan. 27.
The suit includes all people employed by Brunswick Corporation and Lund Boat Company at the New York Mills plant through July 1, 2005, whose vacation time was calculated according to the model calendar year (beginning July 1 and ending June 30), and ordinarily would have earned vacation time on July 1, 2005 under the Genmar vacation policy.
