Pyle Rome Attorneys Win Overtime For School Bus Drivers' Charter Work

One June 4, 2016, a Massachusetts Superior Court Judge ruled that Eastern Bus Company violated state law by failing to pay overtime to a group of school bus drivers. The case was argued by Attorney Ian Russell with Attorney James Hykel.

The case was brought as a class action by school bus drivers working for Eastern Bus. The drivers alleged that the company had refused to pay overtime even though the drivers often worked more than 40 hours during a week. Eastern Bus argued that it was not required to pay overtime because the drivers were performing “charter work” in addition to regular school bus transportation and that employees who performed charter work were exempt from the protections of the state overtime law.

The Superior Court rejected Eastern Bus’s arguments and held that, because the work of transporting students to school and school-related extracurricular activities was not related to the overtime exemption relied upon by Eastern Bus, the drivers were not exempt and were owed overtime. Additionally, the Court held that the retaliation claim brought by one of the named plaintiffs in the case should proceed to trial.