Lube tech sues Fla. dealership, claims underpayment

A federal judge has ordered arbitration of a former service department employee's claim that a Venice, Fla., dealership systematically underpaid its lube technicians.

Blake Gardner, the plaintiff, has accused Venice Toyota of violating the Fair Labor Standards Act by promising its lube techs the "more lucrative flag rate" it typically pays its service technicians. But instead, Gardner's lawsuit said, lube techs were paid a set hourly rate for all hours worked and also were not compensated for overtime work. It alleges the discrepancy is evident from the dealership's payroll records.

A flag rate compensates employees based on the number of hours it should take to complete a service based on industry labor guides and is the basis for what a dealership charges a customer for that job. Thus, a technician's weekly earnings depend on the amount of work completed, not the number of hours actually worked, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Gardner worked at Venice Toyota from May 2022 through February 2023, according to the suit. It alleges there are "other similarly situated individuals who were hired as lube technicians, worked overtime and were paid a non-flag hourly rate for all hours worked without being paid overtime compensation."

Court documents show Gardner signed an arbitration agreement when he was hired. The judge's April 13 order allows his lawsuit to resume in court if arbitration fails to resolve the dispute.

Lawyers for both sides didn't respond to questions about the status of the arbitration.