No. The law prevents Dick’s from taking any action against you for joining this lawsuit. The Court and all the attorneys in this case will ensure that no negative action is taken against you for your participation. If Dick’s takes any action against you, the penalties are severe. You are entitled to either reinstatement back to your job, or the pay differential at a new job, double damages, and attorneys' fees. Should you feel you have suffered from any retaliation, contact us at once.

If you are harassed or retaliated against in any way, this firm will represent you without fee.

If you are uncomfortable joining, but would like to talk confidentially (and at no charge) to one of the attorneys handling this case, please contact us.

There is absolutely no cost to join this lawsuit. If the Court determines you are entitled to recovery, attorneys' fees and costs will be paid either by Dick’s or will be awarded by the Court from the fund Dick’s creates to pay the unpaid wages and overtime. If the case is not successful, you owe no fees. Therefore, there is no financial risk to you.

The law requires that employees be paid for all time they are permitted to work. Our investigation has shown that Dick’s and Galyan’s did two things wrong.

First, Dick’s and Galyan’s did not pay for all the time employees were permitted to work, primarily by automatically deducting a half an hour or hour from employees’ compensable time for meal breaks, even when employees worked through those breaks. Second, Dick’s and Galyan’s interrupted employees’ lunch breaks to call them back to work, but did not require employees to clock back into work, so they could be properly compensated for that time. For some employees this unrecorded work time brought the employee’s total time worked to over forty hours in a week, for which those employees are entitled to pay at time and one half rates.

Third, when some employees worked over 40 hours in one week, they were permitted to take time off or receive “retro pay” at straight time rates when under the law, they should have been paid at time and a half for hours worked over forty.

Many employees wonder why Dick’s and Galyan’s would not follow the law if this practice is illegal as is claimed in this case. There is no doubt that the law requires employers to pay their employees for all the time those employees work. Companies do not pay wages properly to save money. They expect they can get away with it. Faced with the high cost of labor and overtime, companies try to squeeze as much money out of overtime costs as possible.

Some companies who violate the law figure that if they can hide the violation and not make it too obvious to employees, by the time a lawsuit starts, they can save themselves more money than a lawsuit will cost. But, as the Department of Labor regulations make clear, that does not make the practice legal.

Because companies have not been complying with the law, employees have been recovering millions of dollars in unpaid overtime from the largest companies in America.

This lawsuit covers employees who were paid by the hour in all Jobs and Job Titles.

To prevent yourself from losing any more money, you need to join this lawsuit by May 13, 2009.

In this case, the time frame from which class members can potentially recover money has been greatly extended. We anticipate that any hourly employee who was employed at Dick's and/or Galyan's after July 5, 2002 will be eligible to participate. Ultimately, however, your eligibility to partake in the class action is at the Court's discretion after its review of your employment history. In general, under federal overtime law, employees are not entitled to their lost overtime pay for hours they worked more than two (or three) years ago. However, in this case the statute of limitations has been basically extended to cover the period of tolling from July 5, 2002 through January 14, 2009.

We expect that you will qualify to participate in the action if you meet the criteria below. However, the Court will have to make that determination:

1. If you are/were employed by Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc. and/or Galyan's Trading Co., Inc. at any time after July 5, 2002 and were paid by the hour and;
2. You were required to work through your lunch break, but did not clock out for that break; or,
3. You were interrupted during your lunch break to do work, but did not clock in when called back to work; or,
4. You worked over 40 hours in one week, and were permitted to take time off the following week or receive “retro pay” the following week at straight time rates.

Additionally, you can contact us to see if you qualify. There is no charge or obligation if you contact us. We will keep any information you provide strictly confidential.

Given our experience with other cases like this one, we expect many current and former employees will join this lawsuit. A number of employees already have.

The attorneys handling this case have estimated the total damages in this case for all plaintiffs to be in the millions of dollars.

It would take a detailed calculation based on the facts of your case to determine how much you would be owed. Remember you will not be represented and you will not be entitled to any money until you join the lawsuit. You must take that step to get any recovery and a Court will have to make a determination as to whether you will be included in the action.

Our primary goals in this class action are to:

• Prohibit Dick’s from engaging in illegal conduct under the wage laws.
• Have Dick’s set aside money to properly pay wages and overtime in the future.
• Recover unpaid wages and overtime and other damages for employees who were not properly paid for the time they worked.