# Hy-Vee faces overtime pay class action lawsuit  
**Published:** 2026-06-26T20:01:12.000Z  
**Source:** [Nebraska Examiner](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/06/26/repub/class-action-lawsuit-alleges-hy-vee-has-failed-to-pay-overtime-wages/)  
**AI-generated:** yes (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001)  
**Canonical:** https://lincolne.news/article/hy-vee-faces-overtime-pay-class-action-lawsuit

A proposed class-action lawsuit has been filed against Hy-Vee Inc. in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa on behalf of former employee Dawn Nicosia and other Hy-Vee workers, seeking to recover unpaid overtime wages, plus penalties and interest for violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

Hy-Vee operates more than 240 retail stores in eight Midwestern states, including Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin. The grocery chain maintains multiple locations across Nebraska, including [stores in Lincoln](https://www.hy-vee.com/stores/detail.aspx?s=91).

The lawsuit alleges salaried positions carrying the title of department manager, which are below the level of store director, assistant store director and store manager, are designed to circumvent payment of overtime wages. The salaried positions include department managers for stores' bakery, food service, meat department and produce department, as well as salaried, trainee-level department managers.

The lawsuit alleges these positions require little specialized skills, no capital investment, and do not primarily include managerial responsibilities, with department managers spending more than half their time engaged in manual labor and physical movement. The positions lack responsibility for hiring, firing, disciplining or directing the work of others, meaning their work does not "materially differ from the duties of non-exempt, hourly paid employees," according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit claims Hy-Vee has violated state and federal wage-and-hour laws through a "centralized, company-wide policy, pattern, and practice of minimizing labor costs," and that the "willful" nature of the violations is demonstrated by the company's alleged failure to investigate prior complaints from salaried department managers.

A Hy-Vee spokesperson said the company believes the lawsuit and allegations lack merit and will be addressed through the legal process.

The lawsuit seeks class action status due to the large number of potential plaintiffs, and the plaintiff is represented by Madison Fiedler-Carlson of the Fiedler Law Firm in Johnston and by Bethany A. Hilbert of the Head Law Firm in Chicago, Illinois.

## Sources

- [Nebraska Examiner](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/06/26/repub/class-action-lawsuit-alleges-hy-vee-has-failed-to-pay-overtime-wages/)

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This article was generated by AI (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) based on source material from Nebraska Examiner, enriched with 3 web searches. The original source is available at https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/06/26/repub/class-action-lawsuit-alleges-hy-vee-has-failed-to-pay-overtime-wages/.