$85 Million Class Action Launched Against Livingston International

TORONTO, Oct. 2, 2014 /CNW/ - Roy O'Connor LLP, Sotos LLP and Sack Goldblatt Mitchell LLP announced today the commencement of a proposed overtime class action lawsuit against Livingston International Inc. This is the first national overtime class action seeking payment for any hours worked off the clock against an employer subject to provincial employment standards legislation.

Livingston is a leading customs broker and freight forwarding organization with offices located across Canada.  The claim against Livingston, for damages totalling $85 million, is brought on behalf of its current and former non-management employees from its offices across Canada, including import analysts and other staff entitled to overtime payments. It is expected that the class will be comprised of thousands of current and former employees.

Import and customs brokerage services at Livingston are performed on demand (whenever goods arrive) and are time sensitive.  The plaintiff's statement of claim alleges that employees are not appropriately paid for overtime hours that they often work to get their jobs done in such circumstances.  The claim seeks payment for such unpaid overtime and also seeks to challenge various aspects of Livingston`s overtime policy. 

"This is an important case, which may extend the principles and approaches we developed in the overtime class actions against the banks – Scotiabank and CIBC – to provincially regulated employees," said David O'Connor, one of the lawyers for the plaintiff.  Louis Sokolov, co-counsel, added "In the end, we are hoping to get these employees the opportunity to both challenge certain overtime policies at Livingston and seek compensation for any unpaid hours of work. On a practical level, it really isn't more complicated than that."

The next major step in this case will be the filing of affidavit material by the plaintiff in support of a motion to have this case certified as a class action. The date for the certification motion has not yet been set.

If current or former Livingston employees who may be class members have questions or comments, want to receive updates on the class action, or would like to share their experiences, they can contact counsel for the plaintiff at, www.livingstonintlclassaction.ca or by contacting Rory McGovern at 416-977-0007 or [email protected].

SOURCE: Roy O'Connor LLP

Any media inquiries may be directed to David O'Connor (416 918-5128 or [email protected]), Louis Sokolov (416 875-8715 or [email protected]) or Daniel Iny (416 979-4247 or [email protected]).