GNC Managers File Overtime Pay Class Action Lawsuit and Wage & Hour Collective Action Against GNC.
A class action lawsuit has been filed against GNC Corporation (“GNC” or “Defendant”) in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania (styled Jennifer Mell and Jose Munoz v. GNC Corporation, Case No. 2:10-cv-00945-NBF) on behalf of a class of current and former GNC employees who worked in the position of “Manager” at any of GNC’s stores in the United States whose primary job duties were allegedly non-exempt and worked in excess of Forty (40) hours during one or more work weeks between July 2007 and the present but did not receive time and a half of their regular rate of pay for all of the hours they worked over Forty (40) in one or more work weeks, allegedly in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), according to a class action lawsuit news report.
For more information on the GNC overtime pay class action lawsuit, read the GNC overtime pay class action lawsuit complaint.
If You Have Thoughts On The GNC Wage & Hour and Overtime Pay Class Action Lawsuit & Collective Action, Share Your Class Action Lawsuit Comments Below.
I worked as a manager for GNC in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. I worked from 1- 7 hours off the clock follwing my regular shift. I was threatened with termination if I billed GNC for 1/4 hour above my 40 hour work week. They consistently sent time sensitive projects over at the last minute knowing that we would have to work off the clock to preform the extra workload. I even paid my employees out of my pocket when I had to ask them to work more than the amount of hours GNC allotted for the payroll. In addition, we were not allotted sufficient time to close the store. The computer required us to clock out while we were in the middle of the computerized closing procedure. We consistently worked another 1/2- 1 hour following clocking out. We were not paid for our time or our gas when we went to the bank before and after each shift. I determined that the trips to the bank alone saved GNC about 6 million a year. They are very corrupt. Can you add employees in Wisconin to the lawsuit? I would love to sign on.
I worked at the GNC in Sheboygan last month for one day as the manager. It didn’t take me long to realize what they were doing. I’m also still waiting for a paycheck…
Before Nancy came along I was the manager of GNC at memorial mall in sheboygan. Everything Nancy said is true about working off the clock and having our job threatened. The RSD named Jason Wellman claims to be the youngest RSD in the company. Little does he know that he is also the most hated RSD in the company. I know this because I spoke with other GNC RSD’s that cringed when I told them I once worked under wellman. They claim he is ” annoying and a jerk”. Wellmen and GNC ethics are the reason why I quit. Years later I met other managers that worked under wellmen, all of which clamied they quit because of his bad temper, poor leadership abilities and simple fact that he is a douche bag. GNC’s business ethics are misleading and wrong. Jacking up prices a day before goldcard week is wrong. People thought they would save about $5 on a product, but at the end they would only save 50 cents. Therefore the staff would be the ones to take the heat over it. If you want a good deal on supplements, shop at the vitamin shoppe. Their staff is all educated and never try to sell you shit you don’t need.
Ive never been treated as poorly by ANY organization as I was working as a Store Manager for GNC in Dublin GA.
List of complaints about my employment
1. We moved to a new store and the setup takes days to complete. I never pushed overtime budget for my store EVER. I worked 48.75 overtime hours on my last pay period plus my regular 40 hours base. During this move in and transition week I had to use overtime hours. Unavoidable. For that 48.75 overtime hours I got paid $168 for it. That translated to around ballpark $3.75 per hour after taxes. Would ANYONE work for $3.75 in this country? HELL NO! Would my boss, HELL NO!
2. I rarely got the on hands training that I needed and the only way I learned the position was to be written up for my mistakes.
3. I made repeated calls to the corporate office graphics department to make them aware that my promo had not arrived on time. My boss blames me for the whole incedent and wanted to demote me to a sales associate for minimum wage and let me work for around 25 to 30 hrs a week.
4. The corporate office and managers are immune to any wrongdoing whatsoever . The company dumps on sales associates and store managers to place blame away from themselves.
5. After taxes my annual income will be around $24,000 which is $10,000 dollars less than what I was making at my last job.
6. The company deceives its customers by gouging prices right before gold card week, in turn the customer really doesnt save much at all.
7. The company really just wants to have its lower employees play dumb and make as many unethical dollars it possibly can. I hated ripping ppl off and had to defuse many situations where customers felt cheated for one reason or another!
8. I also realized before I left that they are once again JACKING UP prices on almost ALL if not ALL of its P3 items.
9. Im sure that the CEO and President are ppl of integrity, but I wish they would take the time and really microscope the treatment of its little people on the bottom that really do most of the work.
10. Overall, this business is very crooked, immoral, unethical, and exercises in what my opinion should be absolutely ILLEGAL! Ive seen more turnover in my store in the last year than I have with all of the organizations Ive ever worked for COMBINED. Management is so unwilling to pay is workers well, invest in proper training, and also adhere to more FAIR and TRANSPARENT policies.
Nancy- we are in San Francisco – please call us-
415362-1111
Michael Hoffman
I was hired on as manager and took over managerial duties in early November. I gave myself the necessary training. (it’s the only way to recieve training at GNC) I passed the required tests. I did not recieve managerial salery or commission until 6 weeks after I took over managerial duties, which included working at least 2 hours a shift off of the clock. I had to make numerous calls to headquarters before recieving my full pay and was told by payroll that other managers were also on the phone trying to have their managerial salery instated. I know that Jon, our prior manager had worked months before recieving his full salery. I never recieved the managerial commissions for that time period. It goes on and on. The people over at the corporate hedaquarters are masters of deception.
ALL TRUE. GNC is crooked, corrupt, and SCREWS employees OVER. I am a manager, I work between 45-50hours a week, but will be terminated if I claim it……everything about gnc is corrupt and unfair. I agree about jason wellman too, even though he is not my rsd, and I am no where near him….I’ve heard, and I’ve down to him. My RSD is pretty bad……..too scared to mention names!
I am currently a manager for GNC. I am constantly having to difuse situations where a customer feels pushed into a certain product they did not want, or the product didn’t match the hype it recieved from another employee. The thing is can you blame the employee? It is either sale the P3s, GCs, Multis, and OMS or lose your manager position. It isn’t about customer service at all. They are a very dirty company in my mind. They put unrealisitc expectations on their employees. I as manager have also put my own personal money into my store. I was required to have a filing cabinet, but my RSD would not pay me for it. I have had to buy better mop so that my floor shined like a mirror. The company sends us crappy cheap equipment, and we aren’t allowed to hire anyone. Also, this past pay period I work 9.5 hours total overtime, and all I got was $40. That is rediculous. Who in their right mind would work for that kind of money? I know my RSD wouldn’t. In the meantime he is taking it easy in his company van making bank.
Bob Riley, if you are in S. FL he is or was the RSD and he is one of the worst RSD’s in the U.S. that I know….he ranks right up there with the ones you people have said. If he was awful back in 03-04 I can only imagine how bad he is now. He doesn’t know nutrition and he barks out orders and is never nice. Even when I was #’1 in all the area’s of G/C percent, Avg sale, OMS, # of items per sale…etc….he’s a joke. I did one thing that pissed him off before I was about to be a SSM and he fired me. Well he did me a favor I got a job making almost double. Thanks Bob you fcking SOB!
I was recently fired from GNC as a manager. I have to say that I agree with all the comments I read above. You get zero training and no support. Overtime hours are not paid at time and a half. Managers must sell during their 40 hour work week, if you take any of that time to complete the work assigned they write you up because your sales are down. The only way to complete the work (planogramming, shipment, product rotation etc) is to do it off the clock. It was a daily occurence to come to work 3 hours before the store opens, or stay at the mall until midnight to complete work. If you work instead of sell you are written up; if you sell and don’t get the work done you are written up; if you claim overtime you are written up. My store went without a manager for 4 months. The previous manager worked there for 7 years. She and a 3 year employee left at the same time. I was a 10 hour a week part time sales person who offered to step up as manager. A store that goes without a manager for 4 months, on top of losing 2 long term staff, is going to take a hit. Relationship selling takes time and my store lost 2 long term employees, which means they also lost a lot of business. It takes time to bring that back. I was NEVER treated with any sense of professionalism while I was manager. I had to contact corporate to get paid manager salary 6 weeks after taking the position. I had to contact an attorney to get my pay from the date I was hired, but they only compensated 4 of the 6 weeks. The RSD was always hateful, demeaning and lied to me on a regular basis. The company still owes me over $100 in supplies they wanted for the store and never reimbursed me for. Every time I was able to get sales staff hired and trained so the stores’ sales would go up, the RSD would move that person to another store, then write me up because my sales were down the following week. I lived in a hotel for three days during a blizzard to ensure the store would be open. I worked alone for 2.5 days of the 3 days as staff could not make it in. On the third day, when staff arrived, I had not eaten in 26 hours or been home for 3 days. I received a phone call that I had to stay and change out two Muscletech walls before I could go home. I said I would do it the next morning before I opened and was told to stay and ‘take one for the team.” Isn’t that what I had just been doing for the three previous days? I can’t even count the number of times there were 5:30pm emergencies, just as I was supposed to leave for the day. The RSD used weekly conference calls to reprimand me in front of the other 20 store managers. I let the RSD know that an employee was probably stealing, in addition to there being a theft problem with at least three customers. All that went ignored until inventory, when it became a reality that the dollar amount was significant. Then he tried to blame me for stealing! After I left, the new male manager, on his first day at work, allegedly offered to pay a part time person for a sexual act. He asked her the same thing a year earlier when he was a customer. She walked off the job rather than face him again. Two female employees (once has since been fired and one resigned) also claim he sexually harassed them. Seriously? This man is what GNC wants at their store? I have two masters degrees in business and a serious work ethic. With training and support I would have stayed at this store and been quite successful. But I guess a guy with 7% body fat and a big ego is what GNC wants instead. I know that I worked harder at this job than any previous work I’ve had over the past 25 years. I didn’t take breaks or sit down or stop working while I was at the store. There were no breaks or lunch breaks and it still wasn’t good enough. I really was looking at this as a long term position. I took calls from staff as early as 6am and as late as 11pm and on my days off. I was always available for my staff. I feel ripped off and used up. I don’t feel like I need to go into the sales practices as others on this message board made it clear what those are like. I will say that I had a hard time with sales because I have too much marketing training and I know that its’ job is to mislead or coerce a customer so they spend more money. I was reluctant to oversell. It was more important to me to sell the right products to the right person. If their experience was positive, they would be repeat customers, thus building the relationship part of the business back. Sales qotas were not in writing. Everytime I was meeting goals, I was written up and informed that I was targeting the wrong number as it was increased. What a joke.
I work in GNC store in tennessee and have been for the past year.I’ve worked throughout 3 stores to attempt to make a sufficient income til I could possibly make store manager.well it only took me a few months to see what really goes on here and I agree with every one on here, they are crooked as can be. If any of you would like to know that there is little justice in this company, then at least you would like to know that here in region 2 we had a rsd named adam craft which did all the such everyone speaks of, overtime not amounted for, bad treatment, I’m probably one of the very few well knowledged employees that could run the store with no manager and has done for months but yet he would not allow me to have a store because he just didn’t like me and also having an LP by his side accusing me of stealing because I worked different stores throughout the week to make a decent wage while products would become missing regardless if I worked at another store or not.the rsd tried to knock down my name so far down through the managers of the region but they all knew me well enough to know I would not, or the fact that one day my significant other was going through a miscarriage down in alabama and they would not let me leave or close up so I could comfort her and made me work the following 3 days and said if I did not then I would be terminated then confronted me on how my numbers dropped those 4 days, but back to the story, its sad how they treat people and wrong, calling people out on conference calls because they don’t have enough customers to make”numbers”, or calling store managers, to knock their hours down from 48 to 40 and not pay them anything for the extra hours, or the taxed pms that you only really receive a third of their worth. Well this past weekend had shown that they aren’t as strong as they seem as I got to see an rsd be brought down by every ssm and store manager in the region, he was fired for making people work without pay for overtime, and at first I thought this as a relief, but then you think, if they get rid of one asshole, they are just gonna bring in another. Point of story, for other jobs the experience is good because you learn how to manage a business and good techniques of selling, and you learn the bad side of companies like these and how you can be more aware of companies cheating people. Always notice how fast a company runs through managers more than promos in a year, or the junk they try to push toward people. I don’t believe people should work there or shop there. I am still an employee and will be til I can get something better, unfortunately I will not be reimbursed for the lost time and money spent there. For others let this be a warning
While I haven’t worked for GNC since 2007, I have worked with GNC for 13 years, and wore many hats. Nothing surprises me whatsoever with the above sentiments, as I can’t help but reminisce about the unfair treatment of the employees in the organization on any level of hierarchy. It saddens me to read about the treatment, however, as the old adage goes… what comes around goes around. GNC will see their day in court and justice shall be served.
For five years and a quarter, (Oct. 2003 – Feb. 2009) I was the Manager of the GNC Store in Marble Falls, TX. I have been reading through the ‘thread’ of commentary which I find on this site, and it is amazing (for my part) to discover just how incredibly closely sentiments expressed here coincide with experiences I will relate! My store had, for a considerable time (as can be evidenced by anyone who has access to the GNC newsletters for those periods of time), been consistently on the list for Top Producing Five (5) Stores in my Division, and in fact, had… more consistently than not… been listed as The #1, Top Producing Store in the Division. A new RSD had just been appointed to take over the District, and the day after the newsletter came out containing a “Congratulatory” item referring to the fact that I had completed my “fifth year as Manager of GNC Store #8780,” and also referencing the fact that I was the “Manager in the District with the longest (then current) tenure”, I wa
My customers and associates new me as Jody Petko. (Married name.) My comments were somehow prematurely “submitted” before I had quite finished! I was saying that items had been published in the GNC newsletter referencing my having completed five years as Manager of Store 8780, and referring to my status as the manager with the longest (then current) tenure in the District. In addition to that, my store was listed as Number 2 on the list of the 5 Top Producing Stores in the District for the preceding month. The day after the newsletter came out, I was unceremoniously informed by the new RSD that he was taking the Store in a “new direction”, and that I was fired. I have ALL of my certificates of award, including those I received for “Outstanding Inventory”. I have also saved all my pay stubs which verify the numerous 60 hour weeks I worked without recieving Time and a half!
fuck em all they expect way too much and give too little! The turnover rate is outrageous and they act surprised when people quit! I Also was a manager and came into a already staffed store and had some d bag not show my first week being there and they want to act like it my fault the store wasn’t opened?…once again fuck em ALL!
How do I get included in this lawsuit?Anywhere from 60 -80 hrs per week and was forced to claim 40 hours when I was the only employee in the store and was open for 72 hrs per week. 4 years of this as a store manager. North and South Carolina markets have the most lying cheating rsds anywhere. sexual harassment is rampant
age discrimination.overtime pay you know about.THEY need to be investigated by the fake human resources.loss preventon mgrs. they do what the rsds tell them if its true or not. heard there is a new guy. ron hallock if you are out there. pay attention
This case should be settling soon next month ……….
I work at GNC in Wisconsin Rapids, traveling from Stevens Point to work a 3 hour shift and being paid minimum wage wasn’t the worst of it though. I was never given more than 15 hours a week and most shifts being on weekends. The store is located at the end of a tiny mall across from a thrift outlet and during some 3-5 hour shifts not a single person would walk in. Wellman, always complaining about numbers tried to put the blame on our stores failure when I was only given a tiny amount of time with minimal customers. During my 3 month span we went through 3 managers and 6 employees and at one point it was only I and my manager running the store. My hours were eventually cut completely, for the next 3 weeks I would call the store asking when my next day or work would be and the new “manager” had no idea who I was and no part-timer even knew what was going on. At this time I had caught wind that I was to be moved to the Plover store, another week went by as I finally got ahold of Wellman, he asked to secure my key so we decided to meet at the Plover store. I waited around for 30 minutes AFTER closing and still no word from Wellman. ANOTHER week went by and we finally met at the store only to receive notice that I was being fired for the shrink count of GNC’s $1.99 water being different from the night before. During this full month Jason Wellman didn’t bother to let me know I was out of a job or even mention it. The man is a dousche and a coward.
Gnc is going to fall. They allow these rsds ego to get in the way of what’s best for the company.The first thing you should learn in a professional position, is to leave your personal feelings out of the work environment. Not at GNC. If you question anything, if you try to do the right thing, if you have those professional ethics, your days are numbered. You have to become a liar. I was actually told that by a rsd. So if you think all these people are simply disgruntled employees/ that is simply not true. This is all the truth, this is how this corporation is run. Liars with puffed up ego complexes. They can do whatever they want,to whomever they want, because the corporate structure allows it.
All of the above are true. For my first 3 months after moving from a different state to run a new location, I was forced to run two locations as a fulltime manager, never reimbursed for travel and was never commended for my actions. The RSD would rarely if ever come out to visit the location, and due to the firing of the other manager, I was told to basically fend for myself for those 3 months, opening one location, leaving that store around 3PM and being forced to go to the other store to close until after 9PM. This was the norm for me, 6 days a week. I was finally terminated recently because, as an Iraqi Veteran with PTSD, my doctor had prescribed me a new medication for Insomnia. I took the first dosage the night before and woke up 15 minutes late for work. I had no missed calls from my RSD, nothing about the store being late. Upon arriving there, I was dismissed by my RSD and manager at the time (As I was forced to drop to part time due to school) and was given no chance for explanation. I later contacted the HR Department about the issue and they said surely they would have taken it into consideration but was never contacted again. As I am in the middle of a Disability battle with the Department of Veterans Affairs due to injuries sustained while in Iraq, and was dismissed for arriving 15 minutes late to work with absolutely no prior warnings for tardiness, does anyone feel I may have a case here? Feel free to e-Mail me at NavyDoc1026@gmail.com with any suggestions.
Failure to open a store on time should receive a written warning for the first time. Dismissal for the second offense .. This come from the management training workbook.
I can relate to all the stories listed above, i started working for this company in 2002 when I just came to this country. i must tell you, i was only allowed to clock in for 25hrs, meanwhile i am working almost 35hrs for the week. Eventually i moved to NJ, where the work oad doubled as I was now a manager, and yes there were days when I worked from 8:30 am to 9:00pm. For almost two weeks, as i had no staff. Only got paid for 40. RSD at the time was Vincent Santiago, not a bad RSD but I guess he had to take instructions from the upper heads.
Back to NY this time on 3rd Avenue, where the RSD was simply out of control, Neil Blitzer a total jerk very insensitive and had no clue about Management Concept, At that location I also had to work over time without pay, to take that store off the Loss Prevention risk list. Finally toook a vacation and this man acted as if i was not entitled to it, so he forced me to quit and on top of that, denied payments of the balance of sick and vacation time. My last date was the 2nd week in July, 2007.
Found a better job in July 2007 and I am happy as can be.
In the hall of shame listed General Nutrition Center for ripping off its staff members.
Tom Dowd or whomever is in charge, should stop focusing on their one time trip to the top five hundred stores and pay attention to the staff, who are being underpaid or not at all.
I left in 2010 and don’t know if he’s still there but Shane Weaver was my rsd . When he wasn’t screaming or threatening. my job he was telling me I had to adjust my joits down to 40, no matter that I was losing 15-20 hours pay. The rest of the time he was trying to “date” me. And believe me I wasn’t the only one, we would all talk. ut wS. to scared to tell. I finally had emough and left
Hah i agree..anyone work out by the east coast in a gnc? We are having same issues paid about 6.25/hr for anything over 40..some bs..company doesnt care..
I worked for GNC since 1981, for corporate and franchise, then back to corporate. In 7 years they had 7 different rsd’s. And I can absolutely relate to every one of these posts. I was bullied to work off the clock, called and texted by my Rsd on my scheduled days off and forced to work off the clock, by their “golden boy” Rsd Norman fabiano.
He forced managers to log into the register to take tests for employees that were away to college so he could win an iPad! Totally against company policy! When I reported this to loss prevention (using my cell to leave a papertrail, so I wouldn’t get fired for this fraud he was making managers do), I was bullied even more by him, and he refused me to even have my scheduled 2 days off! He forced me to travel to stores on my time and dime, to do HIS job while he sat at home! Yeah GNC really picked a real winner with this guy!!! They really do need to pay for the injustice they create by hiring people with horrible integrity!
They also forced me to buy things for the store without reimbursement.
When the founder of the company was still active in the company, he always treated his employees well, God bless him, I’m sure he’s rolling in his grave with how slimy this company has become.
Norman Fabiano was my DM at Vitamin World for 4 years. I never had a problem with him. When I got to go to Long Island in 2007 his plane ticket got upgraded to first class and mind didn’t. He switched seats to sit with me because I had never been on a plane before. He is a great person.
EXACTLY!!! Our time our dime was how we worked… I was a manager for several yeras ,and a great one! I was denied vacation for two straight yearsfrom my then rsd, southeast usa. The numbers would fall if I was out of the store, and he wouldnt allow that. With no. Joking Im positive I have a minimum of 1000 hours of overtime I was never paid for. FORCED. to claim only 40. If you want true stories that will curl your hair, contact me.
How do I get my wife’s name added to this as a plaintiff? She worked for them for at least 5 years and received “half-time” for overtime, instead of time and a half, not to count the same attitude of discouraging overtime that was needed. Things like having to strip and wax the floors after hours while not on the clock. If we could even just get the payment for the overtime that she did work, it’d be great. Anything from this unprofessional company would be great.
I what’ve worked for gnc for about six months now in fort leonardwood mo, and I believe this is the same as in my store. Gnc only cares about money and selling there products no matter what. I was told today that the new rsd is firing all of us that were women and our numbers are terrible although my manager just recieved a award for over billion sold. We have to sell multivitamins , p3 , Oms….if we don’t we have the threat of always losing our job , our store is required to sell more than any other store in the region based on customer base. But our customers are 90% military and most of them can’t even take the stuff we have in there due to their training. So we constantly get calls from corporate saying ..sell that p3, get that Oms… It’s the most inefficient backwards company I have ever worked for, the products are twice as much as anywhere else and th gold doesn’t work on everything like we say it does. Very frustrated and feel very bad for the next employees who come in.
I am on my second time with GNC. The first time for 7 years then I went to Vitamin World for 4 I have been back at GNC for 4 years. I love my job I have never been asked to work off the clock as a manager or SSM. I have always been paid with no problems. I plan on being here the rest of my career helping people live better lives.
One of the class action Wage and Hour lawsuits
has reached a settlement. Tnx