Ross, et al. v. RBS Citizens, N.A. (d/b/a Charter One), et al.
United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, case no.: 09-CV-5695
Filed: September 14, 2009

What is the lawsuit about?

UPDATE: The Court decided to bump the July 29, 2010 hearing up to September 14, 2010. From the orders issued on the case, it appears that she will be issuing her decision on the whether to certify the class of Illinois employees under the Illinois law at, or near, that time. After the September 14 hearing, we will post an update as to what occurred.

UPDATE: On June 30, 2010, the Court granted conditional class certification for all of Charter One’s tellers, bankers, and assistant branch managers who used to work at Charter One’s former branches located in the state of Indiana.

UPDATE: The court granted the Defendants an extension of time to respond to our motion to certify the class of Illinois employees under Illinois law. The hearing on that motion has been moved from June to July 20, 2010.

UPDATE: On January 14, 2010, the court issued an order certifying the collective class action overtime claims for employees holding the positions of banker, personal banker, teller, teller manager, head teller, senior teller and assistant branch manager. This class covers all of these employees working at “Charter One” banking centers in Illinois, Ohio, and Michigan from January 14, 2007 to the present. In early March 2010, Court approved notices for this claims will be mailed to the last known addresses for all persons holding these positions during this time frame. Also, court approved notices will be posted in all Charter One branches in an area readily available for viewing by the current employees in these positions.

Our office has filed a collective action claim against RBS Citizens, N.A. bank (doing business as Charter One) and its parent corporation Citizens Financial Group, Inc. in the U.S. Federal Court for the Northern District of Illinois on September 14, 2009. This lawsuit was filed on behalf of all bank tellers, personal bankers, and assistant managers who worked for Charter One within the past three years for unpaid overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The lawsuit alleges that Charter One failed to pay bank tellers and personal bankers for overtime worked. In particular, these employees would work more than forty hours in a work week, but instead of paying them overtime, Charter One would: (i) give them time off in future weeks instead of paying overtime, (ii) tell them to not record the hours worked over forty, and/or (iii) changing (or instructing them to change) their recorded hours by reducing or eliminating any overtime hours. The lawsuit alleges that Charter One would require tellers to perform work during uncompensated breaks. Regarding assistant managers, the lawsuit alleges that Citizens Bank misclassified these employees as salary exempt, and should have paid them overtime.

Our offices are seeking class status for these employees who worked at Charter One branches over the past three years in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. At this time, this lawsuit is not a certified collective class action. It will only become a certified collective class action after the Court issues an order granting this status. We will be seeking such an order from the Court as this matter proceeds.

Can I get a copy of the lawsuit?

For a copy of the lawsuit that has been filed: click here.

How can I join?

For more information, please contact either:

How Can I follow What is Happening in the Lawsuit?

This lawsuit was filed in U.S. Federal Court for the Northern District of Illinois. That court allows the public to view the documents filed in existing lawsuits. You can access this information by clicking on https://ecf.ilnd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.

Once you are on that web page, you will need to set up a PACER account in order to receive a "login" and "password." There is a link on this page for http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/. Once you have a login and password, you can go back and enter that information on the court’s website in order to log-in. After you log in, click "query" at the top of the next screen. This will bring up a "search clues" box. Within that box, you will need to enter 09-5695 in the case number area, then hit the "Run Query" button. On the next screen, click on the "docket report" link. That will bring up the docket report for the case. You will be able to see all the documents that have been filed in the case, including all the consent to join forms. Note: if you click on a document and want to review it, there is a charge to your PACER account for the copies.