A fierce legal battle over unpaid overtime wages is headed to mediation, as Lazer Spot Inc., a major logistics provider specializing in trailer spotting, faces a collective action from over 650 current and former drivers who claim the company misclassified them to dodge overtime pay, according to a new Georgia federal court filing.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Mark H. Cohen put the lawsuit on hold to give the parties a shot at settling the dispute through mediation, set for November. The lawsuit centers on claims that Lazer Spot misapplied the Motor Carrier Act (MCA) exemption under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), denying workers time-and-a-half pay for hours worked beyond 40 each week.

"Straight-Time All the Time": Workers Cry Foul

Lead plaintiff James Strickland, a former yard spotter for Lazer Spot, filed suit in May 2022, arguing the company paid him straight time for all hours worked, regardless of overtime. Yard spotters, who move freight trailers around company lots but don’t drive on public roads, were classified as exempt under the MCA—an exemption that applies only to workers regulated by the Department of Transportation.

According to Strickland, this classification was incorrect, and thus Lazer Spot violated federal wage laws. After launching the suit, he said Lazer Spot quietly began reclassifying some yard spotters and started paying them proper overtime.

Massive Collective Action Certified

In January 2024, Judge Cohen conditionally certified the collective, stating that the yard spotters were “similarly situated.” Since then, more than 650 drivers who worked for Lazer Spot in Georgia within the past three years have joined the lawsuit.

Lazer Spot pushed back, claiming there was no statewide pay policy affecting all the plaintiffs and that each case would need an individualized review of whether the MCA exemption applied. But Judge Cohen disagreed, citing employee testimony that all had missed out on overtime at some point, and called the company’s legal arguments premature at this stage.

A Legal Chess Match Nears a Turning Point

Co-plaintiff Cornelius Johnson, who worked for Lazer Spot from 2019 to 2022, withdrew his claims in November 2023, leaving Strickland to lead the charge. His own tenure spanned from May 2021 to September 2022.

The FLSA mandates overtime pay for hours exceeding 40 per week, except where valid exemptions apply. The MCA exemption carves out certain drivers whose hours are governed by the DOT, but Strickland argues yard spotters don't qualify since they don’t travel public roads and aren’t bound by those regulations.

Legal Teams and Stakes

The yard spotters are represented by C. Ryan Morgan and Andrew R. Frisch of Morgan & Morgan PA, and Carlos V. Leach and Adeash Lakraj of The Leach Firm PA.

Lazer Spot is defended by Brett C. Bartlett, Alex Simon, Jason R. Carruthers, Ralph Culpepper, and Hillary Massey of Seyfarth Shaw LLP.

With mediation on the horizon, both sides are preparing for what could be a high-stakes resolution. If talks fail, the court battle resumes—with hundreds of workers’ wages and industry overtime standards hanging in the balance.