DiCello Levitt continues to champion workers’ rights and to fight for fair labor standards across the country. The firm achieved significant milestones in two wage and hour cases on behalf of tens of thousands of corrections officers in North Carolina and Wisconsin, with trial courts certifying classes in both states.

The lawsuits allege corrections officers should be paid for every minute they spend in the prison facilities they are tasked with securing. As the plaintiffs put it a recent filing before the Wisconsin Supreme Court: “There is simply no rest, no time off, no relaxation in that heightened, stressful, dangerous prison environment. Nobody goes to prison to ‘hang out.’”

In the North Carolina case, the lawsuit alleges violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and breach of contract. The complaint contends that the defendants failed to pay correctional officers and sergeants for all hours worked, including straight-time and overtime hours spent performing pre- and post-shift activities critical to maintaining facility safety and security. The class certification, granted in February 2024, is a significant win for more than 16,000 correctional officers across the state.

In Wisconsin, which employs between 3,900 and 4,200 corrections officers each year, DiCello Levitt and co-counsel also secured class certification for Wisconsin’s correctional officers and sergeants, likewise alleging that the State of Wisconsin had failed to pay corrections officers for all hours the officers actually worked. That certification decision is currently pending on appeal, and is before the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

These milestones mark significant steps forward in the ongoing pursuit of justice for these hardworking individuals and highlight DiCello Levitt’s commitment to upholding fair labor standards and workers’ rights.

The North Carolina case is Matthew Hodge, et al. v. North Carolina Department of Public Safety, et al., and the Wisconsin case is McDaniel, et al. v. Wisconsin Department of Corrections. Adam J. Levitt and Daniel R. Schwartz lead the DiCello Levitt team.