Lawsuit accuses PPA of failing to pay its security officers for mandatory breaks

The Philadelphia Parking Authority violated federal and Pennsylvania labor law by requiring the security officers in the agency’s impound lots to work during their mandatory 30-minute meal and rest breaks, according to a proposed class action lawsuit.

The complaint was filed Monday in Philadelphia’s federal court by Terrez McCleary, who has been working for the PPA as a security officer since 2018. The suit does not say how many security officers are part of the class.

McCleary staffs a security booth in a PPA impound, which requires her to control pedestrian and car traffic; go on security rounds; and respond to any safety issue, the suit says. During her eight-hour workday, the guard has to take a 30-minute unpaid break. But PPA doesn’t relieve her of her duties during that time, according to the complaint.

“Put simply, the PPA requires Plaintiff and other security officers to work for 30 minutes without pay,” the lawsuit says.

Had PPA counted the breaks toward security officers’ time sheets, many would have worked more than 40 hours a week, the complaint says. By not counting the 30-minute chunks, the PPA deprived its staffers of overtime pay.

The proposed class action asks that the court award PPA’s security officers all the wages they lost due to the imposed break over the last three years, alongside an unspecified amount of damages.

PPA declined to comment on the litigation.

The lawsuit will have to be certified as a class action by a federal judge, which is not a forgone conclusion.

Two Philadelphia Police Department chief inspectors filed a class-action lawsuit in August 2024, alleging they were denied overtime pay for emergencies for over a decade. In September, they asked a judge to certify their case as a class action representing 230 ranking officers.

District Judge Mark Kearney denied the request earlier this month, explaining that it could not evaluate the claims for 230 officers without individually assessing the circumstances of each one.

Jeremy Abay, the Pond Lehocky Giordano lawyer representing McCleary, said that the lawsuit fits a class action because the affected security officers would have the half hour deducted on their payroll records.

“The class here is baked into their job duty,” Abay said. “Here these folks were at their post; they had to be at their post, and they have that .5 deduction on their payroll records.”