Richmond Virginia Personal Injury Lawyer - Workplace Injuries

Working "Off The Clock" May Entitle Workers to Overtime Compensation

Bill Tucker — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 10:00:51 GMT

A recent Department of Labor investigation against a Municipal Sheriff's Department illustrates how requiring employees to perform work-related activities prior to "clocking in" violates the unpaid overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Sheriff's Department required its deputies to attend meetings at the start and end of the workday, but did not include this time in calculating the number of hours the deputies worked. As a result of the DOL investigation into this practice, the Sheriff's Department is now faced with compensating its deputies with hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid overtime. Many employers require employees to attend meetings, fill out paperwork, or put on or remove safety equipment at the start and end of the workday, but do not include the time the employees spend engaging in these activities as time spent working. Under federal law, however, these activities are deemed to be compensable time and should be included in the calculation of the total hours an employee works. Because the federal FLSA requires an employer to pay an employee "time and a half" for each hour worked more than forty (40) in a workweek, many employees who are required to perform work-related activities before and after going "on the clock" are entitled to overtime pay.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Bill Tucker

More and More Computer Workers Seeking Overtime Pay(2)

Bill Tucker — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 11:42:16 GMT

A significant trend in wage and hour law is the number of Computer and IT workers, particularly those in the service industry, who are filing lawsuits seeking to recover unpaid overtime. Many employers mistakenly regard overtime pay as a benefit available only to "blue collar" workers, and misclassify high-tech employees as exempt from the overtime pay requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Act, however, does not exempt all "white collar" employees from the overtime pay requirements. In addition, many computer and IT employees work long hours and their jobs require significant travel. Our firm believes that the number of lawsuits filed by "white collar" service industry workers, including high-tech and computer employees, will continue to rise. Moreover, because employers in these industries frequently misclassify large groups of employees, many of these lawsuits will likely be brought as class actions.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Bill Tucker

Mortgage Loan Officers File Suit for Unpaid Overtime

Bill Tucker — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 08:00:00 GMT

Loan Officers for American Equity Mortgage recently filed a national class action lawsuit alleging that their employer misclassified them as exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act, and seeking recovery of unpaid overtime compensation. This lawsuit is part of a growing trend of lawsuits filed by "white collar" workers in the financial, pharmaceutical, computer, IT, service and other industries seeking to collect unpaid overtime, and alleging that their employers misclassified them as exempt from the overtime pay requirements of the FLSA. The general rule under the FLSA is that all employees are entitled to overtime unless the employer can show that the employee qualifies for a specific exemption under the Act. For a variety of reasons, many employees who are entitled to overtime pay are misclassified as exempt. For instance, although the analysis of whether an employee qualifies for an exemption is based primarily on the employee's specific job duties, many employers simply classify all of their employees who are paid on a salary basis as exempt without regard to the tasks that they perform. If you would like to know more about your rights under the FLSA, please click the Ask an Attorney feature on this site.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Bill Tucker

Lowes Faces Another Unpaid Overtime Lawsuit

Bill Tucker — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 11:30:21 GMT

A Texas woman has filed a class action against Lowes Home Center alleging Lowes violated the overtime pay requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The woman, who was a warehouse employee at a regional distribution center, claims that Lowes owes her unpaid overtime, and did not credit her for time that she performed required work for Lowes before and after her scheduled shift, including checking in her hand-held computer, completing paperwork, and driving to her work area. The suit requests class certification for all Texas Lowes employees, and seeks damages for unpaid overtime, liquidated damages, attorneys' fees and costs, and pre- and post-judgment interest. In addition to the Texas suit, Lowes faces similar lawsuits alleging violations of the FLSA in ten other states.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Bill Tucker

Texas Company Pays More Than $1.5 Million in Unpaid Overtime Wages

Bill Tucker — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 10:13:17 GMT

McLane Co., Inc., a wholesale distributor of food and grocery products, has agreed to pay $1,559,316 in unpaid overtime wages to 570 current and former employees after the Department of Labor found that the company had misclassified the employees as exempt from the overtime pay requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The company had erroneously classified the employees, who were "retail merchandising specialists," as exempt outside sales employees and failed to keep records of their hours worked. The outside sales exemption applies to employees whose primary duty is making sales, or obtaining orders or contracts for services or the use of facilities, and the employee must be customarily and regularly away from the employer's place of business. The FLSA requires employers to pay all employees "time and one-half" for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek, unless the employer can show the employee qualifies for an exemption. Employers in many industries misclassify their employees as exempt from the overtime pay requirements of the FLSA under exemptions, including the outside sales exemption.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Bill Tucker

Collective Wage and Hour Claims for Pharma Sales Reps

Michael Phelan — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 10:07:29 GMT

A number of pharmaceutical companies, including Roache Laboratories, Inc., Abbot Laboratories, Inc., Eli Lilly & Co., Pfizer, Inc., Merck & Co. Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline Plc, are facing wage-and-hour suits filed on behalf of their sales representatives. Our firm recently filed such a case against Solvay Pharmaceuticals Inc. claiming the company failed to pay hundreds of sales representatives overtime pay in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The complaint alleges that all of Solvay's sales representatives were forced to perform extra duties after business hours and on weekends, that Solvay misclassified these sales reps as exempt from overtime pay, and that Solvay willfully refused to pay its reps the overtime pay to which they were entitled. The case is Leslie v. Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Inc. , Case No.: 3:08-cv-19 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Michael Phelan

Butler Williams Wins Important Unpaid Overtime Decision

Michael Phelan — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 21:15:35 GMT

We are pleased to report that, today, our law firm received a favorable Fourth Circuit Court ruling for a client establishing a claim for a company's retaliation against former employees who claim unpaid overtime compensation. The controlling law which requires the payment of overtime for all hours worked over 40 per week, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), contains separate retaliation protection to "employees" who claim unpaid overtime or minimum wages. This case for our client, Darveau v. Detecon, Incorporated, No. 06-2092 (January 31, 2008), is the first time that the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (covering federal trial courts in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and West Virginia) has considered the issue of whether former employees are likewise protected under the overtime law.

Just fifteen days after Mr. Darveau filed suit in federal court for unpaid overtime wages under the FLSA, the company filed another lawsuit in Virginia state court for purported fraud and fraudulent concealment against Mr. Darveau. The company later changed the claims to assert constructive fraud and breach of contract. The court dismissed all of the company's claims against Mr. Darveau. Mr. Darveau alleged that his former employer's state court lawsuit had no merit and was filed in retaliation for his own claim for unpaid overtime wages. The trial court initially decided that Mr. Darveau could not make a retaliation claim for the company's lawsuit against him following his claim for unpaid wages because he was not a present employee. This appellate court decision reverses the trial court decision and returns the retaliation case to the federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, where it will be tried.

Most federal discrimination laws, including Title VII (protection against sex, race, color, national origin, religious discrimination), Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA/ age discrimination), Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA/ medical and family leave) and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA/disability) contain separate retaliation protection for those who oppose illegal employment practices or participate in administrative or legal proceedings by making claims or serving as witnesses. The law protects the employee or witness whether the underlying claim is successful or not. In fact, Mr. Darveau did not prevail on his overtime case due to the Court's ruling that he was an exempt administrative employee. However, he could not be retaliated against by a retaliatory lawsuit filed by his former employer. With this decision, the Fourth Circuit sends a strong message that retaliation by employers against employees, including those former employees claiming their entitlement to unpaid overtime, will not be permitted. Former employees continue to have the courts' and the laws' protection against retaliation - even after the employment has ended.

Harris D. Butler, III
Butler Williams & Skilling

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Michael Phelan

Wage and Hour Claim Costs Company $10 Million

Michael Phelan — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 22:36:55 GMT

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) provides that the vast majority of employees are entitled to overtime pay at "time and a half" for every hour worked beyond 40 hours in a week. The FSLA is complex, and many employers violate both the FSLA and state laws governing overtime pay. The penalties for violating the overtime pay laws are recovery of two to three years of unpaid wages, liquidated damages (twice the amount of back wages), and attorney's fees. Dycom Industries, Inc., which provides contracting services to telecommunications companies, announced today that it agreed to settle wage and hour claims against three of its subsidiaries for up to $10 million. Because the laws governing overtime pay or wage and hour claims are complex, it is important to consult an attorney who is experienced in the field.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Michael Phelan

Wal-Mart Wage & Hour Class Action Largest Ever

Michael Phelan — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 10:39:53 GMT

The largest wage-and-hour class action ever certified in Washington state is set for trial in the spring of 2009. The statewide class action is against retail giant Wal-Mart, and it includes 75,000 current and former employees. Any worker employed at Wal-Mart or Sam's Club between September 10, 1997 and the present is automatically a member of the class. The complaint alleges Wal-Mart systematically failed to pay workers for some of the time they worked and deprived them of legally required meal and rest breaks. Workers claim they were threatened with termination if they ever clocked a few minutes over the 40 hour work week, and that they were forced to work additional off-the-clock, unpaid hours. Wal-Mart has lost similar class action suits in California and Pennsylvania. Please call us to discuss your legal rights.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Michael Phelan

Convenience Store Chain Sued for Unpaid Overtime

Aubrey Ford — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 16:38:32 GMT

A class action lawsuit has been filed in the United States District Court in Iowa by two assistant managers accusing Casey's General Stores, Inc. of refusing to pay them overtime that they earned. The assistant managers worked at a store in Iowa and claimed that they were required to work several hours per week off the clock. This accumulated to hundreds of hours over a three-year period. The assistant managers are making a claim for unpaid overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Casey's General Stores, Inc. runs 1,463 stores in the mid-west. The assistant managers were paid on an hourly basis and were non-exempt under federal law, meaning that they must be paid overtime for all hours worked over forty in a work week. The assistant managers performed duties including cooking, cleaning the store, working the cash register, and providing customer service. They were entitled to time and a half their regular rate for all overtime hours.

The case was filed as a class action on behalf of all other assitant managers throughout the chain who were also forced to work unpaid overtime hours. The suits allow the recovery of the unpaid overtime, liquidated damages, attorney's fees, and costs.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Aubrey Ford