• 02
  • March
    2011

Many people are willing to do a little extra work at their jobs. Some people are motivated by money; other people do it for the recognition. However, when those are denied, people get frustrated quickly. There are no laws requiring bosses to give each employee a pat on the back for jobs well done. But there are laws requiring employers to compensate their employees for overtime.

A complaint filed in Southern California draws attention to one company that is refusing to do so. Verizon is currently facing a class-action lawsuit for refusing to pay overtime and forcing their employees to work through mandated meal and rest breaks. What started as a deceptive method for the company to save money, will likely end up costing them thousands of dollars.

The lawsuit is being filed on behalf of field managers at Verizon. These individuals were told that because they were salaried, they were "exempt from the overtime requirements of California wage and hour claims."

Some employees - including many people at the managerial level - are exempt from wage and hour laws. However, in order to be exempt, their actual work must be consistent with the work that managers do. Simply having "manager" in their job titles is not enough. That distinction is a large part of the foundation for the Verizon employees.

The plaintiffs' attorney stated that the field managers "do not have managerial duties or authority and should therefore have been properly classified as non-exempt employees." Given their day-to-day accountabilities, the field managers should receive overtime pay for the hours they worked, often as much as 12 or 14 hours a day.

The lawsuit states that Verizon intentionally created several misleading job titles to create the façade that there was a multi-tiered managerial hierarchy. In reality, the jobs are so similar that the plaintiffs' lawyer said they can "easily be grouped together for the purpose of determining whether they were all misclassified." With continued work, hopefully he will be able to prove that Verizon intentionally cheated the employees and can help them receive the compensation they deserve.

Source: Westlaw News & Insight, "Verizon cheated workers on overtime, breaks, class action says," 24 February 2011