CALIFORNIA WAGE & HOUR CLASS ACTION ATTORNEYS

 

Recent Results in Cases Involving Hi-Tech Employees

 

Defendant DST Output                                                                                                                $1,250,000

In July of 2008, Plaintiff filed a Complaint against DST Output, a leading provider of paper and electronic documents for customer communications, on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated. The plaintiff alleged unpaid wages (Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938), meal or rest periods not provided per applicable law, unpaid meal or rest period premiums per applicable law, failure to provide itemized statements, failure to pay all wages due and owing upon termination of employment, unfair business practices or unfair competition; and/or Civil penalties under the Private Attorney General Act of 2004.
DST Output agreed to pay $1.25 million in settlement of this matter.

 

Defendant Cisco                                                                                                                         $20,000,000

In September of 2007, Plaintiff filed a Complaint against Cisco, a worldwide manufacturer and provider of information technology services that employs several "engineers" that were allegedly classified as "salary exempt" irrespective of their duties or daily tasks. This wage and hour case sought the recovery of unpaid overtime compensation. The named Plaintiff, who sued on his own behalf and on behalf of others similarly situated, alleged that he (a Level II and Level III software engineer, employed with Cisco from 1999 to 2006), and the putative class, were misclassified as exempt from overtime pay. The Complaint alleged that the members of the class were not paid overtime compensation to which they were entitled under California law for work performed in excess of 8 hours per day or 40 hours per week.The suit also alleged that the class members were not provided meal periods and rest periods in compliance with California laws. Other alleged violations included Cisco’s failure to timely pay all amounts owed to Cisco’s employees at the time of their termination, and Cisco’s failure to provide accurate itemized wage statements. Finally, the Complaint alleged that Cisco also violated California’s Unfair Business Practices Act, codified at California Business & Professions Code § 17200.
Cisco agreed to pay $20 million in settlement of this matter.

 

Defendant VMware                                                                                                                     $6,500,000

In September of 2007, Plaintiff filed a Complaint against former employer, VMware. VMware is a worldwide IT products distributor that employs several "engineers" that were misclassified as "salary exempt" irrespective of their duties or daily tasks. The Plaintiff brought this action on behalf of himself (a QA engineer) and all employees who worked for VMware in California as software engineers, test engineers, systems administrators, QA engineers (platform solutions – automation engineer and manual testing), and QA 2 engineers (platform solutions – manual testing). As in the Cisco case, this case also sought recovery of unpaid overtime compensation. The Complaint also alleged violations of the applicable rest and meal period laws, and VMware’s failure to provide accurate itemized wage statements. Plaintiff also sought compensatory damages and restitution under California Unfair Business Practices Act, California Business & Professions Code § 17200. Penalties were also sought under the Labor Code.
VMware agreed to pay $6.5 million in settlement of this matter.

 

Other Potential Defendants in the Hi-Tech Arena

The Carter Law Firm is currently investigating potential wage and hour violations at the following companies:

If you have worked at any of the above-referenced companies within the past four years, please contact us.

Overtime Claims for Tech Employees

A large portion of tech employees have been misclassified as exempt from overtime pay and are therefore entitled to unpaid wages, and an employer will often pay them a salary to attempt to disguise that fact. Further, IT employees are often given lofty titles and job descriptions which don’t match their actual day-to-day duties. Their actual duties dictate whether or not they should be paid overtime, so, generally speaking, it is important that employees look past their job titles and pay rates and look at the actual work performed.

Who are these people who are entitled to overtime? They include software engineers, computer technicians, systems analysts, graphic designers, testers, programmers, and many others in the hi-tech industry. In other words, it could be anyone working in the technology field. Even someone making over $100,000 per year who supervises other workers may be entitled to overtime pay if other criteria are not met.

The main exemption applied by employers in their attempt to avoid paying overtime, is the "California Computer Professional Exemption." This exemption includes both objective and subjective criteria. The objective criteria include minimum pay requirements; the more subjective criteria include an inquiry as to whether or not the employee exercises discretion and independent judgment in the performance of his or her work.

The two other main exemptions that an employer may attempt to use to avoid paying employees overtime are the "Learned Profession Exemption" and the "Administrative Exemption."Under the "Learned Profession Exemption", an employee who has engaged in a prolonged course of study or has advanced knowledge through work experience may be exempt from overtime pay. Under the "Administrative Exemption," an employee who coordinates activities and exercises discretion and independent judgment may be exempt from overtime pay. But determining whether any of these exemptions apply is anything but an exact science. If an employee has worked overtime and has not been paid for that work, he or she should contact us.

How the Recent Recession Has Affected IT

First and foremost, many people are angry at their former employers, mainly because they considered themselves to be loyal employees and now they are jobless.Further, while some employers are changing salaried employees to hourly and paying overtime to comply with the law, many employers continue to implement so-called cost-cutting measures that violate the California Labor Code. Former and current employees are beginning to realize how they were, and continue to be, mistreated. 

The recession will likely have a double impact regarding overtime. First, fewer employees will be working longer hours to make up for the reduction in the work force. Second, there will be more unemployed tech workers seeking recourse against their former employers. Many of them have viable claims for unpaid overtime wages.

And in spite of the recession, keep in mind that a lot of tech companies are quite solid financially and can pay the money that is owed. Many tech companies are cutting jobs but they are still generating cash flow. They and many other employers can afford to pay their current and former employees the wages that are owed.

Employees should also realize that their claim may be worth a lot of money. For instance, a case involving only some 800 systems engineers recently settled for over $27 million. In the last year alone, The Carter Law Firm has settled two cases in this area for $20 million and $6.5 million respectively.

As noted, there are two key areas to analyze in order to determine if a computer professional is entitled to overtime: method of compensation and job duties.

In order to be exempt in California, a new law effective January 1, 2008 states that a full time employee must be salaried and earn at least $640 per week, or $33,280; the hourly minimum decreased to $36. This reduction means that many California computer professionals may lose their right to overtime pay for all work performed from 2008 and after. However, this does not apply to work performed in the approximate three years preceding 2008 if then-applicable laws were violated.

California legislation states that "the individual must be highly skilled, with proficiency in the theoretical and practical application of highly specialized systems analysis, programming and software engineer."This is a vague and subjective test at best. In California it is required that an employee spend at least 50% of his or her time performing what are considered "exempt" duties in order to qualify as exempt. Therefore, a specific evaluation of an employee’s daily responsibilities is essential.

The bottom line is this should be a burgeoning area for overtime claims. Sadly, many of these overworked computer and hi-tech professionals don’t know and, perhaps worse, don’t believe they have a claim for overtime pay merely because they are paid a salary rather than hourly. In most instances they are owed a large amount of money. The payment method and company line are merely a ruse to cover up what these employees are owed – compensation for their work.

Almost every occupation in California is covered by California overtime laws. To find out if you qualify to receive compensation for lost overtime wages, please contact us.