Information technology (IT) people: wrongly classified as exempt

Class Action Suit Pending

Chris Mathers of Northridge, California (not his real name pending a lawsuit; his lawyer recommends anonymity), works at IT for the state university:

"About four years ago I had been receiving compensation time – if I worked overtime I was given the equivalent number of hours off. If I worked at night or on a weekend, I was OK with this arrangement. Then we got a new manager and when I put in for my compensation time he approved it but said it was no longer permitted. "

"Human Resources (HR) wrote me a memo that said as an exempt employee I am not eligible for overtime. That brings me to the present day. I continue to put in overtime but I stopped keeping a log after I got the letter. As a natural course of my job, I put in a few hours each day and weekends. My boss agreed with HR."

"But then I talked to an attorney and found this out: As of 1997 people earning above $90,000 were not allowed to receive overtime but anything less than that, you were entitled to overtime. That means about 6,000 people here are owed overtime. . . . " Click here for legal help and a free evaluation of your possible case

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