Tech workers file big FLSA claim
August 27, 2008 by Sam NarisiPosted in: In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Security and law
It’s an area of employment law that’s causing a lot of confusion lately: the OT classification of IT employees.
In the latest dispute, former Apple employee David Walsh is suing the company for unpaid overtime. He claims Apple misclassified him as exempt and failed to pay him for compensable on-call time.
According to Walsh, the company inflated job titles to make them sound exempt. For example, he says some workers were known as “Senior Network Engineers” — even though they did the same work as regular Network Engineers.
He’s currently seeking class action status to let other employees join the suit.
Who’s exempt from OT?
Whether IT employees are exempt depends on a lot of factors. Many likely fall under the administrative exemption, which requires that employees exercise “discretion and independent judgment” in their work.
There’s also the “computer employee” exemption, which covers mostly programmers and software developers (read more from the Department of Labor here).
View all the Latest StoriesTags: Apple, Fair Labor Standards Act, FLSA, OT, overtime
September 3rd, 2008 at 12:12 am
I am an IT Manager, but really all that means is that if “IT” is broken, then I fix “IT”, whatever “IT” is. I am a department of one. I troubleshoot computers, install software, maintain the network, tele-communications administrator, Auto-Cad design, troubleshoot CNC machines, etc. I am salaried-exempt. When I first started asking questions about my “exempt” status I was told that I was “exempt” by the fact that I was a manager and salaried. Later I was told that I was “exempt” under the “professional exemption.” I do not have any “advanced knowledge” in a field of science or learning. My “advanced knowledge” was attained ENTIRELY from on the job work experience. Am I misclassified?
September 5th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Probably not. Regardless of HOW you obtained the experience, if you were hired as the “IT Manager”, the expectation is that you will perform all of the duties therein. In my almost 13 years in IT (I’m in a director role), the only positions that I’ve come across that were hourly and/or eligible for overtime were entry level help desk and PC technicians. If you look at the DOL regs, you’ll see that it’s based on duties and salary and not on titles. The salary part is easy… you either make as much as the regs call for or you don’t. You’ll have to make the case if you feel your *responsibilities* don’t match up. Those regs are geared towards programmers but the case could be made regarding networking infrastructure folks too based on the language.
November 6th, 2008 at 2:04 am
I am in the same situation as Joseph. I started as salaried employee. After I received my first paycheck, I asked,” Where is my overtime?”. I was told by the Director of Human resources, that I was NOT entitled to overtime because I was considered a MANAGER of The IT Department. So I worked when I was told, without question. Putting in an average of 70 to 80 hours a week. After over a year. The Director of Human Resources told ME to see if I was exempt from overtime. My attorney says that I am NOT a Manager of any department because I do not have at least 2 employees reporting directly to me that are putting in a total of 80 hours or more a week. So I should have been getting overtime from week 1. Network Administrators do NOT use independant judgement to solve problems. We use manuals, and online resources combined with manual labor. Exemtions are clearly defined on Department of Labors website.
March 10th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
Same Boat: If you are in the “same boat” as I then chances are you ARE misclassified. It took me 8 months before my exempt status was changed to non-exempt. At first the HR department said I was exempt because I was a manager and I was salaried. Then they changed their stance and said that I fell under the “professional” exemption. Finally in a last ditch effort to dissuade me they changed the exemption to “computer related.” All of which I didn’t meet any of the criteria. There is an opinion letter issued by the DOL dated Oct. 2006 (http://tinyurl.com/5vqn35) that helps support our case. There is also a very good article in the Dec. 2008 Redmond magazine (redmond.com). I am now into my fourth week as salary non-exempt. We are waiting to negotiate the backpay for overtime owed. Exemption status for IT employees is a growing concern because a lot of companies believe that if an employee is salaried, you are exempt. Or, they base the exempt status on the job title. This is wrong. In the past 9 months I also found that my company, since 2004, through an e-mail, had implemented a policy that directed the HR department to change job titles in order to get past the non-exempt status.