This week, we settled on small wage claim for unpaid overtime on behalf of our client, a former IT administrator. Even though his total claim was for over $80,000.00, he elected to not wait for the hearing and accept an earlier smaller settlement with the employer. This claim was supported by evidence in a form of payroll records, and support tickets on which our client worked.
At first, the employer did not want to pay anything arguing that our client was not entitled to overtime because he was exempt under administrative or professional exemption. However, we managed to show that the majority of our client's duties were not those of a manager. He was providing typical support to the company's network systems. He was not building or designing, but only maintaining and configuring the network - a critical difference in claims of unpaid wages and overtime.
It is harder to prevail in a case where the claimant's word goes against the word of the employer and a large number of the employer's witnesses, who come to support the employer in part out of fear of retaliation if they refuse to support the company's side or especially if they decide to support the claimant. However, in this case, our client has his own former manager ready to testify about his non-exempt duties and his work hours, which was very helpful in settlement discussions.
At first, the employer did not want to pay anything arguing that our client was not entitled to overtime because he was exempt under administrative or professional exemption. However, we managed to show that the majority of our client's duties were not those of a manager. He was providing typical support to the company's network systems. He was not building or designing, but only maintaining and configuring the network - a critical difference in claims of unpaid wages and overtime.
It is harder to prevail in a case where the claimant's word goes against the word of the employer and a large number of the employer's witnesses, who come to support the employer in part out of fear of retaliation if they refuse to support the company's side or especially if they decide to support the claimant. However, in this case, our client has his own former manager ready to testify about his non-exempt duties and his work hours, which was very helpful in settlement discussions.
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