California Computer Professionals vs. Sun Microsystems

Santa Clara, CAIn yet another test of California's Computer Professionals legislation, technical writers for Sun Microsystems have filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging they were wrongly classified as computer professionals and therefore denied overtime pay. It is just the latest in a string of lawsuits in California regarding computer professional overtime exemption.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, the lawsuit argues that technical writers are not included in the California "computer professional" legislation that made such workers exempt from overtime pay and breaks. A judge has recently certified the lawsuit as a class action, meaning that it can now be filed on behalf of salaried technical writers who worked for Sun Microsystems since 2002.

In its defense, Sun Microsystems has said that it believes the writers fall under the requirements of the computer professional exemption, including working independently and being highly skilled.

Since California exemption legislation was enacted in 2001, there has been much controversy over which IT employees can be considered exempt from overtime pay. Although the legislation sets out guidelines for who can be considered exempt, some of those guidelines are open to interpretation. For example, the legislation states that the employee must be "primarily engaged in work that is intellectual or creative and that requires the exercise of discretion and independent judgment." However, it does not state how much independent judgment or discretion is required for the employee to be exempt. An employee who makes a few minor decisions in a day is very different from one who has veto power on major projects.

Because some of the wording of the legislation is open to interpretation, a company can easily justify classifying an employee as exempt, even if that employee does not necessarily fit the intended requirements for overtime exemption. That is where employee class action lawsuits can determine whether or not employees have been improperly categorized as exempt.

Employees at several computer companies have filed lawsuits alleging they were improperly denied overtime pay because they were misclassified under California labor law. Those companies include IBM, Infosys Technologies and Cadence Design Systems.

Further complicating issues, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger reduced the minimum wage levels from above $40 per hour to $36 per hour, effective January 1, 2008. This means that employees who make the equivalent of $36 per hour and meet other guidelines, can be classified as exempt. This potentially means that many more computer professionals than before will be denied overtime wages.

If you believe you were misclassified as exempt from overtime wages under California's legislation, contact a lawyer to discuss your legal options.