Week Adjourned: 2.25.11

Top Class Actions

Can you pay me now? Verizon Wireless has been hit with a wages and overtime class action this week. Ah—so that’s how they save you money…

Filed by a FiOS field manager, Ulysses Aburto, the suit alleges that Verizon told him and other FiOS field managers that they were salaried employees and therefore exempt from the overtime requirements of California wage and hour laws.

Ah, wait—maybe not… According to the complaint, Aburto and others did jobs that lacked the characteristics of exempt employment and were managers “in name only.” The plaintiffs “do not have managerial duties or authority and should therefore have been properly classified as non-exempt employees,” Aburto claims. This misclassification by Verizon is part of a corporate policy and practice that is “affirmative, willful and deceitful,” Aburto alleges.

And Aburto claims that the company cut costs by refusing to pay and forcing employees to work through mandated meal and rest breaks. Class members work between 20 and 40 hours of overtime per workweek but are not paid for that time, the suit says.

The complaint alleges unlawful business practices, failure to pay overtime or provide accurate Continue reading “Week Adjourned: 2.25.11”