windingmeup1
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California
I'm seeking suggestions/advice for settling a back overtime directly with my employer that is owed to me due to exempt misclassification. I have actually been involved in the past with lengthy lawsuits involving similar situations and I am very knowledgeable in this area of what type of work cannot be classified as exempt. One of the lawsuits settled for 61 million and was one of the largest OT settlements in the nation.
I am a computer professional providing maintenance and support for IT equipment/software/PDA's etc. It's desktop support work. I was actually paid overtime for 8 years but a year an a half ago I was "promoted" to exempt with no salary increase. In the process I lost significant OT pay because my job requires about 8 OT hours a week. My job did duties did not change at all.
In my research I have discovered that this company routinely misclassifies most it's computer professionals. After speaking to a lawyer, I was told the reason this is so common is because the worst thing that happens to the company abusing the labor law is they just pay the OT owed. They are worse off financially to follow the law and pay OT when labor law requires it because they can just pay it later if someone discovers.
Well the last time I went through a law suit I did not get all the OT owed because the settlement granted some compensation to the lawyers and of course this is fair because of the hard work they put into the case.
However, this time around I want to approach the company (after I reach 2 years or I am laid off/fired) and let them know that I plan to sue them for my back owed overtime plus start a class action lawsuit for the hundreds of other computer professionals who are misclassified. I want to see if I can get them to negotiate a direct settlement with me at that point rather than risk me starting a class action.
I would ask them to pay me the OT owed for two years at 1.5 my computed hourly rate. I would also ask for two weeks severance for each year I was employed with the company (approaching 11).
Can I legally ask for a negotiated settlement like this under the "threat" of filing a class action lawsuit? Or can that be considered a form of bribery? If I put myself in their shoes, they risk having to pay hundreds of individuals back OT and deal with a lengthy legal process or they can just settle with me and be done with it.
Could something like this work or am I better off just dealing with this through the legal system and waiting 3-5 years for payment at most likely less than I would be actually owed.
thanks in advance for responses.
I'm seeking suggestions/advice for settling a back overtime directly with my employer that is owed to me due to exempt misclassification. I have actually been involved in the past with lengthy lawsuits involving similar situations and I am very knowledgeable in this area of what type of work cannot be classified as exempt. One of the lawsuits settled for 61 million and was one of the largest OT settlements in the nation.
I am a computer professional providing maintenance and support for IT equipment/software/PDA's etc. It's desktop support work. I was actually paid overtime for 8 years but a year an a half ago I was "promoted" to exempt with no salary increase. In the process I lost significant OT pay because my job requires about 8 OT hours a week. My job did duties did not change at all.
In my research I have discovered that this company routinely misclassifies most it's computer professionals. After speaking to a lawyer, I was told the reason this is so common is because the worst thing that happens to the company abusing the labor law is they just pay the OT owed. They are worse off financially to follow the law and pay OT when labor law requires it because they can just pay it later if someone discovers.
Well the last time I went through a law suit I did not get all the OT owed because the settlement granted some compensation to the lawyers and of course this is fair because of the hard work they put into the case.
However, this time around I want to approach the company (after I reach 2 years or I am laid off/fired) and let them know that I plan to sue them for my back owed overtime plus start a class action lawsuit for the hundreds of other computer professionals who are misclassified. I want to see if I can get them to negotiate a direct settlement with me at that point rather than risk me starting a class action.
I would ask them to pay me the OT owed for two years at 1.5 my computed hourly rate. I would also ask for two weeks severance for each year I was employed with the company (approaching 11).
Can I legally ask for a negotiated settlement like this under the "threat" of filing a class action lawsuit? Or can that be considered a form of bribery? If I put myself in their shoes, they risk having to pay hundreds of individuals back OT and deal with a lengthy legal process or they can just settle with me and be done with it.
Could something like this work or am I better off just dealing with this through the legal system and waiting 3-5 years for payment at most likely less than I would be actually owed.
thanks in advance for responses.
