Posts Tagged ‘ Overtime Pay ’

Not All Pharma Sales Reps Happy with Novartis Overtime Decision

July 21st, 2010. By AbiK

When it comes to lawsuits that affect a lot of folks, there are always those who feel they’ve come out ahead, and those who don’t…

If you read some of the comments floating around online about the Novartis overtime pay ruling that happened a couple of weeks ago, you just might be surprised. Most of us automatically assume that when someone sues for overtime pay—and wins!—that everyone’s hopping around with glee and a sort of “yeah! screw them!” attitude about the offending employer.

Not so with Novartis.

But it’s not because anyone seems to have a lot of love for Novartis. No, the issue is more about the bigger picture—and the age-old question of “what’s in it for me?”.

Well, if you’re a “sales” representative at Novartis, the “what’s in it for me?” question may be answered with a “not much.” Seems this decision sort of makes you a bit of a non-entity in the scheme of things—ie, the scheme of things being labelled “sales”. What do you do? Do you sell? No. Do you work on the marketing plans—as in a more senior, independent decision-maker role? Uh, no. So you, therefore, don’t meet the outside sales or administrative exemptions for overtime pay—and gee whiz—you can get—and should’ve gotten—overtime pay!

Note, I said “non-entity”. That’s not meant as a low blow here. The fact of the matter is Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Novartis, Overtime Pay, Pharma Sales Rep
Posted in Emerging Issues, Employment | 1 Comment »

What’s Got You Annoyed? Take a Look…

June 28th, 2010. By AbiK

I have this little Monday morning ritual where I take a look at all the comments and claims that come in to LawyersAndSettlements.com over the weekend. Seems that’s when a lot of folks allow themselves a moment or two to think about what’s really pissing them off. Things like defective products, denied insurance claims, whatever. But there are always a few topics that folks write in about that seem to hit a common nerve (or, shall I say, that proverbial last nerve?).

So just in case you were wondering, here are some things that have you annoyed today…

• GM Saturn transmissions
• Hyundai Tiburon clutch issues
• Overtime Pay (or the lack thereof)
• Trex Decks–things like mold growth and surface “flaking”
• Bank of America
• BP Oil Spill
• CertainTeed roof shingles
• Citizens Bank
• PRA LLC (debt collection)
• Amiodarone (heart medicine)

Ok folks—I know I must be missing some here—so feel free to add to the list. Oh, and for the record, health insurance companies are what’s pissing me off today. Try this one on for size: I just received a Statement of Benefits that’s indicates my “Group” is an employer I haven’t worked for in five years—and yes, my medical provider had the correct insurance plan information. So what do you think happened to the claim? DENIED.

Tags: Amiodarone, Bank of America, BP Oil Spill, Certainteed, Citizens Bank, Overtime Pay, PRA LLC, Saturn, Tiburon, Trex Decks
Posted in Complaints/Comments | No Comments »

California Overtime at the Car Wash: Are Inspection Numbers for Real?

November 2nd, 2009. By AbiK

By now you’ve read the news about the California Labor Commissioner imposing close to $1 million in fines after a statewide investigation of the California carwash industry.

The investigation went as follows:

42 investigators

did

230 car wash inspections

netting

141 citations

for

103 car wash businesses 

The citations issued total $916,711.

Ok, great. There’s some progress. But here’s the part I’m having a hard time swallowing (as reported at Reuters; the bold is mine)…

Investigators found 49 businesses that failed to provide workers’ compensation coverage for their employees. Citations issued totaled $240,000 and businesses without workers’ compensation Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: California Overtime, Overtime Pay
Posted in Employment | No Comments »

Overtime Pay Part 2: Revenge of the Administrative Assistants

October 18th, 2009. By Kristine B

Okay, so it may sound like a really bad, B movie. But the truth of the matter is that a lot of people are not getting their overtime pay because they have the words “managerial,” “administrative,” or “executive” in their job title. But those titles alone don’t make a person exempt from overtime. So for Pleading Ignorance this week, we’re looking at the ins and outs of exemption from overtime pay. 

To refresh your memory, last week we looked at the three questions that you must answer “Yes” to in order to be considered exempt from overtime pay—meaning if you answer ALL 3 questions with a “yes”, you are not entitled to overtime pay.

The first question is pretty straightforward… 

1. Do you make at least $23,600 per year (or $455 per week)? 

If “No,” then you are eligible for overtime pay and you needn’t go further. But, if you answer “Yes,” then move on to the next question… 

2. Are you paid salary? 

To be exempt from overtime pay, you MUST be on salary. Employees who are paid an hourly rate are eligible for overtime pay. Fair enough. However, just because you are paid salary doesn’t mean you don’t qualify to get the extra bucks if you work extra hours. Remember, you must have answered “Yes” to all three questions, not just the one about the salary.

The first two questions are pretty no-brainer—but the third question is where things get screwy because it can appear to have a lot of gray areas. But in reality, it’s pretty straightforward as well…

3. Are your main job duties administrative, professional or executive? Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Exempt, Overtime Pay, Pleading Ignorance
Posted in Emerging Issues, Pleading Ignorance | No Comments »

Overtime Pay: How do I Know if my Employer Owes me Money?

October 5th, 2009. By Kristine B

Yeah, it sounds like a bad Whitney Houston flashback…”How will I know if he…” Whoa there—back on topic. Overtime pay? Good question. So that’s the focus of this week’s Pleading Ignorance.

If you’ve opened a newspaper lately—or looked at virtually any news website including our own recent post on 61 companies with OT pay issues—you’ll know one of the major issues in US courts right now is Overtime Pay—or more aptly, missing overtime pay from a lot of folks’ paychecks. What you might not have known is that overtime laws in the US are not as clear-cut as many people think. In fact, if you’re not getting overtime pay there’s still a chance you should be. How’s that? Read on…

Overtime in a Nutshell

Basically, overtime occurs when a person works more than a set amount of time either daily (over 8 hours in a day), or weekly (over 40 hours in a week). Overtime is regulated by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and by state laws. When both the state and the FLSA cover overtime, employers must go with whichever one holds the employer to the highest standards—essentially meaning whichever one provides the most pay to the employee (that’s good news for the employee).

When an employee works more than 8 hours in a day or 40 hours in a week—and let’s be honest, who hasn’t worked that much at some point—the employee is supposed to get 1.5 times her regular wage (that’s the “time and a half” everyone’s always talking about).

So, let’s say an employee makes $10 an hour and works 44 hours in a week. The employee should be paid $10 for the first 40 hours and $15 for the additional 4 hours.

Seems straightforward, no? But it’s not, because not everyone is eligible for overtime pay and that is where things can get kind of tricky, to put it mildly.  Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: FLSA, Overtime, Overtime Pay, Pleading Ignorance
Posted in Employment, Pleading Ignorance | 168 Comments »