As Wells Fargo announced that its overtime lawsuit had been settled, a suit was filed against the San Francisco News-Press. Both lawsuits allege that employers did not pay employees for working overtime.
On Monday, October 9, Wells Fargo & Co agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit for $12.8 million. Plaintiffs in the case claimed that some employees were not given overtime pay. The suit claimed this occurred because Wells Fargo improperly classified business systems employees as "analysts" or "consultants". Doing so made them ineligible for overtime pay. This violated the Fair Labor Standards Act, California's Unfair Competition Law, and wage and hour laws.The settlement affects as many as 4,500 people. It covers business systems employees who worked at Wells Fargo between 2001 and 2006. The amount each employee receives will be determined based on their length of time with Wells Fargo, position held, salary, and whether or not the employee worked in California. Those who worked in California will receive a higher payment.
The lawsuit was filed in February, 2005.
Wells Fargo is the fifth-largest U.S. bank. Last year, the company made a record $7.7 billion profit on $33 billion revenue. In announcing the settlement, Wells Fargo said that the agreement is not an admission of guilt.
Meanwhile, a lawsuit against the Santa Barbara News-Press was filed on October 11th. Two hundred current and former employees of the paper claimed that their employer did not keep accurate time records and therefore did not pay them for overtime work. Employees were not paid for either working more than eight hours in a day or 40 hours in a week. The suit also claims that the News-Press did not provide meal and rest periods for its employees. Meal and rest periods are required by California law.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Hildy Medina, a former reporter with the newspaper. Lawyers are currently seeking class-action status for past and present employees of the paper.
California law requires employees to be paid for overtime work. For some reason a lot of companies either think they are exempt from this law or they find ways around it. Companies like Wells Fargo make a lot of money, and they do so because their employees work hard for them. These companies must be held responsible for paying people fairly for hours worked.