California Overtime Pay Law Outlaws

San Francisco, CATwo recent lawsuits are highlighting disputes with regard to overtime pay laws in the state of California. On the 18th of last month a former employee of Franklin American Mortgage filed an action in federal court in California in an attempt to recover unpaid overtime according to the provisions of state and federal laws.

Marketwire reported November 30 that the Plaintiff is alleging misclassification. At one time serving as a mortgage underwriter for Franklin American Mortgage, the Plaintiff alleges that she and other mortgage underwriters employed by the firm were classified erroneously as exempt from the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and California overtime law.

Thus, the employees are alleged to have been illegally denied overtime compensation for hours worked above and beyond a standard workweek.

It was noted in the report that in recent times Franklin American Mortgage reclassified its mortgage underwriters and started paying those affected overtime pay. As a result, the Plaintiff seeks to recover the overtime pay that would have been duly paid to her and other mortgage underwriters during that time when they were allegedly misclassified as exempt.

The case was filed in US District Court for the Northern District of California.

In a separate action, class-action lawsuits have been filed against Raytheon Company, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Ecolab on behalf of employees over alleged violations of California overtime pay and worker's rights.

The Defense and Aerospace Newsletter, with a pre-published date of December 8, notes that Raytheon is alleged to have lacked an appropriate timekeeping system capable of recording and paying lab employees for the actual number of hours worked in a day.

Ecolab is alleged to have failed in the proper payment of overtime to repair and maintenance workers carrying job titles such as Route Managers, Route Sales Managers, Sales Route Specialists, Service Installers and Service Professionals.

And Enterprise Rent-A-Car in the Southern District of California is alleged to have violated state labor laws by failing to pay Management Assistants and trainees for the actual number of hours worked, together with those hours spent training.

The lawsuits alleging violations of California overtime law and other labor issues were filed in October and November of this year.