A recent multimillion dollar wage and hour class action settlement by major investment bank Merrill Lynch serves as an important reminder to employers of their obligations under federal law to properly classify, and pay overtime wages to, all eligible employees who work more than 40 hours per week.
BACKGROUND
An employee of Merrill Lynch sued the bank on behalf of a class of employees for failure to pay overtime wages in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and state wage
and hour laws. The suit alleged that Merrill Lynch improperly classified client associates – full-time employees who provide service and assistance to the company’s financial advisors
– as exempt. The complaint also accused the bank of failing to maintain records of overtime worked by client associates and modifying or deleting time records. More…