There are very specific criteria for declaring an employee exempt from overtime including things such as (depending on the state): wage/salary earned, duties performed, requirement for special training/knowledge/skills, applying discretion in how the work is performed. That’s not a complete list but encompasses the most common factors. The gist is, if the employees didn’t fit all the criteria they are due overtime and AIG should have known. It happens all the time that people want to classify someone as exempt just because they see the position as “professional”. It doesn’t matter if you draw a salary or wear a suit to work. It matters what you do.
Key question! If they are ‘performing basic clerical tasks’, but carry the title of ‘adjuster’, I want to smack whomever gave them that title! I earned it the hard way, and resent the casual way it is given today! What is it girls? Do you have a business card that describes you as ‘Adjuster’? If so I think you are going to lose.
By the way, you have chosen to kick the WRONG DOG! AIG rolls over for NOBODY!
1. You’re right. If you’re an adjuster, in most states (exc. CA) you’re a professional and don’t get paid overtime. 2. I loved litigating for AIG because they’d take it to you! So, they have kicked the wrong dog if they don’t want a fight (or, if they’re right, they’ve kicked a dog that can afford to pay.) You do have to wonder about adjuster who wouldn’t know right away if they weren’t being paid properly. Are they clerks or are they adjusters? As for wanting to classify non-exempts as exempts, that’s just not true for most companies. The process of going back and having workers fabricant (how does anyone know)how many overtime hours they worked, is too big of a pain. They’ll alll say they regularly worked 60 hour weeks. Are the jobs now classified as non-exempt? So many questions here. And heaven forbid, it could be an honest mistake. I’ve seen it. And it’s certainly not ever division or even most of the divisions in AIG. They’ve had a lot of issues with EEs over the years but not paying them isn’t one of them.
Let us not lose the focus of the Pltf’s suit. They simply indicate that they are adjusters, but do not meet the definition of a “professional” under FLSA. You may recallthat Farmers Ins. employees in Calif. made the argument that since they were adjusters handling “fast-track” type claims, wherein they had no discretionary authority, and were required to handle a certain # of claims per day, then they should be entitled to overtime, when the workload or their production exceeded the 40-hour threshold. I would agree with their contention when the worker’s performance is measured more on quality than on quantity (of course, with some parameters for the quantity).
Many a company, large and small, will attempt to muddy the waters when it comes to exempt and non-exempt and get out of paying OT. Salaries are a big portion of the pie and the number crunches never want to make that slice any bigger then they have to.
My favorite job was where I was hired with a set salary, next thing I know I’m filling out a time card every week, they backed into an hourly rate, yet I didn’t qualify for OT because I was “salaried”. Nothing like a changing the rules in the middle of the game, or in this case apply the rules the best suited my employer’s bottom line. (Yes, I quit that job!)
Stop claiming guilt or innocence on behalf of your favorite or least favorite employer… if these attorneys think the case has merit, it probably does. But ultimately if AIG made an error (and it does happen) the courts will decide.
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I think my office in Tampa was the model for “Office Space”.
Ben There? I think a better name for this discussion might be Ben Dover.
There are very specific criteria for declaring an employee exempt from overtime including things such as (depending on the state): wage/salary earned, duties performed, requirement for special training/knowledge/skills, applying discretion in how the work is performed. That’s not a complete list but encompasses the most common factors. The gist is, if the employees didn’t fit all the criteria they are due overtime and AIG should have known. It happens all the time that people want to classify someone as exempt just because they see the position as “professional”. It doesn’t matter if you draw a salary or wear a suit to work. It matters what you do.
Key question! If they are ‘performing basic clerical tasks’, but carry the title of ‘adjuster’, I want to smack whomever gave them that title! I earned it the hard way, and resent the casual way it is given today! What is it girls? Do you have a business card that describes you as ‘Adjuster’? If so I think you are going to lose.
By the way, you have chosen to kick the WRONG DOG! AIG rolls over for NOBODY!
1. You’re right. If you’re an adjuster, in most states (exc. CA) you’re a professional and don’t get paid overtime. 2. I loved litigating for AIG because they’d take it to you! So, they have kicked the wrong dog if they don’t want a fight (or, if they’re right, they’ve kicked a dog that can afford to pay.) You do have to wonder about adjuster who wouldn’t know right away if they weren’t being paid properly. Are they clerks or are they adjusters? As for wanting to classify non-exempts as exempts, that’s just not true for most companies. The process of going back and having workers fabricant (how does anyone know)how many overtime hours they worked, is too big of a pain. They’ll alll say they regularly worked 60 hour weeks. Are the jobs now classified as non-exempt? So many questions here. And heaven forbid, it could be an honest mistake. I’ve seen it. And it’s certainly not ever division or even most of the divisions in AIG. They’ve had a lot of issues with EEs over the years but not paying them isn’t one of them.
Let us not lose the focus of the Pltf’s suit. They simply indicate that they are adjusters, but do not meet the definition of a “professional” under FLSA. You may recallthat Farmers Ins. employees in Calif. made the argument that since they were adjusters handling “fast-track” type claims, wherein they had no discretionary authority, and were required to handle a certain # of claims per day, then they should be entitled to overtime, when the workload or their production exceeded the 40-hour threshold. I would agree with their contention when the worker’s performance is measured more on quality than on quantity (of course, with some parameters for the quantity).
Many a company, large and small, will attempt to muddy the waters when it comes to exempt and non-exempt and get out of paying OT. Salaries are a big portion of the pie and the number crunches never want to make that slice any bigger then they have to.
My favorite job was where I was hired with a set salary, next thing I know I’m filling out a time card every week, they backed into an hourly rate, yet I didn’t qualify for OT because I was “salaried”. Nothing like a changing the rules in the middle of the game, or in this case apply the rules the best suited my employer’s bottom line. (Yes, I quit that job!)
Stop claiming guilt or innocence on behalf of your favorite or least favorite employer… if these attorneys think the case has merit, it probably does. But ultimately if AIG made an error (and it does happen) the courts will decide.