Employees Misclassification & Overtime Pay

Under federal and state law, employers are required to pay their employees time and a half for overtime work, meaning work in excess of forty hours per week.

There are some employees who are exempt from overtime requirements because they are “employed in a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity.” While the exemptions to the overtime pay requirement are meant to be narrowly construed, employers often attempt to avoid paying their employees overtime by misclassifying employees as part of one of the delineated exempted categories.

One prominent of example improper classification is that of mortgage underwriters. Although numerous bank have tried to avoid overtime pay laws by classifying mortgage underwriters as “administrative employees,” numerous courts have found that mortgage underwriters’ duties are not merely administrative in nature and therefore that the classification is unlawful. In fact, the Ninth Circuit, in McKeen Chaplin v. Provident Savings Bank, recently joined the Second Circuit in holding that mortgage underwriters who worked for Provident Savings Bank were not “administrative employees,” as the Bank claimed, and consequently qualified for overtime protections.

Finkelstein, Blankinship, Frei-Pearson & Garber, LLP has recovered millions of dollars for workers who have been victims of unlawful employment practices. If you or someone you know is employed as a mortgage underwriter or may otherwise be improperly classified and deprived of hard-earned overtime pay, please contact our office so that we can discuss your legal options.