Money

Yes, Overtime Laws Apply To Law Firms

Law firms are supposed to be good at following the law.

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Lawyers really should know — better than anyone — there’s more than merely a perfunctory value in following the letter of the law. That certainly includes following the provisions of the Fair Labor Standard Act, which means, providing overtime payments, at a rate of time and a half, to your nonexempt employees.

A pair of lawsuits — purported class actions — allege two Florida law firms failed to pay administrative workers proper overtime wages in compliance with the FLSA. Brandi Durrett, a case manager, is suing personal injury firm The Disparti Law Group and its founder, Lawrence Disparti over unpaid overtime wages. Jayne Hinkle, an office manager, is making similar claims against The Jodat Law Group and partner Gary Jodat.

As reported by Law360 (sub. req.), both women performed similar administrative tasks for their respective firms: organizing files, ordering supplies, and keeping clients informed of developments in their cases. They each allege that the firms employed different mechanisms to avoid paying them all the money they were owed:

“In most if not all work-weeks, plaintiff was paid for 40 hours but was not compensated time and half for hours worked over 40,” Durrett said in her complaint. “Defendant would pay plaintiff straight time by personal check for all hours over 40 in a workweek. This disguised method of compensation was implemented to circumvent the FLSA’s requirement for overtime compensation.”

….

“Defendants were able to avoid paying overtime by not paying plaintiff travel time when she would transport firm mail between office locations,” Hinkle said in her complaint.

It’s important to remember these lawsuits are only in the complaint stage, and it’s too early to speculate whether the allegations are true. And I hope they aren’t — lawyers really should know better.

headshotKathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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