Labor & Employment Law

EEOC Found To Violate FLSA Overtime Law

An arbitrator held that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission willfully violated the Fair Labor Standards Act on a nationwide basis with its own employees.  The issue arose from the EEOC's policy of providing "comp" time to employees instead of paying them overtime.  The Washington Post reports:

The ruling stems from a grievance filed by the [National Council of EEOC Locals] union in 2006 and involves overtime disputes dating to 2003. Wolf found that the EEOC's practice of paying compensatory time to any employee who worked extra hours did not satisfy the Fair Labor Standards Act.

"With rare exception in this record, the concept of 'requesting' compensatory time was a fiction," Wolf wrote. Employees were pressured to work extra hours but not offered extra pay, according to the arbitrator. "With rare exception in this record, the concept of 'requesting' compensatory time was a fiction," Wolf wrote. Employees were pressured to work extra hours but not offered extra pay, according to the arbitrator.

Apparently the EEOC case load has been steadly increasing the last few years.  But instead of hiring new employees to manage the increased work levels, the EEOC simply placed the burden on its existing employees.  The EEOC's press release on the arbitrator's ruling can be viewed at its website here. 

Full post as published by California Labor & Employment Defense Blog on March 31, 2009 (boomark / email).