A CLASS of “Review Appraisers,” employed by Bank of America (BoA) through its subsidiary, Landsafe, recently obtained approval of a settlement for $5.8 million. The employees sued BoA for alleged overtime violations, itemaized wage statement violations, meal and rest period violations, waiting time penalties, and civil penalties against the employer.
The employees, who primarily proofread the appraisal reports generated by staff appraisers, claimed that the employer misclassified them as ‘exempt’ from overtime and from taking meal and rest breaks. As appraisers, they often work more than 60 hours per week, with barely any meal or rest breaks, without compensation.
The employer argued that the appraisers are exempt employees because they are company administrators, or learned professionals. The employees countered that the administrative exemption only applies to those deciding the company’s overall policies; employees who review appraisals do not make such policy decisions.
The employees also argued that the learned professional exemption does not apply to them because this exemption relates to occupations where an advanced degree or prolonged course of academic study is required (such as in the case of doctors, attorneys, CPAs, etc.). Appraisers generally can become appraisers with only a high school diploma, several weeks of classes and some on-the-job training.
For employees to be exempt from overtime pay under the Administrative Exemption, the employees must be paid the monthly salary equivalent to no less then two (2) times the state minimum wage. More importantly, the employees’ primary duties must involve administrative work. This means that:
Their duties involve the performance of non-manual work directly related to management policies or general business operations of the employer
They regularly exercise discretion and independent judgment at work
They directly assist a proprietor, or an employee employed in a bona fide executive or administrative capacity or they execute under only general supervision special assignments and tasks
4) They perform general supervision work along requiring special training, experience or knowledge
To be truly exempt from overtime pay, the employee’s work must be “qualitatively administrative,” which means the duties relate to the administrative operations of a business as distinguished from ‘production’ or ‘sales’ work. Duties that merely carry out particular, day-to-day operations of the business are production, not administrative, work.
Next week, we will discuss in detail the Professional or Learned Exemption.
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The Law Offices of C. Joe Sayas, Jr. welcomes inquiries about this topic. All inquiries are confidential and at no-cost. Atty. Sayas’ Law Office is located at 500 N. Brand Blvd. Suite 980, Glendale, CA 91203. You can contact the office at (818) 291-0088 or visit www.joesayaslaw.com.
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C. Joe Sayas, Jr., Esq. is trial attorney who has obtained several million dollar recoveries for his clients against employers and insurance companies. He has been selected as a Super Lawyer by the Los Angeles Magazine, featured in the cover of Los Angeles Daily Journal’s Verdicts and Settlements, and is a member of the Million Dollar-Advocates Forum.
