DOL Settles Its Own FLSA Misclassification Overtime Class Action Lawsuit

Employment Law

The Department of Labor, which enforces the nation's wage and hour laws, has agreed to pay $7 million to settle a 10-year-old claim that it misclassified thousands of employees as exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act and failed to pay them overtime.  The settlement resolves allegations dating to 2006, when the American Federation of Government Employees Local 12 filed its grievance.  According to the union's attorney, Keith Kauffman, "This is the agency that goes around fining all the private employers for doing the same thing that it just ended up paying $7 million to make go away."  The dispute had been in arbitration when it settled.  A large portion of the settlement will go toward back pay and uncompensated overtime for work that DOL employees performed outside duty hours that DOL knew about or could have known about, but did not take action to prevent.