Dive Brief:
- Cerner has been hit with its fourth class-action lawsuit that alleges it failed to pay overtime wages to employees expected to work 48 hours a week, according to a KCUR report.
- The lawsuit involves help desk workers who provided technical support and seeks unspecified damages under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
- Although the company said it does not comment on pending litigation, it has previously stated the workers are "computer professionals" or "administrative employees" exempt from overtime guidelines under FLSA, KCUR reported.
Dive Insight:
Previous Cerner class-action lawsuits regarding overtime pay include one filed in 2007 and another in April. There is a fourth case pending in federal court in Kansas City that alleges the company pays its nonexempt employees, who must be paid overtime for any hours above 40 hours a week, a full pay period late, and fails to include all additional compensation in their regular rate of pay.
The Department of Labor (DOL) just released new overtime pay rules that raised the exempt cut-off salary level from $23,660 to $47,478 per year. Any salaried amount below this is guaranteed overtime.
The new amount will be updated automatically every three years and the rule goes into effect on Dec. 1. An estimated 4.2 million Americans will now be eligible for overtime.