Last week, attorneys for the Department of Labor (DOL) employee union announced that the government agency had agreed to pay $7 million to settle an almost 10-year-old grievance by DOL workers who claimed they were not paid for off-the-clock work. The claim covered alleged compensable time from 2003 to 2013. Part of the claims were for misclassification and others were for work being required to be performed during lunch breaks and weekends.
The litigation itself stretched over 10 years—including many years when the DOL itself was taking aggressive stances against private employers for unpaid overtime and misclassification, as well as changing regulations regarding exempt and non-exempt status. One of the union lawyers estimated that there may be 2,000 to 3,000 DOL employees that will split the settlement to cover unpaid back wages.
So many thoughts on how to end this: what’s good for the goose…..; physician heal thyself………; remove the log from your own eye…… But I think I will just finish with, thanks DOL, for letting me title a post with an Alanis Morissette lyric.
