Recently in Richardson et al. v. Alliance Residential Company, the U.S. District Court for Maryland was asked to review and clarify its ruling in a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) case. Specifically, the employer, Alliance, sought clarification regarding whether it could argue it lacked knowledge that the employees worked overtime hours.
The Fair Labor Standards Act is the federal law that sets the rules employers must follow regarding minimum and overtime wages. Under the FLSA, employers must pay overtime wages at one and one-half times an employee’s regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 hours per week. A central issue in determining whether or not an employer owes unpaid overtime wages is whether or not the employee actually worked overtime hours and whether or not the employer knew about that work.
In Richardson, the employer, Alliance, argued that a manager violated company policy by telling an employee not to record his overtime hours, and because of that policy violation, Alliance could not be held liable for any unrecorded overtime hours of which it was not aware. The Court rejected that argument and held that because the employee’s supervisor was responsible for monitoring his hours worked, the supervisor knew the employee was working overtime hours and that knowledge could, therefore, be imputed on Alliance. In other words, what the supervisor knew, Alliance knew.
This is an important case for employees because corporations often try to avoid liability for unpaid overtime wages by hiding behind corporate policies and management. This case reminds employers that they cannot “play dumb” or hide behind the actions of management to avoid liability under the FLSA.
If you think you are owed unpaid overtime wages, the lawyers at Lebau and Neuworth may be able to help. For more information, contact us (410) 296-3030 or lebauneuworth.com/contact-us.
