NEW YORK — Morgan Stanley is currently facing a class action overtime pay lawsuit in New York federal court. In the lawsuit, a former operations assistant is alleging the financial giant violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) when it failed to pay its operations assistants overtime wages. This is yet another unpaid overtime claim brought against Morgan Stanley. In August 2014, Morgan Stanley settled a $4.2 million overtime claim with is client service associates. And in December 2014, financial advisors in California brought a state claim against the company.
The Operation Assistant’s Claim
The operations assistant, Shelley Hix, who filed the current lawsuit, worked for Morgan Stanley from May 2006 until November 2013. Operations assistants and those similarly situated are non-exempt employees. As non-exempt employees they are entitled to overtime wages of one and a half times their regular rate when they work more than 40 hours a week.
According to Hix’s lawsuit, the assistants performed support services duties, which do not appear to qualify them for any exemptions from overtime under the FLSA. However, the assistants were allegedly not receiving overtime wages even when they worked more than 40 hours each week. Hix alleges the operation assistants were encouraged to underreport the number of hours they worked and told to only record the hours they were scheduled to work.
Even if the operations assistants wanted to record their hours accurately, they were not provided a method for doing so. Hix claims the company had a uniform policy of encouraging employees to underreport their hours and preventing them from accurately reporting their time. Because Hix alleges a uniform policy, it is likely that many of Morgan Stanley’s operation assistants in New York have been affected and may be entitled to unpaid back wages.
Underreporting Hours Worked
When the employees do not report their overtime hours, the company does not appear to be obligated to pay them for all of the employees’ work. This violates the FLSA both in a company’s failure to compensate its employees for all of the hours they work, but also the FLSA’s requirement that employers maintain accurate records of the hours their employees work. Not only is underreporting in direct violation of the FLSA, underreporting denies employees credit for all of the hours they have worked. And it denies the employees the overtime wages to which they are entitled.
Under both state and federal wage laws, you should be able to and actually record all of the hours you work in a week. If you are not or you believe you have been denied the overtime you have worked, contact our knowledgeable team of overtime pay lawyers today. Our experienced legal team can be reached at (855) 754-2795 or you may complete our Free Unpaid Overtime Case Review form. If we accept your case, we will represent you under our No Fee Promise. This means there are no legal fees or costs unless you receive a settlement.