Account executives for a national wholesale mortgage lending company have recently settled claims of unpaid wages. The nearly $3 million settlement with United Wholesale Mortgagewill resolve claims of unpaid overtime dating back as far as 2018. Current and former account executives that were employed by United Wholesale Mortgage between October 12, 2018 and December 23, 2021 stand to benefit from the $2.75 million settlement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lawsuit, which was filed\u00a0in 2021,\u00a0alleged\u00a0that\u00a0the lender required\u00a0significant overtime hours\u00a0but denied its account executives\u00a0overtime pay as\u00a0mandated by\u00a0the Fair Labor Standards Act (\u201cFLSA\u201d). Specifically,\u00a0the lawsuit\u00a0claimed\u00a0that the company had policies and practices preventing\u00a0them\u00a0from filing for overtime, even though\u00a0in order to complete\u00a0their job\u00a0requirements they had to work over the\u00a0standard 40 hours per week.\u00a0Account executives\u00a0were required to\u00a0report to work\u00a015\u00a0to 20\u00a0minutes\u00a0early\u00a0and attend\u00a0morning meetings, or\u00a0“Dominate at Eight”\u00a0as they were coined,\u00a0but were\u00a0not allowed to clock in\u00a0until\u00a0their\u00a0official start time.\u00a0If they\u00a0weren\u2019t working at their desks\u00a0at least 15 minutes early\u00a0they were\u00a0disciplined.\u00a0Additionally, affected employeeswould clock out for their\u00a01-hour lunch\u00a0but were\u00a0required to\u00a0complete\u00a0work during that\u00a0time,\u00a0which included\u00a0taking calls if they were eating at their desks or forwarding calls to their personal cellphones\u00a0if they stepped away from their desks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n