Oct. 19, 2011 Update on your union's work on overtime pay. There is a lawsuit that employees may join to challenge their FLSA status. Because FLSA status cannot be challenged in the grievance process, NFFE National hired a law firm to assist union members who may wish to challenge their FLSA status. This union initiative began in 2010. Subsequently, the agency began reviewing and correcting the employees' FLSA status codes. The union invoked negotiations on the impact and implementation of this review. This letter explains how employees may be affected by the agency review, union negotiations, and lawsuit. Click here for more details.
Do you receive your overtime pay at a rate less than 1-1/2 times your base
salary? OR
Have you been paid for your comp time during the past 3 years?
If you answered, "Yes" to either of these questions, you may be able to recover back pay, liquidated damages, and interest by joining a lawsuit.
What's this all about?
NFFE believes the Forest Service (FS) has been paying overtime at an
improperly low rate to employees in many kinds of positions. The reason
for this stems from improper FLSA status coding for many employees
(especially 460 Foresters and 462 Forestry techs, engineering techs,
various resource specialists, and hydrologists). This coding indicates
whether employees are "exempt" or "nonexempt" under the Fair Labor
Standards Act. Employees, who are incorrectly coded as "exempt" are
commonly being underpaid.
So, why sue?
The purpose of this lawsuit is to correct any mistakes the FS has made in
classifying employees' under the FLSA, which is one of the laws that
affect how federal employees are paid when they work beyond 8 hours in a
day or 40 hours in a week. The lawsuit will also seek back pay for any
errors that the FS has made with respect to overtime pay and the cashing
out of comp time. Our Master Agreement does not allow FLSA classification
issues to be addressed through the grievance procedure, so that's why we
need to do a lawsuit.
What's in it for me?
Employees who join the lawsuit are not responsible for any out of pocket
costs. As is typical in a contingency fee case, the law firm (Woodley &
McGillivary, a law firm that specializes in representing employees and
unions) receives a percentage of the money it wins on an employee's
behalf. (The fee for this case is 25%.) The law firm will also deduct
costs associated with pursuing the litigation. NFFE has agreed to cover
the firm's out of pocket costs further increasing any payout employees
will receive. For those who are concerned about tight Agency budgets, the
money won in this lawsuit would not come from Forest Service budget but
rather a special settlement fund.
There is more information available at the website of the law firm that
NFFE has hired to assist with this. Just click on the link:
www.overtimepay.com.
How can I get fully paid for the work I do?
There are four simple steps to join the lawsuit:
If you have any questions about your FLSA status, this lawsuit, or joining NFFE, please contact your Union Representative.
Retainer Agreement and Consent to Sue forms.pdf
Questions and Answers.pdf
Notice_to_Join_FLSA_Lawsuit.pdf
