Although the firm working on the litigation was based in Pennsylvania, I thought I would give my readers some background on the regulations in Washington which require contingency fee agreements to be in writing.

The Rule of Professional Conduct (RPC), in addition to other state laws, governs an attorney’s conduct in Washington State. RPC 1.5 specifically requires that if a lawyer is paid by a client through a contingency fee, the lawyer must have a signed agreement with the client which explains how the fee is paid.

In regards to the Sterling Financial case, the attorney representing the lead plaintiff likely failed to obtain a signed copy of this agreement. Therefore, under the RPC’s it likely would have been unethical for the firm to continue the representation.

Assuming the case was not dismissed with prejudice, a new lead plaintiff will likely come forward, sign the required forms, and proceed with the lawsuit. However, until that occurs the case will be on hold.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009518030_apwawalmartsettlement.html

During his presentation, he forecasted that employment growth in the Seattle area would be negative for the rest of 2009 but that employer revenue levels would remain constant.  In response to this statement a member of the audience asked, “How will companies maintain their current revenue while continuing to layoff employees?”  Gardner’s response: “Companies will work their employees harder and require longer hours to make up for the layoffs.”

After this dialogue concluded, my fiancé who was with me asked me: “Can an employer just work their employees harder without paying overtime?”  As with most legal questions, the answer to the question is “it depends.”

Only nonexempt employees are entitled to overtime.  Employers often classify their employees as either nonexempt or exempt.  However, even if an employer classifies an employee as exempt, he/she may still be entitled to overtime and other benefits under federal and Washington state wage/hour laws.  What counts is whether the worker is exempt within the meaning of those laws not what the employer calls him/her. There are several exceptions and tests that a lawyer considers to determine if an employee is in fact exempt.  Unfortunately, there isn’t enough space here for me to list all this information.

Long story short, if your employer is working you long hours in excess of 40 hours a week and not paying you overtime, your employer could be violating your rights.  To find out more about your right to overtime or other wages feel free to contact me or Tim Pauley at 206-583-0050.

The Internal Revenue Service has a 20 factor test that is used to determine whether a worker providing services is an independent contractor or and employee under the law. The IRS 20 factors are set forth at: http://www.ftmn.com/Employee.html Review them and see if you think you and/or your co workers are independent contractors or employees.

You DO NOT have to have all of the characteristics of an employee listed in the 20 factor test to be considered an employee. Some of these factors are more important than others. For example, the most important is whether the company or you have the right to control your work tasks, schedule and method of performing work on a daily basis.  Report writing is relevant but not that critical, etc.

In addition, Washington law requires that to be legally considered an independent contractor rather than an employee you must meet additional requirements such as maintaining a separate book of records regarding your business, have a business identifier number from the State of Washington and file a schedule of business expenses with the IRS annually.

If you feel you and/or your co-workers have been unlawfully denied benefits and/or the payment of overtime for hours worked over 40 in a workweek because you are an employee rather than an independent contractor as your employer has classified you, call Tim Pauley at Connell, Cordova, Hunter & Pauley, pllc for a free consultation. He has worked in the labor and employment law field for over 30 years and has handled many cases regarding independent contractor or employee status issues.

- By requiring employees to work “off the clock.” Examples of this include telling employees to report less hours than they actually work, requiring workers to take work home and not report that time worked, not paying workers for travel when they are working out of town, failing to pay overtime to employees when they attend training and other work related meetings and failing to pay employees for on-call time.

- By labeling non-exempt employees as exempt employees and denying them payment of overtime. Examples of this practice include misclassifying employees as executives, administrators, professionals or outside salespersons. Employers often mischaracterize workers as independent contractors or consultants also to avoid overtime pay that is legally due workers.

- By “working backwards” to pay for overtime compensation. This practice involves paying employees different hourly rates of pay each week to ensure a certain maximum amount of compensation is paid each week even when more than 40 hours are worked in the week and overtime at a premium rate should be paid.

- By requiring workers to take “comp time” off instead of being paid overtime; that is, take as time off in another workweek the amount of overtime hours they worked in an earlier workweek instead of being paid the overtime at a premium rate they are entitled to under state and federal law.

- By refusing to pay workers for overtime work because it has not been “pre-approved” or because the employer has a rule that overtime cannot be worked while supervisors require employees to work overtime either directly or by suggestion.

If you feel you and/or your co-workers have been unlawfully denied the payment of overtime for hours worked over 40 in a workweek, call Tim Pauley at Pauley & Associates for a free consultation. He has worked in the wage/hour field for over 30 years, prosecuted cases for the U.S. Secretary of Labor early in his career and has represented employees in overtime matters in many situations including class actions here in Washington State against such employers as United Parcel Service and Bank of America.

The answer to this question will likely depend on a few factors.  First, was there a clause in the employment contract which states that the bonus will not be paid if the employee is terminated or laid off by the end of the year?  If there is, the employee is likely not entitled to receive his or her bonus.  If there is no such language, then the employee is entitled to believe that completing the year was not a requirement to receiving the bonus.  Therefore, he or she will likely have a claim for the bonus.

In addition to looking for the specific clause above, an employee should also look through the agreement to see if there is any ambiguous language regarding the bonus.  If there is, then the ambiguity will likely be resolved in the employee’s favor because it will be construed against the drafting party, the employer.

Every employee’s situation will be specific to the facts in his or her case.  If you have specific questions, please contact Tim Pauley at 206-583-0050.  He is an experienced attorney in the fields of employment law, particularly non-payment of wages and/or overtime.