The Law Offices of Snider and Associates have been busily contacting Department Of Education grievants about their job duties and how much unpaid overtime they have worked. We have spoken to thousands of employees, and several locals are developing a process with the Agency to determine which employees need to be made whole, and by how much. Hopefully this process will be completed soon, and the parties will be able to move to mediation and or arbitration.

There are two separate things the Union has to prove so that the grievants can be made whole. The first is that the Department of Education has to fail to prove that it properly classified each Grievant. The Union's position is that ED has blatantly mis-classified nearly all Grievants, from GS-6 all the way up to GS-15. As a result of this, employees have been underpaid overtime, were forced to take comp time instead of overtime, and were not paid for "suffered or permitted overtime," or "off the clock" work. Since the Agency has the burden of proof (and its burden is "beyond a reasonable doubt"), the Union has a good chance at prevailing on many positions at ED in this "liability" phase. The second thing that has to be proven is "damages:" that employees actually performed work for the Agency for which they were not paid, that under the law they should have been paid for if they had been been classified FLSA non-exempt. This is in addition to "underpaid" overtime and "comp time" damages.

What is the FLSA and who is covered?

The FLSA protects Federal employees' rights by providing time-and-a-half pay for Overtime work, payment for work "suffered and/or permitted" by the agency (not ordered or approved) and the right to choose overtime instead of comp time. But not every Federal Employee is covered by the FLSA. If an employee is exempt (not covered by the FLSA), he or she gets capped overtime for Ordered and Approved overtime (under Title V, not the FLSA), a "thanks for staying late" (if you're lucky) for overtime that is not ordered and approved, and can be forced to take comp time for ordered and approved work.

There is a lot of confusion among federal employees as to who is covered by the FLSA, based on years of the Federal Government not following the law properly. A lot of people think it depends on your grade or on your job title. But that's not true. The only thing FLSA coverage depends on is the actual job duties each employee performs.

That's why attorneys and paralegals from Snider and Associates have been calling Department of Education employees to find out about their jobs. The union needs to be ready to show the Agency and a Mediator or Arbitrator that the work that employees are doing is covered by the FLSA. Your cooperation in truthfully describing your job to Snider and Associates will help the Union prove that you have wrongfully exempted from the FLSA. If you have not been called yet, you can call 410 653-9060 and ask for any of the FLSA paralegals, or take our online survey.

What do you mean, "made whole?"

The law says that when a federal employee works for his or her Agency, the Agency has to pay that employee. If an employee worked but didn't get paid, the Agency owes that employee money for the time spent working. "Made whole" means the Agency pays the empoyee what he or she is owed, under the law.

Employees are underpaid when they recieve capped overtime instead of uncapped overtime, comp time instead of uncapped overtime, and are not paid at all for "suffered and permitted" overtime that was not ordered or approved. Attorneys and paralegals from Snider and Associates have been calling Department of Education employees to find out how much time people have been working without getting paid properly. They also have been discussing what kind of evidence the Union can present to prove that employees have been coming to work early, working through lunch, leaving late, taking work home, and coming in on weekends and Federal Holidays. If you have not been called yet, you can call 410 653-9060 and ask for any of the FLSA paralegals, or take our online survey.