National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), Locals 1851 (Denver), 2170 (Wyoming) and 1454 (Houston), Representing Small Business Administration (SBA) Employees, Obtains $275,000 Settlement of Nationwide Class Union Grievance against the SBA.
Monday, September 12,, 2011. Washington, DC. The Law Offices of Snider & Associates, LLC announced today that payments are currently being processed on behalf of several dozen active, retired and otherwise separated Small Business Administration (SBA) employees nationwide. The payments result from of a $275,000 settlement regarding overtime exemptions and pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
Under the settlement, SBA agreed to pay $275,000 to resolve claims by the Union on behalf of current and former SBA employees who were not compensated properly under the FLSA. In addition, SBA agreed that a number of positions were erroneously classified, meaning they should have been and will hereafter be covered by the FLSA.
The Union brought forth the claims in a class action Grievance and Arbitration filed in February 2009. The essence of the action was that employees were erroneously classified as exempt from the FLSA, which are the federal laws protecting employees from being forced to work overtime without being properly compensated. Other key allegations included the denial of the choice of overtime payments in lieu of compensatory time, not properly compensating employees for travel time and failure to provide compensation for “off the clock” work, also known as suffer or permit overtime.
“The Union and SBA management worked together to resolve this matter,” said Michael J. Snider, Esq. of Snider & Associates LLC., Lead Counsel for the Union, adding that “this settlement will ensure that the Agency complies with the regulations under the FLSA and will protect both current and future SBA employees.” This resolution has been several years in the making and eliminated the need for what would have likely been extensive and costly litigation. Of note is that this settlement follows that of $7,600,000, which Attorney Snider obtained in 2009 from the SBA on behalf of American Federation of Government Employees Local 228.