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PRESS
RELEASE |
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| Plaintiffs' Counsel
Announces IBM Tech Workers File Nationwide Overtime Pay Class Action Lawsuit
in Federal Court |
| San Francisco, CA, January
24, 2006 -- Current and former employees of International Business Machine Corporation
(IBM) today filed a nationwide class action lawsuit in U.S. District Court in
San Francisco charging the computer giant with failure to pay overtime wages
in violation of federal and state labor laws. |
| The suit, Rosenburg,
et al. v. IBM, was filed by attorneys from Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP,
Lewis Feinberg Renaker & Jackson, P.C., Rudy, Exelrod & Zieff, LLP, and
Outten & Golden LLP and others on behalf of IBM technical employees. |
| The company employs more than
250,000 workers; the proposed class includes tens of thousand of systems administrators,
network technicians and other technical staff throughout the United States. |
| "IBM’s employees,
including tens of thousands of technical support workers, work hard to build
the company’s annual sales of more than $90 billion," stated a Lieff
Cabraser partner. "These technical workers deserve to get
compensated for the long hours they put in to make IBM successful." Lieff Cabraser attorneys noted that this case constitutes one of the largest class action lawsuits, both
in numbers of employees and total damages, ever filed against a corporation for
failure to pay overtime wages. |
| The complaint charges that
IBM unlawfully characterizes its employees who install and maintain computer
software and equipment as “exempt” under state and federal labor
laws in order to deprive them of overtime pay. The proposed classes consist of
current and former IBM technical support workers with the primary duties of installing
and/or maintaining computer software and hardware for IBM who were wrongly classified
by the company as exempt from the overtime provisions of federal law and/or applicable
state wage and hour laws. |
| "The lawsuit seeks to affirm the principle
that software and hardware installation and maintenance employees, including
IT staff, are entitled to protection under federal and state overtime pay laws," said
Steven G. Zieff, a partner with Rudy, Exelrod & Zieff. "A corporation
cannot avoid paying overtime wages simply by providing a fancy sounding title
to workers who are entitled to overtime pay under the law." |
| Plaintiff Exaldo Topacio, 40, was a technical
support worker for IBM in its New York Network Support division responsible for
installing and maintaining computer software and hardware for the company. “There
were many occasions when I was required to work in excess of 40 hours a week – but
I never received overtime pay for this. |
| "What they did to me and other tech support
workers is simply unfair. I worked hard for the company, and was not compensated
for all the hours I put in for IBM," said Topacio who left IBM in 2004 and
now runs his own small construction business. |
| Lewis Feinberg Renaker & Jackson, P.C. principal
Todd F. Jackson explained, "Workers are entitled to overtime pay unless
they fall under a specific legal exemption, such as computer programmers who
develop software. The plaintiffs and class members in this lawsuit are responsible
for installing software and maintaining computer networks, not developing new
software. They do not qualify for the software development exemption, or any
other exemption, under wage and hour laws." |
| "Ironically, IBM recruits employees by touting
that it is a company ‘where you can find work/life balance and make a difference,’” noted
Adam T. Klein of Outten & Golden LLP. “We believe the evidence will
show that IBM failed to comply with its basic obligation to pay its employees
fairly and in accordance with the law." |
| The plaintiffs are asking the federal court to
issue an injunction requiring IBM to provide overtime pay to eligible employees
as well as compensation and damages to current and former employees who were
denied overtime. |
| In addition to the law firms listed above, the
plaintiffs are also represented by the Los Angeles firm of Spiro, Moss, Barness,
Harrison & Barge, LLP; the Dallas firm of Lee & Braziel, LLP; the Houston
firm of Bruckner Burch, PLLC; and the Oakland firm of Goldstein, Demchak, Baller,
Borgen & Dardarian. |
Kelly M. Dermody
LIEFF CABRASER HEIMANN & BERNSTEIN, LLP
Tel.: (415) 956-1000 |
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LIEFF
CABRASER HEIMANN & BERNSTEIN, LLP
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| Notice: Lieff
Cabraser attorneys provide legal advice and practice law for clients in
federal district courts throughout the United States and in state courts
where we are licensed to practice. In states in which our lawyers are not
licensed to practice, we have affiliations with local attorneys who serve
as co-counsel with our firm. Please read our disclaimer. |
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Copyright © 2008 Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein,
LLP
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Read how we hold employers liable for discrimination and other unfair workplace practices. |
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