Why We Need an Agressive and Competent Labor Bureaucracy.

It appears that Universal Media Group has been cheating its employees out of overtime pay.

Luckily for them, this has occurred in California, because, "the employees will receive 25 per cent of fines rewarded".

The department permits these exemptions for computer systems analysts, computer programmers, software engineers, and other similarly-skilled workers in the computer field. Under California regulations, an exempt IT employee must primarily perform work that is "intellectual or creative and requires the exercise of discretion and independent judgment." In addition, the employee must earn over $41 per hour.

The UMG workers, who are employed as "IT Support Engineers," claim the company has illegally classified them as exempt to skip out of paying overtime. The employees are seeking back wages and civil penalties under California's Private Attorney Act. Under the Private Attorney Act, employees can sue an employer for fines based on labor law on behalf of the state of California. If successful, the employees will receive 25 per cent of fines rewarded, while California will receive the rest.

Note that this is a private lawsuit. Here's why:

The Law Offices of Michael Tracy, the firm representing the employees..... said the employees had previously filed the overtime complaint with California's Labor & Workforce Development Agency, but the organization refused to investigate. In response, the employees are suing for the labor fines.

My guess is that Arnold was the reason that they refused to investigate.