Why would a plaintiff attorney file a W&H lawsuit for what would result in a maximum of $3,000 in unpaid overtime?

Former employee was fired after 15 months of service for stealing cash receipts - caught red handed with the money.

Was an exempt assisant manager. Even if he can prove that he was misclassified and should have been non-exempt, the max of unpaid overtime would be about $3K as the client uses the flexible work week method for calculating overtime.

This does not pass my common sense test and is beyond being frivilous.

Never mind the common sense test comment - I should not be surprised as I have been doing this stuff for a long time.

Perhaps the attorney is taking on the wage & hour case as a favor to the client for whom the attorney is providing representation in another, more lucrative, matter?

Wage and hour cases under FLSA may entitle the plaintiff to attorney’s fees if successful. So even though the max award is 3K the potential for a being awarded a large sum for attorney’s fees may make it appealing to the attorney.

It’s been settled and the plaintiff got about $2,000, the attorney got the same.  The attorney for the company got about 10 grand.

Bob McKenzie - 25 September 2009 01:33 PM

It’s been settled and the plaintiff got about $2,000, the attorney got the same.  The attorney for the company got about 10 grand.

So the attorney got an award equal to 100% of the judgment, which is significantly more than the normal contingency.

Good lesson to show future clients why FLSA can be a bigger bear than they think. This deal cost the company $14,000 (almost 500% more than the $3,000 they thought they would save.) This was only one person!

Not a good risk/reward proposition IMO.

Thanks for sharing.