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Pharmaceutical Sales Representatives Unpaid Overtime Lawsuits

Pharmaceutical Sales Representatives Unpaid Overtime | Lawsuits, Lawyer | Wage Losses, Back Pay | Federal Fair Labor Standards Act, FLSA, Federal Overtime Laws

If you are a pharmaceutical sales representative who has been denied overtime pay for the long hours you work, you have legal recourse. In February 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal by major drug companies that sought to overturn a lower court’s findings that pharmaceutical sales representatives were covered by federal wage-and-hour laws. The development makes it possible for pharmaceutical sales representatives to file lawsuits to recover unpaid overtime.

Employees at many pharmaceutical companies - notably Johnson & Johnson, Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis - have already filed lawsuits for unpaid overtime. If you are a pharmaceutical sales representative who has not been paid for overtime hours you worked, you may be able to obtain back pay and other damages by filing an unpaid overtime lawsuit. Our firm is currently offering free legal consultations to pharmaceutical sales representatives who have been denied overtime pay. To find out how our unpaid overtime lawyers can help you, please contact us today.

Pharmaceutical Sales Representatives and Federal Overtime Laws

The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires that most employees in the U.S. be paid at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked and overtime pay at time and one-half the regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 hours in a workweek. There are some types of jobs that are exempt for the FLSA overtime provisions, one of which is commissioned sales representatives. As such, drug companies have long treated their sales representatives as exempt from the overtime requirements.

However, in several unpaid overtime lawsuits, pharmaceutical sales representatives have challenged the exemption. In such suits, plaintiffs maintain that the FLSA exemption doesn’t apply to workers like them, who promote a product without actually making a sale. To date, more than a dozen lawsuits involving overtime pay have been filed by pharmaceutical sales represents against Johnson & Johnson, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis, Merck & Co. and GlaxoSmithKline.

Merck & Co.'s Schering Unit and Novartis had each asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn two rulings by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals that found that pharmaceutical sales representatives were, in fact, subject to federal wage and hour laws. In February 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court declined both requests, paving the way for other pharmaceutical sales representatives to file similar unpaid overtime lawsuits.

Legal Help for Pharmaceutical Sales Representatives Denied Overtime Pay

If you are a pharmaceutical sales representative and have been denied overtime pay, there is an excellent chance you could win back pay and other damages by filing an unpaid overtime lawsuit. To find out how our unpaid overtime lawyers can help you, please fill out our online form, or call 1 800 LAW INFO (1-800-529-4636) today.