Employees of Electric Power Systems International, Inc. ("Electric Power Systems") filed a lawsuit on November 17, 2016, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois alleging violations of federal and state overtime laws. The named plaintiffs, former field technicians, bring their claims individually and on behalf of similarly situated employees who worked for Electric Power Systems.
The Complaint alleges that Electric Power Systems failed to pay its field technicians, who it classifies as non-exempt employees, the legally required overtime premium of one and one-half (1.5) times their regular hourly rate for all overtime hours worked over forty (40) per week. Instead, the Complaint alleges that Electric Power Systems shorted the field technicians by paying them for overtime hours at a "straight time" rate. The case is filed as a Fair Labor Standards Act collective action, and as a class action under Illinois state law. The named plaintiffs seek unpaid overtime wages and double damages.
Electric Power Systems is an independent electrical testing and engineering organization. According to its website, the company "specializes in engineering, design, commissioning, start up, and maintenance testing for utility, industrial, transit, data centers, and commercial facilities." Electric Power Systems maintains approximately 30 offices throughout the United States, including Illinois.
Plaintiffs' attorney Michele R. Fisher of Nichols Kaster, PLLP explained, "Workers such as these, who are treated as hourly employees, should be paid 1.5 times their regular rate of pay when they work overtime hours. It is our position that paying them at only a straight time rate violates the law and deprives them of the overtime premium they earned."
Plaintiffs are represented by Michele R. Fisher and Jason D. Friedman from Nichols Kaster, PLLP, which has offices in Minneapolis, Minnesota and San Francisco, California. The case is entitled, Flanders et al. v. Electric Power Systems International, Inc. No. 1:16-cv-10708 (Northern District of Illinois).
Additional information about how to make a claim for overtime pay in the case may be found at www.nka.com or by calling Nichols Kaster, PLLP toll free at (877) 344-4628.
The firm is led by its partners, who are regularly selected by their peers as Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers, and are leaders in numerous professional organizations, such as the National Employment Lawyers Association, the ABA Federal Labor Standards Legislation Committee, the Practising Law Institute, Minnesota National Employment Lawyers Association, Public Justice, and the Council for the Minnesota State Bar Association's Consumer Litigation Section.