Lawyer Working Primarily on Secretarial Duties Entitled to Hourly Pay Under FLSA.
From the facts reported in a Rhode Island lawsuit, Sebren v. Harrison, the law firm run by Casby Harrison, III, was not a great place to work. Sarah Sebren started there as a secretary/paralegal and was paid only for hours that the firm could bill to clients and not for the bulk of her time doing administrative work. Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) Violation No. 1. She was not paid any premium for overtime work. FLSA Violation No. 2. She was improperly classified as an independent contractor, not an employee. FLSA Violation No. 3. And the law firm did not keep any records of the hours she worked. FLSA Violation No. 4. ”
But it gets worse. After Sebren obtained her law degree and admission to practice in Rhode Island, the law firm increased her wages to $50 per hour – but again paid her only for work that could be billed to clients, no overtime and no tracking of hours. And, further, she claimed that even after being classified as a lawyer, most of her work was the same non-exempt administrative/paralegal work she had done before.
The employer claimed it was permissible to treat her as an independent contractor and not pay her overtime or minimum wage once she became a lawyer. Indeed, the FLSA exempts lawyers from its salary basis and overtime pay requirements. But this defense failed on two grounds: in addition to Sebren’s claim that she was not functioning as a lawyer for a substantial part of the time, the employer also failed to comply with state law. The Rhode Island Payment of Wage Act requires professional employees to be paid a base salary of $200 per week to be exempt from overtime. With the law firm having failed to do that, it owed her hourly wages and overtime for the work performed as a lawyer, too.
Sebren seeks $526,000 in unpaid wages. And based on this judge’s opinion, she just might get it.