Unpaid Overtime Lawsuit Filed Against Merrill Lynch

Four former employees of Merrill Lynch have filed an unpaid overtime lawsuit against the banking giant and parent company, Bank of America, claiming that they worked more than 40 hours in a week but were not paid for the hours they worked.

Plaintiffs Dana Brandes, Stacy Niemiec, Dawn Bradford, and Nicole Curtis worked as Client Associates for Merrill Lynch.

They claim that Merrill Lynch permitted and encouraged them and other Client Associates to work more than 40 hours in a work week failed to properly compensate for hours worked.

According to this unpaid overtime lawsuit, the plaintiffs accuse Merrill Lynch of being aware that the Client Associates worked more than what they were scheduled to work, however, their extra hours were not properly recorded and the employees were not compensated.

Merrill Lynch is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bank of America Corporation.

Bank of America is one of the largest banks in the world as well as one of the largest brokerage firms in the world. Merrill Lynch provides investment services to customers across the U.S. and manages over $2 trillion in client assets.

The plaintiffs in this unpaid overtime lawsuit claim that Merrill Lynch willfully violated the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 by failing to pay their employees proper wages as demanded by law.

The Client Associates are bringing this lawsuit on behalf of other employees in the class and are seeking “unpaid wages for all hours worked in excess of 40 in a workweek; liquidated damages, and reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs, pursuant to the FLSA.”

They also claim that Merrill Lynch violated codes and laws specific to states including the New York State Department of Labor regulations as well as the Illinois Minimum Wage Law.

In June of this year, both parties entered into a tolling agreement. That is, an agreement to waive a right to claim that litigation should be dismissed due to the expiration of a statute of limitations. However, the defendants terminated the agreement in August.

Unpaid Overtime Lawsuit Against Merrill Lynch

The plaintiffs’ stories vary, but generally, the Client Associates claim that they regularly worked through lunch, worked from home in the evenings and on weekends without pay.

They assert that they worked from between 43 to 60 plus hours per week without compensation for the time in excess of 40 hours.

The plaintiffs claim that in order for Client Associates to perform their jobs at Merrill Lynch, they are required to work in excess of 40 hours per week.

They claim that Merrill Lynch does not record all the hours worked by its Client Associates as a company-wide pattern and practice.

Merrill Lynch, according to the plaintiffs, willfully, intentionally and repeatedly engaged in a policy of violating the FLSA as well as other state labor laws.

Two potential classes are represented in this unpaid overtime lawsuit: a class from New York and one from Illinois.

The Merrill Lynch Unpaid Overtime Lawsuit is Dana Brandes et al v Merrill Lynch et al., Case No. 16-cv-4754 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

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