Anthem Class Action Alleges Insurer Misclassifies Salespeople To Avoid Paying Overtime

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Anthem Insurance Overtime Labor Class Action Overview: 

• Who: Two former employees of Anthem Insurance are suing the company.
• Why: The plaintiffs say the company forced salespeople to work overtime to meet quotas but did not pay them overtime in violation of federal labor laws.
• Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in Indiana federal court.

Anthem Insurance makes its salespeople work overtime to make sales quotas but misclassifies them so it does not have to pay them overtime, a new class action lawsuit alleges. 

Plaintiffs Lita Fillipo and Timothy Kraft filed the class action complaint against The Anthem Companies, Inc. May 12 in a Indiana federal court, alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and state employment laws.

Fillipo and Kraft say they both worked from their home offices as salespeople for Anthem, selling the company’s insurance products. 

The pair allege that Anthem made its salespeople work overtime hours by implementing minimum productivity quotas requiring overtime hours to meet. 

To avoid compensating employees like them for their overtime hours, Anthem had a policy of misclassifying salespersons working from home as “exempt outside salespersons” in violation of federal law, the class action states.

An “exempt outside salesperson” is someone who is predominantly engaged away from the employer’s premises. However, in the plaintiffs’ case, they were only away from the office because of the pandemic, according to the lawsuit.

“The improper classification of salespersons like Plaintiffs continued despite Anthem ordering outside salespersons nationwide to work solely from home for at least three months due to the Pandemic,” the class action states. “Further, the misclassification continued despite Pandemic-initiated state and local lockdowns across the United States where Anthem knew outside salespersons could not have been engaged in ‘outside sales.’”

Anthem ‘Well Aware’ of Misclassification, Class Action Alleges 

Due to these lockdowns and its own work-from-home order, Anthem is well aware of the misclassification of these employees, the class action states. 

Fillipo says she is also still owed $5,000 in commissions. 

The pair seek unpaid wages, including unpaid overtime compensation, damages, attorneys’ fees and costs.

They’re looking to represent a nationwide class of Anthem employees who were allegedly misclassified as “exempt outside salespersons” and denied overtime. 

Meanwhile, in March, a New York federal judge denied Anthem’s request to dismiss a class action lawsuit that accuses the insurance company of denying policyholders mental health treatment coverage. 

What do you think of the claims against Anthem? Let us know in the comments! 

The plaintiffs are represented by C.K. Lee of Lee Litigation Group, PLLC.

The Anthem Companies FLSA Class Action Lawsuit is Lita Fillipo et al., v. The Anthem Companies, Case No. 1:22-cv-00926-JRS-MPB, in the U.S. District Court Southern District of Indiana.

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