Unpaid Overtime Lawsuit Filed against Adobe

A woman who worked as a technical talent scout for California-based multinational software company Adobe Systems Inc. filed an unpaid overtime lawsuit against the company.

During her tenure from January 2011 until October 2014, Mariko M. was paid a salary to search for and recruit potential employees. In June 2014 she was involved in a motorcycle accident that left her with injuries to her knee, leg and clavicle. She became disabled in the sense that she was limited in her abilities to walk, stand and bend her leg.

In her California unpaid overtime lawsuit, Mariko accuses Adobe Systems of failing to pay her overtime wages pursuant to the California Labor Code and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. She also is suing for failing to be provided a reasonable accommodation and for being discriminated against because of her disability. Adobe Systems ultimately forced Mariko out of the company, she alleges.

After her accident, Mariko’s supervisor told her she was allowed to work from home until she was rehabilitated to the point where she could travel to the office. Two weeks later, Mariko was informed that she was not a satisfactory employee based on comments made from her co-workers, despite positive informal and formal reviews during her tenure, according to the unpaid overtime lawsuit.

By early October, Mariko was given a Corrective Action Plan requiring her to meet “exceptionally high standards within the following 30 days” or face further corrective actions or termination. The Corrective Action Plan was allegedly the first written warning Mariko had received alleging a substandard job performance. Adobe Systems would no longer permit Mariko to work from home and her requests to transfer to another position were denied.

Instead, the company offered Mariko a “Transition Package” that would allow her to resign and continue to be paid a salary and COBRA benefits for a period of time.

Feeling she had no other option, Mariko accepted the Transition Package, making her last day of work Oct. 17, 2014, but pursuant to the Transition Package, she would be considered an employee until Nov. 15, 2014.

When Adobe Systems emailed the Transition Package documents to Mariko, they contained a release and a waiver, something that was allegedly not previously conveyed to her. When she refused to sign the release and waiver, Mariko was denied the insurance coverage originally promised.

In her unpaid overtime lawsuit, Mariko accused Adobe Systems of misclassifying her as an exempt employee, making her ineligible to receive overtime. She routinely worked more than eight hours per day and 40 hours per week without being compensated for the extra hours, she alleges.

She also says that her former employer failed to provide her with meal periods of 30 minutes off-duty within the first five hours of her shifts, as required by California Labor Law.

“Plaintiff was often too busy to take such a meal period and defendant knew and approved of Plaintiff working through her lunch periods,” the unpaid overtime lawsuit states. “Defendant failed to pay Plaintiff for an additional hour for each day in which she was prevented from taking a meal period.”

California has strict overtime laws that require, among other things, that employers provide meal breaks, rest breaks, as well as pay a minimum wage of $9 an hour.

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