Class Action Says Mortgage Company Ignores Rules for Overtime

A new wage and hour class action lawsuit filed in California alleges that Carrington Mortgage Services ignores rules for overtime wages, rest, and meal breaks under state and federal law.

The initiating plaintiffs. Christopher M. and Michael S., are citizens of the State of California and Arizona respectively. Carrington’s global headquarters is located in Anaheim, Calif. and they are licensed to do business throughout the U.S.

Christopher and Michael allege they are both former loan officers that worked at Carrington. They maintain that during their respective employment periods, from March 2017 to April 2018, Carrington flagrantly operated outside the rules for overtime wages by failing to calculate commissions and bonuses into base rate of pay.

Additionally, both plaintiffs claim that they regularly worked over eight hours a day and over 40 hours in a week. However, Christopher and Michael claim that Carrington failed to compensate for all the hours worked and pay at the rate of one and one half times the base rate of pay for excess hours, in violation of the rules for overtime wages.

The plaintiffs further allege that the mortgage company didn’t compensate workers for meal or rest breaks missed because of the demands of the job, pay in a punctual manner for completed work hours, provide proper documentation of pay, or release funds upon termination of employment that were due.

Christopher and Michael seek to represent a proposed Class of similarly situated current or former loan officers employed at Carrington Mortgage who have been denied proper wages.

The overtime class action lawsuit alleges that the defendants have employed over 500 loan officers in the U.S., with 50 being hired over the class period in the state of California. The proposed class period runs from Sept. 30, 2013 through the date of judgment.

The sheer number of people employed as loan officers by Carrington would make adjudication of this complaint via individual lawsuits unduly burdensome on the court system, argues the overtime class action lawsuit.

Christopher and Michael allege in the overtime lawsuit that the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) has been violated by Carrington. In addition to failing to include bonuses and commissions in base rate of pay used to calculate overtime pay, the overtime class action lawsuit alleges that the mortgage company withheld payment of one and one half times this base rate for hours worked above the work week norm of 40 in a seven-day period.

The second claim contends that Carrington violated rules for overtime wages under the California State Labor Code. California employment law mirrors the FLSA law. In this part of the lawsuit narrative, the plaintiffs claim that they and other loan officers were regularly manipulated to work ‘off-the-clock’ to meet sales goals. Time documentation was allegedly doctored so overtime hours wouldn’t appear.

Other claims under California State Labor Code include failure to provide proper meal periods, rest periods, wage statements, or pay upon separation to name a few.

Christopher and Michael are asking for certification of themselves and their attorney as class representatives and class counsel. They are asking for appropriate back overtime wage compensation, liquidated damages, and all attorney and court fees.

The Carrington Mortgage Lawsuit is Case No. 8:18-cv-01449 in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

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