US Supreme Court Deciding if Pharmaceutical Sales Representatives Entitled to Overtime Pay Nacht Law Attorneys Ann Arbor Michigan

US Supreme Court Deciding if Pharmaceutical Sales Representatives Entitled to Overtime Pay

Posted by: Edward Macey
December 01, 2011
Topic: Comments

The United States Supreme Court agreed this week to decide whether pharmaceutical sales representatives are entitled to overtime pay. Pharmaceutical sales representatives regularly work more than 40 hours a week but are not generally paid overtime for their additional work. In a series of lawsuits across the country, these hard-working employees are challenging this practice and arguing that they are entitled to overtime. To date, courts have come down on both sides of the issue. A federal appeals court in New York ruled that Novartis sales representatives are entitled to overtime pay. A federal appeals court in California ruled that Glaxo SmithKline sales representatives are not. The Supreme Court will review the California case and hopefully decide whether these employees are entitled to overtime or whether, as the pharmaceutical companies claim, the "outside sales exemption" to the Fair Labor Standards Act applies, meaning sales representatives are not entitled to overtime pay. The United States Department of Labor argues that the exemption does not apply and that the sales representatives are entitled to overtime pay. The Supreme Court should issue a decision next spring and that decision will have an enormous impact on thousands of employees and the entire operation of the pharmaceutical industry.

US Supreme Court Deciding if Pharmaceutical Sales Representatives Entitled to Overtime Pay