ZipRecruiter Misclassified Former Account Manager as Overtime-Exempt, Lawsuit Claims

New to ClassAction.org? Read our Newswire Disclaimer

ZipRecruiter, Inc. and four of the company’s individual owners are staring down a former account manager’s proposed collective action filed over claims that he was misclassified as exempt from overtime wages.

According to the case, the plaintiff clocked between 45 and 65 hours each week performing various non-exempt duties, including cold-calling and emailing current and potential customers, without proper overtime wages. The suit argues the man should have been designated as a non-exempt employee, in part because he did not direct other workers, exercise independent judgment or have any significant control of ZipRecruiter’s business operations.

The case alleges the plaintiff’s extensive overtime hours stemmed from the defendants’ policy of requiring account managers to remain on call and responsive to customers’ needs outside of normal business hours, including evenings and weekends. From the complaint:

“During each and every workweek during which Plaintiff and the Collective Members worked for Defendants, they worked approximately forty-five (45) to sixty (65) hours per week, including routinely working through lunch periods, routinely working from home after regular business hours, and routinely working from home on weekends for which time Defendants failed to accurately record Plaintiff’s and the Collective Members’ time worked while suffering or permitting them to work nonetheless.”

The case also attributes the plaintiff’s significant amount of overtime work to ZipRecruiter’s allegedly competitive company culture. The suit says the company “harshly” enforced challenging sales quotas, which resulted in employees working through lunch and putting in more hours to meet performance goals.