Wednesday 21 February 2018

This job Win-blows! Microsoft Made Me Pull '75-hour Weeks' In A Shopping Mall Kiosk


A former Microsoft retail manager is suing the software giant for making his work long hours without overtime and breaks.

Her lawsuit, which will be tried by a United States district court in northern California, alleged that Redmond violated labor laws by unfairly classifying her, a retail salesperson, as a professional salaried employee so that she is not paid overtime and evade other requirements.

According to its lawsuit, filed this month, the alleged violations occurred between 2015 and May of last year when plaintiff Jennifer Sullivan worked for Microsoft as a manager of a sales kiosk in Roseville, California.

By law, workers classified as managers and other salaried professional personnel are exempt from the obligatory payment of overtime and rest periods: non-exempt employees can demand at least a half-time if they are forced to work more than 40 hours a week.

Sullivan claimed that Microsoft labeled her exempt despite doing a sales job that should have exempted her from the mandatory overtime payment, and she was not allowed to hire anyone to help her, forcing her to work for long weeks.

"The Defendants demanded that the Claimant perform non-exempt duties similar to those of other non-exempt employees during most of her working time," the lawsuit says.

"The Defendants provided the Complainant with a skeletal staff and, instead of hiring more non-exempt employees, the Defendants demanded that the Complainant perform the function of a non-exempt worker."

Because of this, Sullivan claimed, most of the weeks she was forced to work between 50 and 75 hours at the mall stand and to do additional work from home. He was also unable to take the food and breaks normally offered to non-exempt employees and was unable to collect a bonus when the store worked well.

Now, the former worker wants Microsoft to earn overtime and bonuses. Although an exact figure was not provided, Microsoft estimated [PDF] that the money sought would add up to more than $ 200,000 before taking into account the attorneys' fees.

Sullivan specifically alleged violations of the California Labor Code for not providing compensation for overtime, lunch breaks, breaks, separation wages, detailed salary statements and unfair business practices.

Microsoft has denied the claims. "Having carefully examined the issue, we believe that the plaintiff was correctly classified given her role," a spokesperson told us on Tuesday.

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