A federal appeals court ruled in favor of PricewaterhouseCoopers during a lawsuit involving overtime pay for junior accountants.
Approximately 2,000 unlicensed young accountants had sued the firm in a class action, saying it had not paid them the mandatory overtime pay they were due under California state law. A lower court had earlier ruled that PwC was not entitled to exempt the junior accountants from the state overtime laws.
However, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that ruling on Wednesday and sent the case back to the lower district court in Sacramento for further proceedings, according to Reuters.
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A spokesperson for the firm told the Going Concern blog, “PwC is pleased that the Ninth Circuit supported its arguments in this important case. The firm greatly values these employees and considers their work an integral part of PwC’s success.”
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"PwC is pleased that the Ninth Circuit supported its arguments in this important case. The firm greatly values these employees and considers their work an integral part of PwC's success."
But apparently not enough to pay them. Or would paying them jeopardize the success of the firm?
Posted by: ejdrayercpa | June 28, 2011 1:04 PM
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@ Author: What was the judge's reasoning for the first verdict and the reasoning for the second judge to overturn in the court of appeals? Thought process is important to the case and relevant to the story.
Posted by: Taccount | June 20, 2011 11:22 AM
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The overtime issue is on going throughout the history of accountancy. My firm, over twenty-five years ago, made overtime pay a policy for junior accountants. In today's economy to not pay overtime and hold the threat of losing ones' position when you ask for it is taking unfair advantage of those who are expected to put extra hours in. Its time to do away with the policy: Why pay more when they will work for less.
Posted by: alex5500 | June 20, 2011 10:43 AM
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In my opinion, junior accountants should be paid overtime. They do not make any kind of management decisions (only managers have that power). When the U-Haul tax court case was settled, I concluded that juniors and senior accountants should be paid overtime. I held those positions in 1980 to 1996. While I was working at BDO (1988 to 1990)as a senior accountant, I was questioning their payroll policies concerning overtime and work in other states. I never got overtime and they never witheld state income taxes when I worked in other states. Maybe that is why I got fired from them. The big four accounting firms have too much power (money) to fight back. I hope the lower district court overturns it.
Posted by: Unknown | June 20, 2011 9:20 AM
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