Santa Clara, CA: MetLife, Inc., is facing an employment lawsuit alleging it knowingly failed to pay its employees over $50 million over the last three years. The nationwide class action lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.
The lawsuit seeks unpaid overtime wages for Claim Specialists who worked on long term disability insurance claims ("LTD Claim Specialists") for MetLife and two of its subsidiaries, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and MetLife Insurance Company USA.
According to the Complaint, LTD Claim Specialists principally gather information from disability claimants, collect medical data, and compile other information required to process disability claims. Lead Plaintiff Stephanie McKinney, a former LTD Claim Specialist, alleges that she and others often had to perform this work outside of office hours. "LTD claim specialists regularly work between 45 and 60 hours per week," the Complaint states. However, the suit claims that during the past three years MetLife hasn't compensated McKinney and other LTD Claim specialists for these overtime hours.
The suit asserts that MetLife used to pay its LTD Claim Specialists hourly wages and overtime pay. However, in November of 2013, MetLife "reclassified" LTD Claim Specialists and stopped paying them overtime, without any change in LTD Claim Specialists' job duties. According to the Complaint, MetLife made the change as a "cost-cutting measure."
Ms. McKinney seeks to recover damages, including unpaid wages, on behalf of herself and a class of LTD Claim Specialists. She also seeks an injunction against MetLife to require the Company to change its wage practices going forward.
Plaintiff is represented by the law firms of Sanford Heisler, LLP and Schneider Law Firm, LLC.
