Indiana residents may be familiar with the professional networking services offered by LinkedIn. The California based company was founded in 2002, and it has gone on to become the online leader in this area. However, workers in several states claimed that they were owed wages and overtime pay by the social-networking company, and a subsequent investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor determined that LinkedIn had violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.
It was announced in August 2014 that the company has agreed to pay 359 current and former workers — a large percentage of whom are in the company’s sales department, according to a representative — almost $5.86 million. The payment is made up of $3.35 million in unpaid wages and overtime pay and $2.51 million in damages. Training will also be required for LinkedIn staff to ensure that similar violations do not occur in the future. Investigators found that the policies in place at LinkedIn were not accurately keeping track of the hours and overtime being logged by employees.
A LinkedIn representative said that the company recognized its administrative problems and was eager to address them. She added that steps were already being taken to rectify these issues before the Department of Labor became involved. An official with the San Francisco office of the Department of Labor said that the company had cooperated fully with its investigation.
Workers in Indiana who feel that they are not being paid correctly for the work they have performed may file a claim under the Indiana Wage Claims Act or the Fair Labor Standards Act. If such a claim is successful, the employer may be required to pay the worker’s legal fees and a penalty in addition to unpaid wages. An attorney with experience in this area could assess the merits of a potential unpaid wage claim, and he or she could assist workers with the sometimes confusing claim process.
Source: BloombergBusinessweek, “LinkedIn Pays $6 Million for Unpaid Overtime, Damages”, Sarah Frier , August 04, 2014
