Ecolab is a global developer and marketer of premium cleaning, sanitizing, pest elimination, maintenance and repair products and services for the world’s hospitality, institutional and industrial markets. On November 2, 2010, this employment lawsuit was filed in the Southern District of California alleging that Ecolab intentionally misclassified maintenance workers as exempt from overtime laws in order to avoid paying them overtime compensation.

As part of Ecolab’s business, the company employs individuals whose primary job duty is repairing and providing maintenance on leased commercial machines of Ecolab. These employees have the job titles of “Route Manager,” “Route Sales Manager,” “Sales Route Specialist,” “Service Installer” and “Service Professional.” As a matter of company policy, practice, and procedure, Ecolab has unlawfully, unfairly and/or deceptively classified every Service Employee as exempt based on job title alone, failed to pay the required overtime compensation, and otherwise failed to comply with all applicable labor laws with respect to these Service Employees.

As defined by Ecolab’s comprehensive corporate policies and procedures, the primary job duty of maintenance workers employed by Ecolab was and is to provide repair, maintenance, and installation services on leased commercial machines in accordance with Ecolab’s established specific procedures and protocols which govern and control every aspect of the work performed by the Service Employees. The primary job duty of these service employees was not and is not to make sales and/or obtain orders or contracts for services.

As a result, the employees claim that they do not meet the tests of an overtime exemption under either California law or the FLSA and are entitled to overtime compensation for all the hours they worked in excess of eight in a workday and forty in a workweek.

For further information about this overtime lawsuit filed against Ecolab, contact employment law lawyers in San Francisco. You can also contact our labor lawyers in the San Jose Area.