District Court Opens Door to ERISA Claims in Overtime Actions

The Federal District Court in Oregon recently refused to dismiss plaintiffs' claims that an employer violated ERISA by failing "to credit as 'hours of service' all overtime hours worked" by a class of employees. In re Farmers Ins. Exch. Claims Representative' Overtime Litig., No. 33-1439 (D. Ore. Aug. 15, 2005). The underlying case is a claim for overtime made by claims representatives classified by Farmers Insurance as exempt administrative employees. The plaintiffs alleged that, not only are they entitled to back pay for unpaid overtime, but that they also are entitled to relief under ERISA because the defendants failed to credit untracked overtime hours as hours of service under the Farmers’ benefit plans. The defendants moved to dismiss the plaintiffs' ERISA claims from the lawsuit.