Nine Million Dollar Fair Labor Claim Against Mortgage Firm Awarded

A federal court entered a $9 million judgment against Top Dot Mortgage for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The FLSA class action suit, led by attorneys Erik H. Langeland and Stephan Zouras, was brought on behalf of 166 loan officers who were not properly paid minimum wage or overtime by Top Dot Mortgage and its individual owners. Under the FLSA, employees are entitled to wages for all hours worked and time-and-a-half pay for all time worked over 40 hours worked in a work week, unless they are exempt from the Act. Federal law also requires employers to maintain accurate records of hours actually worked by employees. "At trial, we proved that Top Dot willfully created a pay plan which denied its loan officers minimum and overtime wages in violation of federal law, while its individual owners wrongfully added millions of dollars to their personal income" said lead trial attorney Ryan Stephan. The jury specifically found that class members averaged 10 hours of unpaid overtime each week. Based on the total verdict, each of the 166 class members was awarded $54,000 on average. "We believe this verdict sets the standard for all similar wage and hour cases moving forward," said Langeland. "We look forward to bringing justice to other Americans who are similarly deprived of proper pay."