Cisco Systems has plans on the drawing board to cut 15 percent of its workforce and place for sale a factory as part of its strategy to reduce expenses by $1 billion as an attempt to improve its bottom line.
The numbers to be laid off shake out like this: It appears that 11,500 jobs will be cut in contrast to just several thousand that analysts had surmised. Many Cisco employees may come to realize that they were wrongly classified as exempt from California overtime pay laws.
If this is the case, such employees are entitled to go back and collect up to four years of overtime pay under California labor laws. “It is not unusual for employees to realize in the most desperate of times that they were, in fact, entitled to overtime pay all along due to the misclassification error made by their employer.
Many employees do not realize that it is the job duties you perform and the amount of independent discretion you have that determines whether you are entitled to overtime pay- not your job title or the amount of salary you earn,” says Walter Haines, class action attorney. Attorney Haines has successfully litigated Cisco Systems in the past for similar violations. Another area of abuse in recent months among corporate giants has been pension fraud.
When long term employees are laid off or retire, in many instances they realize that their pension balance is not what they thought it would be. In many cases, changes to the pension plan were not properly disclosed to employees and as such, these same employees incurred significant losses. Pension fraud is becoming more and more common in the corporate arena. Employees who are curious as to whether the proper disclosures were made in regard to their pension should compile their pension documents and speak to a labor attorney as soon as possible. In addition, if you work or have worked for Cisco Systems and were deprived of your overtime pay it is important to talk to a San Jose labor law attorney at once to investigate your options.
If it is determined that you have been misclassified and are entitled to California overtime pay, you may also be entitled to payment of penalties and interest as well as your attorney fees. It is as simple as putting together your job description and any performance evaluations you might have and submitting them for attorney review. In difficult times of lay offs and downsizing, employees must become informed as to what their rights are, and investigating your employer for possible misclassification of your job and pension wrongdoing is a prudent step in protecting your rights.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock/Mego Studio