Texas employer dodges payment of $350,000 in overtime
A famous Texas lawyer once remarked that “there are no loopholes in the law; the law is the law!” The truth of the observation came as relief to one Texas employer that was sued—and dodged—an overtime bill of $350,000 plus. Read on.
Insurance agency hires a manager
Jerry Merritt went to work as an agency manager for the Texas Farm Bureau (TFB). He was treated as an independent contractor and not paid on an hourly basis. Life was good:
- Working autonomously, without direct daily supervision and at a different location from fellow managers;
- Setting his own schedule;
- Devoting as much or as little of each day to his tasks as he saw fit; and
- Earning compensation based on policies sold and renewed—which, from 2016 to 2018, amounted to between $552,000 and $627,000 a year!
Well, trouble arose in paradise, and Merritt sued for lost overtime, claiming he should have been treated as an employee instead of as an independent contractor. (More of that aspect of the case in a separate article.) The court agreed with him, asserting he worked 816 hours of overtime during the relevant employment period. That will be $353,450, please make the check payable to Jerry Merritt.
Loophole
The case went to the jury, which was told: