(http://afgecouncil222.com)
November 9, 2005

E:Alert for HUD employees GS-10 and below

Damages being determined in FLSA case

AFGE Council 222 filed a national parties grievance arguing that the agency improperly classified some employees as exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and failed to compensate all employees properly for overtime.

Management has now agreed that it inappropriately exempted many employees at GS-10 and below from coverage by the FLSA. The Agency has agreed to reclassify all GS-10 and below employees as FLSA Non-Exempt. This will entitle many employees to backpay.

We are now preparing for the damages phase of the arbitration with regard to GS-10 and below employees.

You will be contacted by phone and/or electronically by the law firm of Snider and Associates, LLC (located in Baltimore, MD). This is the Council's law firm for this case. They will ask you questions about paid and unpaid overtime and comp time you may have earned and worked over the last five years. The interviews are usually no more than 15 minutes.

All employees are authorized official time to help prepare for this case. (See the HUD/AFGE Agreement at Section 22.10.) Please cooperate with the union's attorneys.

If any representative of management talks to you about this case or this type of information, be advised that you do not have to speak to them about it. Further, please ask them to delay the questioning until you can secure the participation of Snider and Associates. Then, talk with your union representative immediately, who will connect you with our attorneys.

We post updates on the case to the Council website at http://afgecouncil222.com/grievances.html. Look there or talk to your Local President for more information.