We believe pharmaceutical sales representatives are entitled to overtime compensation.
You may have a claim for uncompensated overtime.
If you are a pharmaceutical sales rep who has worked over 40 hours per week within in the last 3 years, give us a call before it’s too late. We will evaluate your case for free. The employment staff at JacksonWhite are taking calls from past and present U.S. sales reps from all pharma companies.
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Department of Labor regulations require, in general, that employees pay 1.5 times an employee’s regular hourly rate of pay for each hour worked in excess of 40 hours per week, unless the employee qualifies for an “exemption” from the overtime rules. One of those exemptions covers “outside salespersons,” employees whose primary duty is to sell products away from their employers’ offices. However, pharma reps don’t sell any pharmaceuticals to the physicians they visit. In fact, they are barred by federal law from doing so. So, although some of their activities appear similar to traditional sales people, federal regulations prohibit them from selling their employer’s drugs to doctors or anyone else. For this reason, and many more, we are fighting for pharmaceutical reps to be paid the overtime money they deserve. We aren’t alone either. The Department of Labor has weighed in, and they strongly support the sales reps’ position.
JacksonWhite Law is preparing to argue a case before the U.S Supreme Court on April 16, 2012 regarding overtime compensation for pharmaceutical reps. Learn more about this case against GlaxoSmithKline.
Timeline:
- July 2010: the Second Circuit found in two cases that pharmaceutical reps working for Novartis and Schering-Plough are eligible for overtime pay under the FLSA.
- Nov 28, 2011: the U.S Supreme Court agreed to review the Ninth Circuit’s case. The Supreme Court will examine two issues: 1) Whether deference is owed to the outside sales exemption regulations, and 2) whether the FLSA’s outside sales exemption applies to pharmaceutical sales reps
- Dec 14, 2011: The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that pharma reps do fall under the “outside sales” exemption and shouldn’t receive overtime
- Jan 25, 2012: Pharmaceutical company, Novartis, settles for $99 million
- March 8, 2012: JacksonWhite files against Sunovian
- April 16, 2012: The U.S. Supreme Court will hear the case, Christopher v. GlaxoSmithKline
- June 2012: Expected ruling announced
