Ex-Facebook manager sues biz after getting 'Zucked out of overtime'

Social network hit with claim of illegally skirting Illinois wage laws

Facebook has been hit with a class-action lawsuit from a former manager alleging the social network deliberately misclassified its employees to avoid paying them overtime.

Named plaintiff Susie Bigger claimed she and other Facebookers working in customer solutions manager (CSM) positions, which pay based on commissions, were told to cover the duties of other jobs in the sales department, and worked for more than 40 hours per week without overtime pay.

According to the claim, filed in a northern Illinois district court, Bigger and other CSMs, whose commission-based pay was considered "exempt" from overtime rules, were asked by Facebook not just to perform their own jobs, but also those of media solutions managers, non-exempt salaried positions that were vacant at the time.

As a result, the suit alleges, Facebook got its commission-based employees to do the work of a salaried employee without giving them additional overtime pay or other benefits that would come with the position. It also saved the biz from having to hire people for the media solutions manager roles.

"CSMs were uniformly subject to [Facebook’s] employment policies and practices and were victims of defendant’s scheme to deprive them of overtime compensation," Bigger, who worked in Facebook's Chicago office from May 2013 to March 2017, alleged in her lawsuit.

"As a result of defendant’s improper and willful failure to pay plaintiff and similarly-situated CSMs in accordance with the requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act and Illinois Minimum Wage Law, plaintiff and similarly-situated CSMs suffered lost wages and other damages."

Bigger's complaint seeks a jury trial to award back pay and damages to herself and all other employees who worked as CSMs for Facebook in Illinois and put in more than 40 hours without overtime pay.

Facebook said it will fight the claim, telling The Register: "This lawsuit is without merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously." ®