On December 22, 2021, a former Google, LLC account manager initiated a lawsuit alleging that the company failed to include all legally required compensation when calculating its hourly employees’ overtime rate of pay.
According to Complaint, Google, LLC paid Plaintiff and others similarly situated on an hourly basis, and provided them with other compensation in the form of commissions and restricted stock units (a/k/a Google Stock Units). The problem, the Complaint alleges, is that Google, LLC failed to include the value of commissions and Google Stock Units when calculating the employees’ overtime rate paid for overtime hours they worked. The Complaint asserts that this omission gave Google, LLC the benefit of paying its hourly employees at a lower overtime rate of pay than the law requires.
The Complaint also alleges that Google, LLC breached its individual contract with Plaintiff when it capped his earned commissions under a so-called windfall provision, that Plaintiff alleges was not in the commission agreement he entered with the company.
The lawsuit is filed as a putative collective action under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and class action under California state laws. The action seeks to recover unpaid overtime compensation and liquidated (double) damages for the workers impacted by Google, LLC’s alleged miscalculation of the overtime rate of pay.
Plaintiff’s attorney, Michele R. Fisher of Nichols Kaster, PLLP, explained, “the law generally requires that employers include all forms of renumeration when calculating the overtime rate of pay for their workers. While there are some exceptions, it is our position that Google, LLC’s failure to include the value of commissions and restricted stock units in the overtime rate of pay is a violation of federal and state law. We believe this problem may impact many hourly employees across the country who worked overtime hours, and who, in addition to their hourly rate of pay, received commissions and/or restricted stock units.
Google, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Alphabet, Inc., an American multinational technology conglomerate holding company. Google, LLC specializes in internet-related services and products, which include online advertising technologies, a search engine, cloud computing, software, and hardware.
Plaintiff is represented by Michele R. Fisher from Nichols Kaster, PLLP in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Daniel S. Brome from Nichols Kaster, LLP in San Francisco, California, and Charles L. Scalise from Ross Scalise Law Group in Austin, Texas. The case is Bowlay-Williams v. Google, LLC, Case No.: 3:21-cv-09942 (N.D. Cal.).
Additional information about how to make a claim in the case may be found at www.nka.com or by calling Nichols Kaster, PLLP at (877) 344-4628.
