Lawsuit Filed against Novo Nordisk over Alleged California Overtime Law Violations

Sacramento, CAAn overtime pay lawsuit was filed recently against Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk, claiming the firm did not pay its sales representatives for the overtime they were required to receive under state law.

According to Reuters, the lawsuit, which was filed last month in Sacramento Superior Court, accuses the drugmaker of utilizing a smaller labor force in order to increase profits, requiring a limited number of employees to complete the work.

A statement issued on July 25 by the law firm representing the plaintiffs did not detail how many workers or how much money was involved in the case, but did say that Novo Nordisk is accused of violating California labor laws.

"According to the wage and hour class-action complaint filed against the drug company, Novo Nordisk violated California overtime laws by failing to pay pharmaceutical sales representatives for overtime hours worked," the law firm said in the statement, according to the news source.

The law firm, which said the case was one of many similar lawsuits filed recently against drugmakers, is also reportedly representing drug sales representatives in overtime class-action lawsuits leveled against Merck and Merck's Schering-Plough, according to the news source.

A spokesman for Novo Nordisk reportedly did not have any immediate comment on the litigation, the news provider reported.

A number of previous cases, such as those involving German pharmaceutical company Novartis, have found that sales representatives are, in fact, eligible to receive overtime compensation. Novartis, like other drug companies, had claimed that the sales representatives were not eligible for overtime pay because they were covered by an exemption saying such employees have an unlimited earning potential due to the commission they can earn.

In another recent California overtime pay case, a federal judge ruled to decertify a class of Dollar Tree store managers who claimed they were improperly classified as exempt from state wage-and-hour provisions, meaning they were unable to receive overtime pay.

The plaintiffs claimed that Dollar Tree ordered them to fill out weekly payroll certifications in order to indicate that they spent more than half their time completing "managerial" duties, which were to be exempt from overtime, according to Thomson Reuters.

While the federal judge ruled to decertify the class of managers, he did say that the plaintiffs could take the appropriate steps to pursue individual claims against Dollar Tree, according to the news source.