Former CDM Federal Programs Employee Files Suit Seeking Allegedly Unpaid Overtime

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A proposed class and collective action claims CDM Federal Programs Corporation and CDM Smith Inc. have failed to pay employees proper overtime wages for every hour worked in excess of 40 each week.

The 12-page lawsuit claims the defendants, who contract with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide natural disaster relief services in New York, have overstepped state and federal labor laws by paying workers at only their regular hourly rate for every hour worked, and not the statutory time-and-a-half rate for overtime hours.

“Defendants knew the requirement to pay overtime to their employees, but they intentionally and/or recklessly chose not to do so,” the complaint alleges.

The plaintiff says he worked for the company from September 2016 to June 2020 and regularly put in more than 40 hours per week. Per the case, the plaintiff often worked 10 to 12 hours per day and between five and seven shifts per week.

According to the lawsuit, CDM paid the plaintiff and other employees at their regular hourly rates for all hours worked regardless of how many hours they put in each week. The lawsuit argues that this practice deprived the workers of their right to receive time-and-a-half overtime wages for all weekly hours worked in excess of 40 as required under New York and federal law. According to the case, the salary-basis exemption for overtime pay does not apply given workers are paid based on the number of hours they work and not a set salary for each week in which work is performed. The plaintiff’s work also did not satisfy the job duty requirements for any other overtime exemption under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the lawsuit adds.

As CDM receives FEMA funding and has agreed to comply with federal laws, the defendants were well aware of their obligation to pay proper overtime wages in accordance with the FLSA, the suit claims.

“Defendants’ pay scheme was not by accident, but a well thought out plan to reduce their labor costs,” the complaint attests.

The plaintiff seeks one-half times his regular pay rate for every recorded overtime hour he worked during the relevant time period, plus liquidated damages in the same amount. The lawsuit, which was initially filed in New York in October 2020, was transferred to Texas’s Southern District Court on March 9, 2021.

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