LinkedIn pays $5.8 million for overtime violations

LinkedIn Corp. has paid more than $5.8 million in overtime back wages and liquidated damages in response to a U.S. Department of Labor investigation that concluded that the Mountain View-based business networking company violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.

LinkedIn, which claims more than 300 million users worldwide, failed to pay appropriate overtime wages to 359 current and former employees in California, Illinois, Nebraska and New York, the labor department’s wage and hour unit concluded. The company also failed to properly track and record employees’ work hours.

LinkedIn paid $3.3 million in back wages plus $2.5 million in damages, the Department of Labor said in a statement issued Monday. The company has also entered into an “enhanced compliance agreement” that mandates additional training for managers and employees to prevent off-the-clock work and to ensure adequate overtime payments.

“We are particularly pleased that LinkedIn also has committed to take positive and practical steps towards securing future compliance,” David Weil, administrator of the labor department’s wage and hour division, said in a press release.

Doug Madley, a corporate communications manager for LinkedIn, said the company has already paid the amount owed.

“This was a function of not having the right tools in place for a small subset of our sales force to track hours properly,” Madley said in an email. “Prior to the [labor department] approaching us, we had already begun to remedy this. LinkedIn has made every effort possible to ensure each impacted employee has been made whole.”

Culled from The Recorder (American Lawyer Media)