NEW YORK — Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP recently told a New York federal court that the duties of temporary attorneys in the ongoing putative class and collective action wage and overtime lawsuit met the professional exemption requirements under New York labor laws and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The temporary attorneys claim they were not engaged in the “practice of law” when they were providing simple document review and other routine clerical tasks. The law firm has notified the court and the temporary attorneys that it is seeking summary judgment in the law firm’s favor to end this lawsuit.
The Claim History
The lawsuit was filed in March 2013. In the lawsuit, William Henig alleged that Quinn Emanuel and Document Technologies LLC, a legal staffing company formerly known as Providus New York LLC, improperly classified temporary attorneys as exempt from overtime wages. Henig allegedly worked for several weeks as a temporary attorney at Quinn Emanuel. During that time he worked between 41.7 and 54.7 hours each week. Yet, he did not receive overtime or premium wages for the time that exceeded the standard 40-hour work week.
Henig claimed the work he and other similarly situated temporary attorneys performed was “extremely routine” and did not rise to the level required for the professional exemptions under state or federal law. According to his claim, no legal knowledge was required or applied during his work at Quinn Emanuel. He alleges his responsibilities in document review were to search documents for specific terms and topics then mark those terms and topics on the documents for later referencing by the attorney of record.
Basis For Summary Judgment
Last December, Quinn Emanuel attempted to have the case dismissed claiming the document review work met exemption requirements. The court rejected the request finding that it was not implausible that the temporary attorneys were doing work that did not meet the definition of “practice of law.” The law firm’s recent motion for summary judgment, however, comes about a month after a similar lawsuit against another New York law firm was dismissed in federal court. The court determined the temporary attorneys’ duties, in that case, met the definition of “practice of law.”
The other lawsuit would suggest that Quinn Emanuel would be granted its summary judgment. But the dismissal of the other lawsuit was based on North Carolina state law. And that case has been appealed to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
If you believe you have been wrongfully misclassified and denied earned overtime wages, the fact that earlier lawsuits against your employer or with similar circumstances were dismissed or failed does not mean the outcome would be the same in your case. Call our experienced team of overtime pay lawyers today at (855) 754-2795 to discuss your situation and strength of your claim. Or complete the Free Unpaid Overtime Case Review form and our experienced legal team will evaluate your case. If we accept your case, we will represent you under our No Fee Promise. This means there are no legal fees or costs unless you receive a settlement.