Justice Department lawyers, tired of working long hours with no overtime pay, have filed for $500 million in a class-action lawsuit against the law enforcement agency.
The case was filed in the United States Court of Federal Claims, which has jurisdiction over claims against the government exceeding $10,000. DOJ lawyers are represented by the firm of Williams & Connolly.
A memo approved by a federal claims judge earlier this week will reach more than 12,000 Justice Department lawyers by Sept. 3. The memo invites the lawyers to join the class action suit seeking damages for unpaid overtime work.
The lawsuit, first filed in November, claims that the Justice Department refuses to pay its lawyers for overtime work, despite a law that requires overtime compensation for many federal employees working in excess of 40 hours per week.
The Justice Department is charged with upholding overtime pay laws, but does not enforce them for its own employees, the lawyers allege. In fact, the lawsuit charges that DOJ's recordkeeping system consists of two sets of books. One record set maintains that DOJ lawyers regularly work 40-hour weeks, while the other logs the actual time they worked.
The set of records showing overtime hours is used to justify higher budget requests, while the first set is used to show compliance with the law, the lawyers allege in the suit. The Justice Department has said that overtime expenses for lawyers could equal more than $40 million annually.
According to a Justice official, language in overtime statutes doesn't automatically entitle lawyers to overtime payment. In addition, the professional culture at DOJ might be compromised by attorneys being held to an hourly wage. "Clock in, clock out is not the environment we have," an official said.
In a press briefing Thursday morning, Attorney General Janet Reno said the Justice Department lawyers are "some of the finest professionals that I have ever worked with," but declined to comment extensively on the case. "I think it's important for us all to work through this issue and not litigate it in the papers but litigate it properly in the courts," she said.