Law firm going after unpaid OT

[olive11]

Has anyone received a letter from a law firm requesting you to join a lawsuit for an unpaid wage claim? The law firm (out of Houston, Texas) got my contact info from the BON and sent me a letter asking if I'd like to participate.

I'm not sure about it and was wondering if anyone else had received the same kind of outreach or had experience with the outcome, etc. The letter states the attorneys get paid first (of course) which includes a % of the settlement (from 33-1/3 to 40%) plus fees and contingencies if necessary. It almost seems like the attorneys will use nurses to get a settlement but the nurses will see very little if any money as it will all go to pay the attorneys. I don't know for sure so I'm reaching out to everyone to get some feedback.

Thoughts? Advice? Suggestions? I searched up the topic on the allnurses site but couldn't find anything that addressed this particular situation.

Thanks in advance. :)

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

You can file your own claim for free with the department of labor and get 100% of what is owed. Are you owed unpaid OT?

[olive11]

JustBeachyNurse, I've been an exempt employee paid salary for the last four years and was working hourly prior to that. Both job types involved working mandatory OT but only the non-exempt job paid for the OT. The salary job did not because working more than 40 hours per week was not only the norm but an expectation from our bosses. We weren't paid additional pay or bonuses or comp time for any additional hours worked beyond 40 per week. I know laws were changed in recent years but whether that makes me eligible for unpaid OT time as a salary (exempt) employee, I don't know. I was just curious as to whether other nurses had received letters like this or had experienced a similar situation and what their thoughts were about it. I haven't responded to the attorney or joined the lawsuit as of yet.