American Airlines Federal Credit Union of Fort Worth, Texas has agreed to pay nearly 300 current and former employees more than $83,000 in overtime back wages following a U.S. Department of Labor investigation.
According to the Labor Department, the $5.4 billion CU violated the Fair Labor Standards Act's overtime and record-keeping provisions. Now, American Airlines FCU is paying $83,608 in overtime back wages to 295 current and former tellers, loan officers and customer service representatives.
The investigation, conducted by the Dallas district office, determined the CU wrongly classified covered employees as exempt and paid them straight-time wages; it also failed to maintain accurate time and payroll records of employees' work hours and wages.
The FLSA requires employers to pay covered workers the federal minimum wage of $7.25 for all hours worked, plus time and one-half their regular pay rates, including commissions, bonuses and incentive pay, for all hours worked in excess of 40 per week.
"This company profited from employees working overtime without paying proper wages," Southwest Wage and Hour Division Regional Administrator Cynthia Watson said in a press release. "According to labor standards, work hours should be counted, recorded and paid for fairly. A nonexempt employee who works more than 40 hours a week is due overtime wages for those hours at a rate of time and one-half his or her regular pay."
AACU told Credit Union Times that an unintentional clerical error had been made in the formula the CU used to calculate overtime. The credit union said it has adjusted its formulas so the error won't occur again.
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Natasha Chilingerian
Natasha Chilingerian has been immersed in the credit union industry for over a decade. She first joined CU Times in 2011 as a freelance writer, and following a two-year hiatus from 2013-2015, during which time she served as a communications specialist for Xceed Financial Credit Union (now Kinecta Federal Credit Union), she re-joined the CU Times team full-time as managing editor. She was promoted to executive editor in 2019. In the earlier days of her career, Chilingerian focused on news and lifestyle journalism, serving as a writer and editor for numerous regional publications in Oregon, Louisiana, South Carolina and the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition, she holds experience in marketing copywriting for companies in the finance and technology space. At CU Times, she covers People and Community news, cybersecurity, fintech partnerships, marketing, workplace culture, leadership, DEI, branch strategies, digital banking and more. She currently works remotely and splits her time between Southern California and Portland, Ore.
