IBM settles overtime class action

IBM Corp. settled a federal class-action lawsuit Wednesday, agreeing to pay a total of $65 million to 32,000 technology workers who claimed that the company illegally withheld overtime pay.

The suit was filed in January in U.S. District Court in San Francisco on behalf of three employees who said they were forced to work more than 40 hours a week and on weekends without extra pay.

The case involved workers classified as “technical services professional and information technology specialists.” IBM considered them professionals exempt from overtime laws detailed in the Fair Labor Standards Act and state labor laws.

Generally, executives, managers and high-level computer operators are exempt from being paid overtime premiums, which is compensated at 90 minutes pay for each additional hour of work.

But the IBM workers were by no means the decision makers or creative types typically ineligible for overtime, said attorney James M. Finberg, who represented the workers.

Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM released a statement saying it had established a provision for the settlement of the case in the third quarter. IBM reported a third-quarter profit of $2.2 billion.

“Litigation of this case would have been lengthy, burdensome and expensive, and IBM chose to resolve it,” the statement said.

The lawsuit against IBM is one of several in the workaholic technology sector, where employees are often classified as overtime-exempt software designers with specialized degrees and skills.

Last year, Computer Sciences Corp., based in El Segundo, settled an overtime class-action suit by 30,000 employees for $24 million.