UPDATE 1-US top court rules for Glaxo on overtime pay

[steve2470]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON, June 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday that pharmaceutical companies do not have to pay overtime to their representatives who visit doctors' offices to promote their products, a dispute that had threatened the industry with billions of dollars in potential liability.

By a 5-4 vote, the high court handed a defeat to two former sales representatives for a unit of Britain's GlaxoSmithKline Plc. They had appealed a ruling by a U.S. appeals court in California that they were "outside sales" personnel exempt from federal overtime pay requirements.

That decision conflicted with an earlier ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York that pharmaceutical sales representatives qualified for overtime under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America trade group has told the Supreme Court that classifying sales representatives as eligible for overtime could expose the industry to billions of dollars in potential costs.

Read more: http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/06/18/glaxo-overtime-sales-idINL1E8HI56L20120618

[Posteritatis]

1. Does anyone in the US actually get paid for overtime anymore? Oy. (nt)

[David__77]

3. Yes... where I work, about 10% do.

Non-management, non-"professional" staff do. The case of these sales staff isn't so clear to me. If they have broad self-management responsibilities, then they would appear to be exempt.

[elleng]

4. I agree, tho not familiar with legal precedents.

Out on their own most of the time, and/but schedules largely affected by schedules of others, those to whom they sell, and weather and traffic etc etc etc.

[Lars77]

2. "billions of dollars in potential liability. "

Wtf, they are selling the damn products! If it didn't pay off they would not send people to do it in the first place.

The bias in this article is amazing, and it shows just how far to the right we have moved. Scary.

[AllyCat]

8. HOw about "threatened the industry"? How about threatening the workers with not getting paid??

You are right, the bias is right in our faces...and sadly, most Americans won't notice.

[closeupready]

10. Completely agree.

Part of why I feel it's important to always check the source.

[wilt the stilt]

5. I'm in sales and I agree with the Supreme court

These guys get commission and that precludes them in my opinion to overtime. If they were hourly employees then it is different. We all get base salaries which I believe in the pharmaceutical world is quite substantial.
Working more than 40 hours is the world of sales. It is a position that demands performance. In enterprise software you can really make money. The low side is you have 1 year to make your quota or you are out. Big risk big reward.

[april]

6. I agree w/ u

[PatrynXX]

9. albiet they are among the sweetist guys and girls

my dr just retired, but the ten plus years I was there (can't say much about the new one) he had policy of turning them down and kicking them out the door. their cars sometimes weren't very fancy. Sure they came in fancy dressed, fancy gizmo's. But they are typically not very rich. I'd call this the upper bracket of the Restaurant fiasco. Do I agree with this? No.. or 1/2 yes 1/2 no. they do all this traveling... and they aren't payed well. yuck. and dressed in a hot outfit. (temp not wow)

[wilt the stilt]

11. phrama reps are pretty well paid

for what I consider pretty low sales compared to software.I was also a waiter and waiters are true employees and not sales people.

[cactusfractal]

7. I have to side with SCOTUS on this (shudder)

Yeah. SCOTUS and Glaxo are right. Sales isn't and never was an 8-5 M-F job. I've been in sales for 20 years and it isn't about the hours you put in; it's about how you use those hours. In a job in which you have a certain amount of expected work product per hour the argument can be made that "overtime" directly helps the employer and thus the worker who's there beyond "normal" hours should be compensated. But sales is not a "per hour" thing. We don't get paid by the hour; we get a base salary (some, anyway). We don't punch clocks. And most of us in the field (like pharma reps) have a certain flexibility, time-wise, that regular non-exempt employees do not. If I have to go to the store during the workday, I go to the store. If I have a doctor's appointment, I go. I don't have to put in for time off, I just work it into my day. Some days I'm done at 4. Some I work in the office 7-7. Some I go on appointments at 9 and work at home until 8 or 9.

Overtime? For a sales rep? And especially for a pharma rep? Please. Granted, the days of real high cotton for those guys is past. But still a successful pharma rep can clear fat stacks if they work it. And some don't even have to work it that hard (I'm talkin' to YOU, just-graduated willowy blonde communications majors who know fuck-all about pharmaceuticals and a ton about a toss of the hair and an offer of lunch to an overworked middle-aged provider).

I don't know ANY outside sales reps who would trade their freedom in the field for the shackles of micromanagement SURE to come from making them eligible for overtime. If those reps want overtime, they should take an hourly job and report to an office 8-5. Feh.

[Mr. Sparkle]

12. This was another partisan 5-4 decision with the libs siding with labor and the cons siding

with big business.

It is hard to look at the supreme court at been anything more than a joke these days.