OT-Plead guilty to criminal misd petit theft, Suing in civil for overtime determination per FLSA

[twsjr]

Jurisdiction

Florida

Accountant/Bookkeeper
Part of my duties were to distribute electronically the weekly approved payroll. In Sept 2017 on a Tuesday I decided to quit and processed my overtime. The owner stated I was the Controller and didn't have the right/entitlement to process my overtime and had me arrested for grand theft (>$300) stating I knowingly and unlawfully obtained the funds by use of the computer using the payroll software program. I plead to misdemeanor petit theft per the judgment. I also paid the money back in full to escrow before the plea deal. The Florida statute listed on the State charge case letter sent to me is Chapter 812.014(2)(c)(1).

I have now filed a small claims suit against this employer claiming I was miss-classified as a salaried exempt employee and should have been classified as a salaried non-exempt.

I have been recently told that because I plead guilty in the criminal case of theft that it will override the civil claim and I will lose and possibly have to pay my employer's legal fees. I have also been told after the criminal judgment that small claims court is an option.

I'm confused. I understand the two are related but the criminal case is about theft and the civil case is about the FLSA Regulations, 29 C.F.R. Part 541. By pleading guilty to the theft am I also agreeing to an exempt status per the FLSA? That doesn't make sense to me since the charge per the Florida Statutes is grand theft, 3rd degree (greater than $750 less than $5,000).

 

[army judge]

Accountant/Bookkeeper
Part of my duties were to distribute electronically the weekly approved payroll. In Sept 2017 on a Tuesday I decided to quit and processed my overtime. The owner stated I was the Controller and didn't have the right/entitlement to process my overtime and had me arrested for grand theft (>$300) stating I knowingly and unlawfully obtained the funds by use of the computer using the payroll software program. I plead to misdemeanor petit theft per the judgment. I also paid the money back in full to escrow before the plea deal. The Florida statute listed on the State charge case letter sent to me is Chapter 812.014(2)(c)(1).

I have now filed a small claims suit against this employer claiming I was miss-classified as a salaried exempt employee and should have been classified as a salaried non-exempt.

I have been recently told that because I plead guilty in the criminal case of theft that it will override the civil claim and I will lose and possibly have to pay my employer's legal fees. I have also been told after the criminal judgment that small claims court is an option.

I'm confused. I understand the two are related but the criminal case is about theft and the civil case is about the FLSA Regulations, 29 C.F.R. Part 541. By pleading guilty to the theft am I also agreeing to an exempt status per the FLSA? That doesn't make sense to me since the charge per the Florida Statutes is grand theft, 3rd degree (greater than $750 less than $5,000).

I suggest you pose all of these questions to your criminal defense attorney.

As far as you small claims beef, AGAIN, discuss that issue with your state or federal department of labor.

Better yet, discuss the matter with a tort or labor law attorney.

Your premise, in my view, seems flawed.

You might just want to cut your losses and try to rebuild your life.

 

[cbg]

I answered this elsewhere but but the two have nothing to do with each other. You ARE wasting your time in small claims but not because of anything to do with the criminal case. You're wasting your time there because small claims is not the proper venue for a determination of exempt status. That rests with the DOL.

https://www.dol.gov/whd/overtime/fs17a_overview.pdf

 

[Tax Counsel]

I answered this elsewhere but but the two have nothing to do with each other. You ARE wasting your time in small claims but not because of anything to do with the criminal case. You're wasting your time there because small claims is not the proper venue for a determination of exempt status. That rests with the DOL.

https://www.dol.gov/whd/overtime/fs17a_overview.pdf

I addressed this in one of the other forums in which the OP asked the same question. But there you did not state why you said small claims was not proper for this. Here you did. And now I see what you are missing.

The OP may sue for the unpaid wages he or she claims is owed to him or her. That's what the real complaint would be about. It would not simply be a complaint to determine exempt status. That's because having the court simply state that the OP was not exempt gets him or her nothing. What the OP wants with a determination that he or she was not exempt is to go after unpaid wages. And as I explained in that other forum, the OP can do that in Florida county court if the amount of the unpaid wages is no more than $15,000. And if the amount of unpaid wages is no more than $5,000 the county court small claims rules may be used.

Now, naturally in order for the court to determine what, if any, wages are owed to the OP the court would have to determine whether or not the employee was exempt. That's the part, I think, that you're not seeing.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) may make classification determinations. But the courts can, too, when needed to resolve wage disputes.

However, whether the OP will succeed in the lawsuit is another matter. As I pointed out on that other thread, the OP's guilty plea may prove to be a problem there because the facts stated in the plea may support that the OP was exempt, and the facts stated in that plea would be admissible in the civil case. That guilty plea also provides the employer the opportunity to attack the OP's credibility, too.

 

[cbg]

I did not understand that there was a wage claim involved as well - maybe I hadn't had enough coffee yet when I read it. I only saw the request for a determination.

 

[Tax Counsel]

I did not understand that there was a wage claim involved as well - maybe I hadn't had enough coffee yet when I read it. I only saw the request for a determination.

He didn't come right out and say it, but that has to be the claim that's involved. As a former employee, simply getting a classification determination would be worthless since it wouldn't change anything for him now. The only reason the classification would matter is if the OP wants to go back and make a claim for unpaid wages.

If the OP simply filed a classification claim the problem is not one of jurisdiction. It'll be one of standing.