Last year, Steven Puente filed suit against his employer, Cantor Fitzgerald, alleging that the Company failed to pay him overtime pay for hours worked in excess of 40 hours per workweek under the Fair Labor Standards Act and misclassified him and others as exempt employees.  Puente worked as a Junior Voice Support Analyst, an information technology position.

Prior to the filing of the complaint, Puente submitted records to the Company documenting his unpaid overtime from 2008-2014, which totaled over $100,000.  Puente alleged to have made repeated requests to be paid overtime compensation.  According to the complaint, the Company advised Puente that it was prepared to pay about half of the overtime pay due to him for the period 2012-2014 and was asked to sign an Acknowledgement of Payment document, which stated that the payment “includes all compensation you believe is outstanding and due to date with respect to the time period the Company classified you as exempt from federal and state overtime laws.”  Puente did not sign the agreement since it did not include all the unpaid overtime owed to him during the period of misclassification.  Earlier this month, the parties agreed to settle the case for $140,000.

Under the FLSA, an employer cannot require an employee to waive his or her rights to monies due under the law based on a settlement that does not pay the full amount of the money due.  If an employee signs such a release, like the agreement proposed by Cantor Fitzgerald above, that release is not enforceable and the employee is entitled to seek the balance of the monies due.