CSC agrees to overtime settlement

In the latest sign that overtime issues are coming to the fore in the technology world, Computer Sciences Corp. has agreed to a $24 million settlement in a lawsuit brought by technical support workers, according to an attorney representing the class action's plaintiffs.

Todd Jackson, an attorney at Oakland, Calif.-based law firm Lewis Feinberg Renaker & Jackson, on Friday said the agreement settles overtime wage claims and covers roughly 30,000 tech support workers at CSC.

That would amount to nearly 40 percent of the total staff at the El Segundo, Calif.-based company, which employs 79,000 and provides a variety of technology services, including systems integration, help desk services and application outsourcing.

CSC representatives did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Jackson said CSC denied wrongdoing in the case.

The settlement comes as overtime pay issues have emerged as a prominent issue in the technology world in the past several months, especially in the game industry. Computer game companies Electronic Arts, Vivendi Universal Games and Sony Computer Entertainment America all face lawsuits related to alleged unpaid overtime. EA also was accused of brutal work hours in an anonymous blog last year that touched off a storm of complaints about work conditions in game software.

Earlier this month, EA said it plans to make some employees eligible for overtime pay but not offer those workers bonuses or stock options.

CSC faces another suit accusing it of failing to pay proper overtime wages to tech support workers. The company, in the past, has declined to comment on either overtime suit.

Jackson said papers will be filed Friday seeking preliminary court approval of the settlement.

Just another corrupt IT company

It is good to hear that CSC has settled, I would rather have heard that they lost in court. Oh well, at least the employees got something out of it.

One of CSC's sub-contractors is in the same position and are facing several cases for similar overtime issues, and misclassifying employees as "independent contractors". One of those cases is going to trial April 18th in New Orleans.

The subcontractor of CSC is BancTec www.banctec.com and their CNS division http://cns.banctec.com where the employees who perform onsite warranty for OEM manufacturers like DEL, HP, Compaq and Lexmark, as well as for subcontracting to companies like CSC, Enpointe, etc.

The employees of BancTec CNS have a website, BunkTek Forums at www.bunktekforums.com if anyone is interested. You read the court documents from the court cases BancTec is involved in with some of their employees.