A national collective action has been filed in Minnesota against financial giant, Bank of America. The action is brought on behalf of all current and former Bank of America loan officers who were not paid proper statutory overtime for all hours worked beyond 40 per week. The action is brought under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and seeks compensatory, statutory and liquidated damages as well as declaratory and injunctive relief. As a collective action, all potential claimants are required to "opt-in" to the action in order to be considered part of the class. The employees have requested that the court issue notice to all potential class members.

According to the loan officers, Bank of America has engaged in a willful and intentional course of action to defraud them of proper overtime compensation. The loan officers claim that Bank of America frequently required them to work well in excess of 40 hours per week. However, according to the loan officers, the company has no provisions in place to properly compensate them for these hours. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, all "non-exempt" employees are entitled to a minimum of time and a half for all hours worked in excess of 40 per week. "Non-exempt" employees are generally those that work on an hourly basis and do not have managerial or executive responsibility. While the employees bringing this action have been classified as "exempt" by Bank of America, they claim that they are in reality "non-exempt" and therefore entitled to receive overtime compensation for all hours worked beyond 40 per week. The loan officers also claim that because Bank of America's refusal to pay overtime was willful and intentional, they are entitled to an equal amount of liquidated damages.