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Pennsylvania Democratic Campaign Organizer Brings FLSA Suit Against DNC


Thankfully, this is not a discussion on the electoral college, popular votes, transition teams, 2020 presidential hopefuls, etc.  Instead, I wanted to highlight a lawsuit that was recently filed by Democratic campaign organizer who claims that she (and others) were not paid overtime in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act.

According to the campaign organizer, she and others often worked 80 to 90 hours a week, but were not paid overtime by the Pennsylvania Democratic Committee (and the Democratic National Committee).  She has stated that after getting hired in June, she was to assist in a national effort to help the Democratic ground game drive up numbers on election day.  She spent time on the phone, solicited volunteers, assisted voters with registering, etc.  However, in August she decided to quit after continually putting in 12 to 14 hour days.  

On November 9, suit was filed in Philadelphia and seeks class action status on behalf of all DNC campaign organizers within the past 3 years.  According to the suit, these campaign organizers were improperly classified as exempt employees (and therefore barred from receiving overtime pay under the FLSA).

Interesting to note that some campaign operatives (not necessarily affiliated with Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump's campaigns) have stated that it is common, if not understood, that these campaign jobs are often 80 to 100 hour a week jobs and do not pay overtime.  That does not make this practice legal (if it is found the campaign organizers were improperly classified), but still interesting to see how this is considered "routine".



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