The Government agreed to settle the original FLSA cases filed for FBI GS-11 – GS-12 Staff Operations Specialists (GS-0301 SOSs). The SOS settlement was signed on January 7, 2021. It provides for back pay and additional liquidated damages for overtime, compensatory time and travel compensatory time earned. The period of time covered by the settlement is two years, ten months before a claim was filed in court up through May 11, 2019, when SOSs were reclassified and covered by the FLSA.  

More than 380 SOSs joined the original cases. SOSs can still file a claim by joining a new case we filed for SOSs.  Please see below for information on filing a claim.

What are the Terms of the Settlement?

BACK PAY FOR OVERTIME –SOS plaintiffs will receive the difference between what they were paid for overtime hours worked and what they should have earned. Plaintiffs were paid for overtime at their hourly rate and should have been paid at time and a half of their FLSA regular rate.

BACK PAY FOR COMPENSATORY TIME –SOS plaintiffs will receive an additional half hour of pay at their FLSA regular rate for each hour of compensatory time they earned.

BACK PAY FOR COMPENSATORY TRAVEL TIME –SOS plaintiffs will receive an additional half hour of pay at their FLSA regular rate for 90% of the total travel hours they earned.

LIQUIDATED DAMAGES – In addition to back pay, SOS plaintiffs will receive an additional 95% of their back pay due in so-called “liquidated damages.”  For example, a plaintiff owed $5,000 in back pay will receive an additional $4,750 in liquidated damages, for a total of $9,750.

The names of SOSs who participate in our cases are sealed and hidden from public view.

**Note: if you are an SOS who missed the opt-in deadline for our original FLSA cases, you can still file a claim in a new lawsuit we filed for SOSs. Please fill out and sign the Employee Consent to Be a Claimant and Retainer Agreement (.pdf) and either scan and email them to chouse[at]bernsteinlipsett.com or mail them to: Bernstein & Lipsett, P.C., c/o Charlotte House, 1130 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 950, Washington, D.C. 20036.

If you have any questions about participating in our cases, please contact Linda Lipsett at (202) 296-1798, or her assistant, Charlotte House, at chouse@bernsteinlipsett.com.