May 10, 2006

The magazine Registered Rep devotes its new cover story to the barrage of overtime lawsuits directed at Wall Street firms, supposedly on behalf of exploited retail producers who in some cases are earning $400K. (See "Arise, ye prisoners of high-paid brokerage jobs", Mar. 9). The article profiles Reno, Nev. attorney Mark Thierman, who's organized a large number of such suits demanding $2 billion or more from retailers and financial institutions. One highlight: interviews with actual brokers at leading firms who violently reject ("ludicrous", etc.) the idea that they are non-professionals who should be entitled to sue their employers for overtime. The way FLSA, the federal wage/hour law, is set up, however, it's not clear that a payday for Thierman can be avoided no matter how lame his own supposed client pool considers his contentions to be.