Sept. 04--Paying employees overtime can be expensive. So can fighting it.
Chicago so far has paid law firm Laner Muchin more than $470,600 to fight an overtime lawsuit brought by police who want to paid for off-duty work on their BlackBerrys. Sgt. Jeffrey Allen, who filed the suit five years ago, was joined in the class-action suit by 50 former and current members of the Bureau of Organized Crime.
The amount paid, obtained by the Tribune through a Freedom of Information Act request, reflects invoices dated Sept. 1, 2010, through July 1, 2015. The case was tried in federal court over six days in August, but the city has not yet received those bills.
The bill is not egregious for five years of work by a private firm. It comes as Chicago faces an estimated $754 million budget shortfall.
Still, Paul Geiger, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said, "The money the city chose to spend on the lawyers would've gone a long way toward compensating the police who actually did the city's work and would like to be paid for it."
The city did not comment on the expenditure.
The judge's decision, which observers say could be significant in guiding employers on how to deal with overtime in the age of smartphones, is expected soon. Attorneys have not calculated potential damages.
aelejalderuiz@tribpub.com
