Supreme Court rules drug firms don't have to pay overtime to sales reps

Jun 20 2012

The 5-4 opinion by Justice Samuel Alito says the sales representatives are not subject to the overtime pay provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The Wall Street Journal: No Overtime For Drug Reps
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that drug companies don't have to pay their sales representatives for working overtime hours, a significant win for the pharmaceutical industry. The court, in a 5-4 opinion by Justice Samuel Alito, ruled that drug sales reps fall under a provision of federal labor law that removes overtime-pay requirements for those employed as outside salespeople (Kendall, 6/18).

Politico: US Supreme Court: No OT For Pharmaceutical Reps
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that pharmaceutical sales representatives are not subject to the overtime pay specified in the Fair Labor Standards Act. In a 5-4 decision, the court ruled in Christopher v. SmithKline Beecham Corp. that pharmaceutical representatives' employers aren't obligated to pay time-and-a-half wages if the sales reps work more than 40 hours a week (Smith, 6/18).

Bloomberg: Drugmakers Don't Owe Sales Force Overtime, Top Court Says
Drugmakers don't have to pay overtime to their sales representatives, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a decision that saves the industry billions of dollars and marks a defeat for the Obama administration. The justices, voting 5-4 in a case involving a GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK) unit, said pharmaceutical salespeople are exempt from a federal wage-and-hour law…. More than a dozen wage-and-hour cases had been filed against drugmakers -- including Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) and units of Novartis AG (NOVN)and Merck & Co. (MRK) -- by workers charged with persuading doctors to prescribe the company's products. Business groups said billions of dollars were at stake (Stohr, 6/18).