CrossCountry employee alleges lender shorted OT pay

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A former loan processor at Crosscountry Mortgage has accused the lender of discouraging employees from reporting overtime pay.

The plaintiff, Christina Nielsen, claims management informed her and others they could not record any overtime hours worked and that when overtime hours were reported, Crosscountry's management "refused to record any hours over 40 worked in a workweek," the suit filed in a Georgia federal court said.

If the company did do so, it would be a violation of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, which mandates minimum wage and overtime compensation requirements by employers. Other lenders,  including LendUS and Rocket Mortgage, have been accused of similar practices.

This is not Nielsen's first complaint against the company, as a year prior the former employee accused her former CCM branch manager of sexual assault. This particular case is still pending in court as of June 18.

According to the recent overtime suit, Crosscountry required Nielsen and other nonexempt branch employees to work unpaid overtime as a condition of employment.

The complaint points out in February 2022 Nielsen's job title changed to loan processor manager, but her job duties did not change as a result and she continued to perform nonexempt work. Under the FLSA, an employee must be paid one and one-half times their "regular rate" of pay for all overtime hours worked.

Nielsen, who worked for the company since 2018, was terminated in July 2022.

Nielsen wants the court to certify this suit as a class action and seeks actual and liquidated damages, interest, and reasonable attorneys' fees and costs for defendants' failure to pay her." The exact amount was not disclosed.

Crosscountry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A separate refi-boom era suit is also pending against Crosscountry accusing it of failing to cover employee remote work costs

The complaint accuses the mortgage lender of violating an Illinois state law, which protects workers from wage-related issues, the suit lodged May 3 in a federal court in Illinois, claims. The plaintiff, April Shakoor, who worked at Crosscountry from 2019 to 2020, says the mortgage shop imposed certain requirements such as high speed internet for remote work, but did not pay employees back for the expenses. She is asking the court to certify the suit as a class action. 

Alleged violations of workers rights, including the FLSA, have been rampant in recent years. Most recently, Rocket Mortgage has moved to settle such a case for $3.5 million.

The suit, originally filed in January 2023 by a group of loan officers, accused the megalender of violating the Fair Labor Standards Act by failing to compensate them for all hours worked.

Despite moving to quash the suit, Rocket "denies and continues to deny the allegations contained in the plaintiffs' lawsuit or that it violated any federal, state or local law, breached any duty, failed to pay any employees as required by law," the company's filing said.


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