Next Monday, April 16, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in an important wage and hour case that has significant ramifications for employers generally and the pharmaceutical industry specifically.

In Christopher v. SmithKline Beacham Corp., the Justices will address the question of whether pharmaceutical sales representatives are exempt from overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act's outside salesman exemption. The High Court will also decide what amount of deference, if any, federal courts should give to views expressed by the Secretary of Labor in amicus briefs filed in pending lawsuits, such as the DOL's argument in Christopher that pharmaceutical sales representatives do not qualify as outside sales employees.

For analysis of and take always from Monday's arguments, consider a conversation with attorney Richard Alfred, Chair of Seyfarth Shaw LLP's national wage and hour litigation practice. Mr. Alfred has been closely monitoring the Christopher case and will attend the Supreme Court hearing.

Mr. Alfred represents pharmaceutical companies in litigation and counseling regarding the classification of pharmaceutical sales representatives as exempt employees.

He testified before Congress last year at a hearing on whether the federal Fair Labor Standards Act meets the needs of the 21st century workplace. As part of his testimony, Mr. Alfred discussed the surge in wage and hour litigation, which increased by more than 325% in federal-court-filed suits since the early 2000s. He also observes that the explosion of litigation has been caused by a number of factors, including ambiguities in the FLSA that create uncertainty for employers in making employee classification decisions. The issue as to whether pharma sales reps are exempt under the outside sales exemption, that the Supreme Court will address in Christopher, is a good example of this problem.

Wage & hour collective and class actions pose enormous risk to employers. For example, drug maker Novartis paid out $99 million this past January to settle overtime claims brought by the company's pharmaceutical sales representatives.

Mr. Alfred has defended many federal and state wage/hour actions on behalf of large companies, including drug makers. He is the Senior Editor of Wage & Hour Collective and Class Litigation, published this year by Law Journal Press, a first-of-its-kind treatise providing insight on litigation defense strategy through all phases of wage/hour suits.

The Supreme Court is expected to issue its ruling in Christopher by the end of June. Please let us know if you'd like to speak with Richard Alfred about the upcoming Supreme Court case or other current aspects of wage/hour litigation. Please also visit our Wage & Hour blog, www.wagehourlitigation.com, for up-to-the-minute coverage of the Christopher case.

Ivan Alexander 212-262-7482 ivan.k.alexander@gmail.com
Allan Ripp 212-262-7477 arippnyc@aol.com