(MCT) — A former TribLocal reporter is suing the Chicago Tribune, claiming she didn't receive hundreds of hours of overtime pay due to her from more than a year of employment.
Carolyn Rusin, a former freelancer for the Chicago Tribune, worked as a staff reporter for TribLocal from July 2010 to October 2011, covering assigned stories in the Barrington area and Palatine. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Chicago, states that Rusin regularly worked more than 40 hours per week, but received only five hours of overtime pay in 2011.
"The amount work that she was assigned required her to work 50 to 60 hours a week," said Douglas Werman, a Chicago-based labor and employment attorney whose firm filed the lawsuit. "The Tribune permitted her to work these excessive hours without the compensation that's required under the law."
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, eligible employees must be paid 1 1/2 times their hourly wage for every hour worked over 40 hours each week. Many professions have exemptions to the requirements, and journalists are among those who may not qualify for overtime pay, depending on the nature of their work.
Werman said a journalist is exempt if they are considered to be a "creative professional" whose work involves "invention, imagination and talent." Rusin, who mostly covered school board and municipal meetings, failed to meet that standard and is therefore eligible for overtime pay, according to Werman.
Launched in 2007, TribLocal uses staff reporters, freelance writers and user-generated content to cover almost 100 Chicago-area communities. It provides news for 88 town websites, which are updated daily, and 21 print editions, published every Thursday and delivered to Chicago Tribune subscribers.
Beyond Rusin's case, the lawsuit is seeking class-action status for all present and former TribLocal reporters over the last three years, in an effort to recover overtime wages that may be due to them. The class action would not extend to Chicago Tribune reporters or freelance contributors, Werman said.
"The lawsuit alleges that the Tribune has this common practice of misclassifying employees as exempt and not paying them all their earned overtime pay," Werman said.
In a statement issued Friday, the Chicago Tribune declined to speak about the case.
"We do not have all the details of the suit and we do not comment on legal matters," the Tribune said.