Compensation and Overtime

New York Brokers Minimum Wage Overtime Attorneys

Recent college graduates who hope to someday work on Wall Street are often recruited by smaller brokerage houses and firms to work as unpaid trainee brokers, responsible for making cold calls to potential investors. However, since these college graduates do not have the proper broker licenses as required by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), they cannot make sales directly to those they call on the phone. As a result, calls must be transferred to a license broker who completes the sale and earns a commission in the process. Firms justify this practice by telling unpaid trainee brokers their experience will position them better to eventually earn a license and work as paid brokers at some point in the future.

Brokerage houses that do not pay trainee brokers a minimum wage or time and half for any time worked beyond a schedule forty-hour workweek are in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

At the New York law offices of Leeds Brown Law and Virginia & Ambinder, our brokers rights attorneys recover compensation owed unpaid trainee brokers. If you worked as an unpaid trainee broker, contact brokers’ rights attorneys at Leeds Brown Law and Virginia & Ambinder today to learn how we can help you.

Compensation Owed Unpaid Trainee Brokers

Under the terms of 29 U.S.C. §206 and FLSA Section 16(b), 29 U.S.C. § 216(b), brokerage houses owe a minimum wage to trainee brokers that make cold calls to potential investors. Unfortunately, within the financial products industry, the practice of not paying trainee brokers has become entrenched and simply followed as a “standard industry practice.” Many brokerage houses and firms that engage in this practice aren’t always aware that they are in violation of the minimum wage requirements of the FLSA.

Overtime and Unpaid Trainee Brokers

The high-pressure environment of brokerage firms often results in long hours worked by brokers. Consequently, unpaid trainee brokers often find themselves working anywhere between fifty to ninety hours a week. And, since trainee brokers are typically not paid, trainee brokers do not earn overtime as a result of their long hours.

Again, brokerage firms and financial services companies that engage in this practice are in violation of the overtime requirements of the FLSA, specifically, 29 U.S.C. §207. Although a company may not have a time sheet, punch cards, or a way of recording hours worked, there are a number of ways to verify overtime worked. As a result, unpaid trainee brokers are eligible to receive time and half payment for any hours worked over and above a forty-hour workweek.

Brokers’ Rights Attorneys at Leeds Brown Law and Virginia & Ambinder

If you’ve been denied minimum wage and overtime pay by a brokerage house or firm that used you to make cold calls as an unpaid trainee broker, contact New York brokers’ rights attorneys at Leeds Brown Law and Virginia & Ambinder. We can evaluate your case and discuss the legal options available for recovering what is owed you.