A US federal appeals court has ruled in favour of PwC in an
overtime pay class action brought forward by 2,000 of the firm’s
junior unlicensed accountants.
The Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that unlicensed
accountants at PwC are not automatically covered by the California
overtime law.
In the class action the 2,000 junior accountants claimed that
PwC failed to pay them mandatory overtime under California
law.
In earlier proceedings a lower court ruled that PwC could not
exempt unlicensed accountants from the state’s overtime
requirements, however the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals did not
agree last week.
A PwC spokesperson told US media that the firm is “pleased that the
Ninth Circuit supported its arguments in this important
case.”
As the result of this the class action has now been sent back to
the lower district court in Sacramento for further proceedings.
