Overtime Pay and Mortgage Underwriters, Brokers, Loan Processors and Loan Officers
Overtime pay should not be a concern for mortgage brokers, who have larger problems to deal with. Mortgage defaults are at record rates and the employment picture is particularly bleak in the industry. However, a series of recent rulings have opened the door to overtime eligibility for a broad number of housing/mortgage industry employees, including mortgage underwriters and loan officers. In 2009, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Whalen v. J.P. Morgan Chase held that underwriters responsible for approving loans did not engage in exempt administrative work. Earlier, the Department of Labor had reached a similar conclusion with respect to "typical" mortgage loan officers, reasoning that loan officers were primarily engaged in the sale of financial products and therefore protected by federal overtime law. Since much of the industry is misclassified, and since the Department of Labor is actively pursuing employers, employees should be particularly cautious of retaliation should you chose to raise the matter with management.
