The Second Circuit Court of Appeals (which includes Connecticut) recently ruled on two cases of keen interest to employers. The first relates to enforcement of EEOC subpoenas and the second relates to the classification of some financial services workers.

First, in EEOC v. United Parcel Services, the Court allowed the EEOC to press forward with its subpoena of UPS for records related to the religious rights of employees.  The Court stated that courts that review administrative subpoenas from agencies like the EEOC have a limited role and that if the subpoena meets certain criteria, it will be deemed to be reasonable. 

For employers who are faced with EEOC subpoenas, the case is important because it limits the avenues that employers have to challenge the breadth and scope of the subpoena. 

Second, as pointed out by the California Workforce Resource blog in an excellent post,  "Loan officers, analysts, and brokers of various financial products are generally considered to be well compensated and prestigious positions."  And yet a new decision from the Second Circuit will have employers in Connecticut challenging that assumption. 

In Davis v. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., the Second Circuit held that "a given position cannot be considered exempt unless it falls on the correct side of the so-called ‘production/administrative dichotomy.’ According to this ‘dichotomy’ test, the administrative exemption cannot apply if a worker’s services are not being performed for the purpose of internally running the company, but are instead being sold to customers to generate revenue."

Here, an underwriter was deemed to be eligible to receive overtime. 

As you might imagine, the Connecticut Employee Rights Blog lauds the decision suggesting that even insurance underwriters might be eligible to receive overtime under this decision. 

I would not take the analysis that far (yet) but this financial services companies ought to be examining their job descriptions closely after this case and apply the Davis decision carefully to ensure that proper classifications are met.