LO sues Fairway over unpaid OT, marking her second lender suit

Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp. did not pay its loan officers overtime and failed to reimburse them for work-related expenses, litigation claims.

The suit, filed in a Wisconsin federal court by April Shakoor-Delgado, claims Fairway, when she was employed with them from December 2020 to December 2021, did not compensate for any overtime that exceeded 40 hours.

By doing so, the mortgage lender violated state and federal regulations, such as the Fair Labor Standards Act, she said.

"Fairway knew that - or acted with reckless disregard as to whether - its refusal or failure to properly compensate plaintiff and the collective members over the course of their employment would violate the FLSA," the complaint claims.

This is Shakoor's second suit against a lender in the past half a year. Previously the loan officer lodged a complaint against CrossCountry Mortgage for failing to reimburse remote work costs.

Fairway declined to comment on the pending litigation. An attorney representing Shakoor could not immediately be reached Thursday.

Apart from failing to compensate overtime pay, Fairway had requirements for tools that employees had to have at home in order to do their job, but it did not compensate for the costs of such expenditures, the suit claims.

Specifically, Fairway required high-speed internet, phone and a dedicated home office space.

Without high-speed internet, employees could not access Fairway's software platform, so this was in reality for Fairway's benefit, the suit said. The same goes for having to have an unlimited data cell phone plan, which was required to communicate with employees and customers. 

Shakoor claims she spent $200 each month on high-speed internet and $100 per month for an unlimited cell phone data plan to be able to do her work at Fairway. All in all that totals $3,600 in expenses, none of which were reimbursed. This, she claims, is a violation of Illinois' minimum wage law.

The plaintiff brings the suit as a collective action on behalf of all LOs current and former who worked an excess of 40 hours per week and were compensated on a commission basis, at any time starting before her complaint was filed Oct. 8, 2024.

Shakoor also lodged a complaint against CrossCountry in May, a company she worked for from 2019 to 2020.

Similarly, the plaintiff claims CrossCountry imposed certain requirements such as high speed internet for remote work, but did not pay employees back for the expenses. She is asking the court to certify the suit as a class action. 

The company allegedly violated the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act, which mandates that employers compensate their workers for all necessary expenditures or losses incurred directly related to services performed for the employer. If certified, the prospective class includes over 100 people and the amount in controversy exceeds $5 million, the suit reads.

In September, CrossCountry filed a motion to dismiss the case because it failed to state a claim. As of Oct. 24, 2024, the case is still pending in an Illinois federal court.

Following the 2020 to 2021 refi boom, a plethora of suits have been filed alleging lenders violated the FLSA.

Lenders, including CrossCountry and Rocket Mortgage, have been dinged with such legislation. Most recently, Rocket Mortgage has moved to settle such a case for $3.5 million.