By Brent Kendall/The Wall Street Journal
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether pharmaceutical-sales representatives are covered by federal overtime-pay requirements.
The court agreed to hear an appeal by two former sales reps for GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK), who are seeking overtime pay on behalf of a nationwide class of representatives employed by the drug maker.
The San Francisco-based Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in February that the Glaxo representatives were not entitled to the extra pay because they fell under the outside-salesman exception to overtime pay requirements.
The Department of Labor supported the sales representatives in the lower courts, but the Ninth Circuit said the agency’s arguments were “plainly erroneous” and inconsistent with labor regulations.