Groupon has become extremely popular in Sacramento, throughout California and across the United States. The coupon service has revolutionized localized coupons and discounts for all types of businesses and consumers. As the service has become more popular, however, frustrated former employees have not hesitated in accusing the online coupon giant of failing to comply with Fair Labor Standards Act requirements for overtime pay.

The charge that Groupon has violated federal labor law regulations follows on the heels of accusations against other giants, including Salesforce, Nortel and Cisco. It seems somewhat peculiar that as companies become successful and accrue considerable earnings that former and possibly angry employees make sudden accusations that the companies failed to follow labor laws. A Groupon spokesman recently released a statement in which he said that the ex-employees' lawsuit is "without merit."

The employees have alleged that sales employees for Groupon were not paid overtime when they would make calls to local businesses in order to encourage them to sign up. While the employees claim they were not paid overtime, it is worth noting that one of the attorneys for the employees has admitted that Groupon pays overtime.

The former employees have not yet determined how much money they will ask for in back pay and punitive damages. It is possible that they are waiting to see how much they can expect to get from the online coupon service before committing themselves to a specific amount. The employees also hope to certify as a class and file a class-action lawsuit. They expect to have near 2,000 people within the class, but it is unclear how the employees calculated this number.

Source: Total Telecom, "Ex-Groupon employee files potential class-action suit for overtime pay," John Letzing, Sept. 12, 2011