Engineer sues for overtime wages spent doing manual labor

SHERMAN - An engineer is suing his former employer claiming that he was not paid overtime wages for the time he spent doing manual labor installing phone circuits.

Albert A. Aguirre filed suit against Scientel Wireless on Oct. 17 in the Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division.

Aguirre worked for the defendant for several months from Nov. 14, 2011, until April 11, 2012, as an RF engineer. He states that he did not perform any design work and that his primary duties consisted of performing manual work in the field installing high cap phone circuits.

According to the lawsuit, he worked more than 40 hours per week on a regular basis and was not permitted to properly record all hours he worked. Aguirre claims that when he attempted to record the hours he worked on the company’s payroll system, it was “denied” or changed in the system.

He was misclassified as an exempt employee and paid the same salary, regardless of how many hours he worked.

The defendant is accused of failing to pay wages in accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The plaintiff is seeking an award of damages for unpaid wages and overtime compensation, liquidated damages, attorney’s fees, court costs and interest.

Aguirre is represented by J. Derek Braziel and Meredith Mathews of Lee & Braziel in Dallas. A jury trial is requested.

Case No. 4:12-cv-00663