Merrill Lynch, and its new owner Bank of America, are being sued by two back-office derivatives employees who claim they have not been paid overtime owed under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
Andrea Levine and Ivey Moore, who are both derivatives settlement specialists for Merrill, filed suit on Monday in New York federal court.
The lawsuit alleges they, and others, have been "blatantly misclassified as 'exempt'" and not paid time-and-a-half for work over their 40 hour week.
Brian Schaffer, attorney for the plaintiffs, says: "We allege that Merrill Lynch egregiously violated federal wage and overtime laws."
Schaffer says he will seek to have the lawsuit certified as a collective action for Merrill's derivatives settlement specialists who have been employed by the bank at any time in the last three years and opt-in to the action.
Separately, UK newspaper The Times is reporting that the takeover of Merrill by Bank of America is set to cost around 1900 jobs in London - around 30% of their combined City workforce - over the next few months.
Merrill Lynch and Bank of America set to cut 1,900 jobs after merger - The Times