NEW JERSEY (PRNewswire) — Two insurance adjusters employed by AIG, the nation's largest property and casualty insurer, have filed a collective action under the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

The lawsuit asserts that AIG intentionally misclassified hundreds of clerical employees as exempt from federal overtime requirements.

The FLSA was enacted to protect non-supervisory workers from wage-and-hour abuses. The plaintiffs, residents of New Jersey, contend that they were not executive, administrative, or professional employees as defined by the FLSA and, as a result, should have been paid at least one-and-one-half times their regular hourly rate for working more than 40 hours in a given work week.

The suit, filed September 6, in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, seeks damages for all similarly-situated AIG employees including unpaid overtime since January 2001, liquidated damages, and interest.

"AIG appears to have knowingly and willfully denied plaintiffs and their colleagues overtime pay for no other reason than to improve its bottom line," says David J. Cohen, attorney for the plaintiffs and head of SMBB's class action group.

"We intend to shed light on AIG's illegal conduct and seek the maximum recovery for its hard working men and women."

"I am committed to AIG's customers and to the company," says named plaintiff Sandy Dorofy, "but I also believe in getting an hour's pay for an hour's work and earning overtime pay for the overtime hours I worked."

Several major insurers have settled overtime pay litigation in recent years.

Allstate Corp. agreed to pay as much as $120 million to settle allegations it denied California workers overtime pay in violation of FLSA. State Farm Insurance Exchange reportedly agreed to pay more than $200 million to settle a FLSA suit by its claims adjusters. In both cases, the companies denied any FLSA violations.