An Ironic Twist For LinkedIn

LinkedIn might be great for helping college graduates find a job — but, ironically, it allegedly hasn’t been paying its own workers nearly enough. Despite being founded as a website to help people network and find jobs, LinkedIn is now embroiled in a multi-million dollar labor violation settlement after reportedly failing to pay its own employees all they were due. The settlement breaks down to $3.3 million owed in unpaid wages and $2.5 million owed in damages to more than 350 LinkedIn employees, past and present, hailing from LinkedIn branches in California, Illinois, Nebraska, and New York.

According to Reuters, LinkedIn’s vice president of corporate communications Shannon Stubo said that the issue arose because the company did not have the right tools in place to properly track workers’ hours. If LinkedIn didn’t have the proper technology for tracking workers hours, however, it’s certainly not for lack of funds. LinkedIn is the world's largest online professional network, with over 300 million members participating from more than 200 countries, and the company amasses hundreds of millions of dollars each financial quarter.

If the world-renowned company worth billions of dollars can use “not having the proper technology” as an excuse for allegedly underpaying its workers, perhaps someone should take a closer look at where their money is being allocated.

While it is disappointing that a website created to help people find jobs was the source of a wage scandal, U.S. Department of Labor officials say that LinkedIn has obligingly worked with them to address and correct the mistake, rather than fighting against the allegations.

Not only have the corrected payments already been signed, sealed, and delivered, but the Labor Department also reports that LinkedIn has taken measures to revamp its company policy on overtime pay rules. Along these lines, LinkedIn installed a new training program that reinforces the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) minimum wage and overtime pay rules and further reaffirms that “off-the-clock work” is not allowed.

Don’t feel too bad for the company, though. Despite the hefty multi-million dollar settlement, LinkedIn still reported over $530 million in revenue in the second quarter. At a time when corporations can be considered people, it’s fairly shocking that a company — no matter how compliant — could come away from a scandal like this unscathed.

Image: Getty Images