Hundreds of Pfizer (PFE)’s pharmaceutical sales reps signed on to a class action lawsuit demanding overtime pay in part because they were laid off following the company’s acquisition of Wyeth. Plaintiffs in the suit asked a New York federal judge last week to certify the suit as a class action in three states: New York, California and Illinois.

The case is significant because Pfizer is the biggest drug company in the U.S. and thus the litigation affects more reps than any other.

The suit has been trundling along quietly since it was filed in 2006 by lead plaintiff Anthony Coultrip, who worked for Pfizer in Missouri between 2003 and 2005. In 2008, a judge denied Pfizer’s motion to dismiss the case. Then in March of this year, the Supreme Court refused to hear a different case leaving in place rulings that required drug companies to pay overtime to sales reps who work more than 40 hours a week, except in a small number of jurisdictions. That ruling may pave the way for the Pfizer plaintiffs. In the first few months of this year, hundreds of reps signed on to the case, the court docket shows.

Existing settlements favoring OT for reps:
HealthFirst
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan
Serono