Electronic trading major Interactive Brokers LLC has agreed to pay more than $1.8 million to settle a remuneration lawsuit brought by customer support employees.

The proposed order approving the settlement was filed on September 16, 2025 at the Illinois Northern District Court.

Tyree Thomas, Jake Cirame, and Mark Alberts, and Interactive Brokers LLC have agreed, subject to Court approval, to resolve the wage and hour action on a collective-wide basis for significant monetary relief.

The plaintiffs worked for IB as exempt employees whose primary responsibility was to directly interact with customers who contacted Defendant with customer service issues during the three-year period preceding the filing of this lawsuit.

In their Fourth Amended Complaint, the plaintiffs allege that the defendant violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by misclassifying them as exempt and thereby failing to pay them and other similarly situated Covered Employees for all hours worked in excess of 40 in a workweek.

Specifically, the plaintiffs allege that IB violated the FLSA by:

1. failing to pay Covered Employees one-and-a-half times their hourly rate for their hours worked over 40 in a workweek pursuant to what Plaintiffs believe to be a policy and practice of misclassifying Covered Employees as exempt; and
2. failing to keep accurate time records of Plaintiffs’ and the other Covered Employees’ hours worked.

Plaintiff Thomas was employed by Defendant an exempt employee from November 13, 2017 to May 31, 2022, whose primary responsibility was to directly interact with customers who contacted IB by telephone or chat application with customer service issues.

Plaintiff Cirame was employed by Defendant as an Exempt Customer Support Employee from August 2021 to September 2022 in Chicago, Illinois.

Plaintiff Alberts was employed by Defendant an Exempt Customer Support Employee from April 2010 to August 2021 in Chicago, Illinois.

The complaint alleges that each member of the putative class worked as an Exempt Customer Support Employee or similar title for IB within the applicable three-year limitations period. The plaintiffs allege that each member of the putative collective regularly worked more than 40 hours per week.

According to the complaint:

“Plaintiff Thomas often worked approximately up to 50 hours per week, on average. Plaintiff Cirame often worked approximately up to 43 hours per week, on average. Plaintiff Alberts often worked approximately up to 48 hours per week, on average.

Plaintiffs and each member of the putative class did not regularly take meal breaks or other breaks; instead, they ate at their desks and continued to work.

IB did not pay Plaintiffs and each member of the putative collective overtime or any other additional compensation for the hours they worked in excess of 40 per week.

IB failed to keep records of the time worked each week by Plaintiffs and each member of the putative class in violation of the FLSA”.

The Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. § 207(a)(l), states that an employee must be paid overtime, equal to one and one-half (1 1/2) times the employee’s regular rate of pay, for all hours worked in excess of 40 per week. The FLSA requires that the regular rate of pay include all remuneration for employment paid to or on behalf of the employee, including nondiscretionary bonuses and commissions.

The proposed order

1. approves the $1,825,000.00 settlement as fair, adequate, and reasonable;
2. approves the proposed Settlement Notice to be sent to Putative Collective Members;
3. approves a General Release Payment of $10,000 to each Plaintiff;
4. approves Plaintiffs’ request for one-third of the settlement fund for attorneys’ fees;
5. dismisses the case with prejudice.

The Agreement establishes a Gross Settlement Fund of $1,825,000 to settle claims against IB. The Gross Settlement Fund represents the maximum amount to be paid by the broker, assuming the settlement includes no more than 32,120 workweeks (which accounts for a total of approximately 298 Putative Collective Members), and includes awards to Opt-in Plaintiffs (i.e., those Putative Collective Members who affirmatively opt into the Lawsuit), as well as any Court-approved General Release Payments to the three Named Plaintiffs, Settlement Administrator fees and costs, and Court-approved attorneys’ fees and costs.