It depends on where they work!

Here in Connecticut (which is under the 2d Circuit Court of Appeals) mortgage loan underwriters get overtime. Also, an insurance underwriter won a trial last May for overtime pay.

But, in California, a federal judge recently dismissed a similar case. In McKeen-Chaplin v. Provident Savings Bank, a judge in the Eastern District of California ruled that loan underwriting is like quality control (an administrative function) and not like production work.

In Connecticut and New York, the courts have ruled that underwriting loans and insurance policies is like production work, since the underwriters are producing the loans which are the product of the loan department (same for insurance policies).

The Provident Savings case is headed for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. We hope that court reverses and sides with the Second Circuit. Who knows, maybe this issue ends up at the Supreme Court!