IBM Seeks to Move Overtime Class Action to Federal Court

IBM Corporation has filed a notice of removal seeking to transfer an overtime class action lawsuit pending in a California Superior Court to the United States District Court for the Southern District of California. In the notice, IBM states that the suit should be transferred to federal court under the Class Action Fairness Act based upon the diversity of citizenship of the parties and the amount in controversy. IBM argues that diversity of citizenship exists in the case because it is a New York-based corporation and the plaintiff, Jose Silva, is a citizen of California. Mr. Silva seeks to represent a class of individuals employed by IBM in California as operations analysts, infrastructure specialists, computer operators, technical support professionals, systems management specialists, and other employees performing similar functions. In addition, the class Mr. Silva wishes to represent includes more than 2,300 individuals and he seeks more than $5 million in back wages for those individuals.