In October 2007, a lawsuit was filed in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas and is seeking class action status against the electronics retailer Best Buy Co. of Richfield, MN for allegedly failing to pay employees for time spent on security searches and working through breaks. The lawsuit was filed in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court on behalf of current and former employees who worked at any of the 25 Best Buy stores in Pennsylvania since October 15, 2003.
The lawsuit claims workers sometimes wait up to 15 minutes to be searched after each shift, totally one hour or more per week. Plaintiff Jason Hall routinely had to wait in line at the security check to be searched, as did all other employees, and was then searched by Best Buy's security personnel.
The suit also accuses Best Buy of forcing employees to work through meal and rest breaks without pay.
Best Buy is a Minnesota corporation which operates retail stores nationwide. Throughout the Class Period, Best Buy is believed to have employed thousands of hourly-wage employees throughout Pensylvania. "Best Buy has a practice of requiring people to work through their breaks," says lawyer Gerald Lawrence. "Pensylvania's Wage Payment and Collection Law establishes requirements for employers' payment of, and employees' entitlement to, both normal and overtime wages and vests employees with the rights of action to enforce such requirements."
