Santa Clara, CA: An employment class action lawsuit has been filed against United Parcel Service, Inc. ("UPS") alleging the company cheated employees out of their rightful wages by failing to pay "Reporting Pay," as required by Massachusetts law.
Massachusetts, like many other states, requires employers to pay employees who show up for their scheduled shift, but are sent home due to a lack of work. This "Reporting Pay" law, as it is known, requires employers in Massachusetts to pay an employee for at least three hours of work, at the minimum wage, for every shift cancelled or shortened after an employee's arrival at the job site.
Cort Szafarz, the named plaintiff in the lawsuit, worked as a part-time package handler at UPS from September 2014 to May 2015 in their Chelmsford, Massachusetts facility. He was scheduled to work Monday through Friday from 6pm to 11pm. Although he planned to work for the full shift every weekday, and showed up at the Chelmsford facility every weekday ready to do so, his shift was often cancelled or shortened due to a lack of work. On such days, Mr. Szafarz and others were not paid for at least three hours of work. When Mr. Szafarz complained to Human Resources, he was told, "That's just the way we do it here."
Mr. Szafarz seeks to represent a class of other UPS hourly employees in Massachusetts who, like him, were not paid appropriately when their shifts were cancelled or shortened.
The case seeks treble damages and declaratory and injunctive relief on behalf of Mr. Szafarz and the many other similarly situated Massachusetts employees who have been denied Reporting Pay by UPS. Mr. Szafarz is represented by Andrea Gold and Sophia Goren of Tycko & Zavareei LLP, and Elizabeth Ryan, John Roddy, and Sandra Henson Kinney of Bailey & Glasser LLP.
