A federal lawsuit has been filed and may seek class action status against one of the nation's largest banks for allegedly failing to pay call center employees for time spent logging into computers and software. The lawsuit was filed in US District Court and seeks to represent current and former Wachovia call center employees.
Wachovia operates 14 call centers nationwide to handle customer service calls. The lawsuit claims Wachovia violated terms of the Fair Labor Standards Act by not paying for the time required at the beginning of an employee's shift to prepare to receive customer service calls. It claims the company failed to pay employees for back pay and overtime.
The complaint alleges log-in procedures take five to seven minutes and claims employees' clock-in time for the shift does not activate until the procedures are complete. It also alleges Wachovia requires call center workers to arrive at work prior to the beginning of each shift to complete this preparatory process.
