Las Vegas, NV: A lawsuit seeking class action status has been filed by a former employee of Amazon.com, alleging that Amazon's warehouse workers have not been properly paid for overtime. The suit alleges that this applies to warehouse workers across the country.
The lawsuit was filed in Seattle, WA, on November 25th, by former employee Richard Austin who worked as a "warehouse associate" for Amazon.com at its Nevada Distribution Center between September 2008 and August 2009.
Austin's suit claims that warehouse workers were required to clock in and out before their scheduled start and end times, and the company then rounded their times to the nearest quarter hour.
"For example, if an employee clocked in seven minutes or less before their scheduled start time, Amazon.com would treat the employee's time as though he/she clocked in at their scheduled start time and consequently would not compensate the employee for the preliminary time prior to their scheduled start time,'' the suit charges. "Conversely, if an employee clocked out seven minutes or less after their scheduled end time, Amazon.com would treat the employee's time as though he/she clocked out at their scheduled end time and consequently would not compensate the employee for that postliminary time,'' the suit says.
The lawsuit alleges that the "employment practices of defendant were and are uniform throughout the United States..." The lawsuit claims that these practices took place in Amazon.com warehouses in Texas, Virginia, Arizona, Delaware, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Nevada.
