Court Approves Alorica California Overtime, Wage and Hour Lawsuit

Sacramento, CACall center employees who allege they are not properly paid California overtime and are not properly paid for all hours worked have been filing lawsuits against companies they allege make them work off-the-clock. These wage and hour lawsuits allege call center employees are forced to work before and after their shifts logging onto and off of computer systems but are not properly paid for their time, which in some cases amounts to overtime. Alorica is one such company that has recently settled a lawsuit filed by its employees.

According to reports, in May 2016, Alorica agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by customer service representatives who alleged they should have been paid for time spent involved in work-related activities before and after their scheduled shifts. Alorica denied liability but agreed to settle the lawsuit for around $9.25 million. The two sides had reportedly tried to work with a mediator to resolve claims in 2013 but could not reach an agreement. After 21 months, they returned to negotiations and this time reached a successful settlement. On December 5, 2016, the court approved the settlement.

Alorica's primary headquarters are in Irvine, California, although the company operates call centers throughout the U.S. Those call centers provide customer service representatives for a number of companies, including AT&T.

Among complaints were that customer service representatives were only paid for time logged into the company's computer systems, even if the employee were logged out for reasons beyond his or her control, such as an equipment failure. Furthermore, the lawsuit alleges employees were required to log out for breaks of less than 20 minutes, even though such a requirement is a violation of the FLSA.

"Rest periods of short duration, running from five minutes to about twenty minutes, are common in industry," court documents quote from the FLSA. "They promote the efficiency of the employee and are customarily paid for as working time. They must be counted as hours worked."

Plaintiffs allege that had they been paid properly for all hours worked they would have been eligible for overtime pay, given the uncompensated time they spent before and after their shifts.

As many as 120,000 people may be included in the settlement.

The lawsuit was Melissa Lillehagen et al. v. Alorica Inc, case number 13-cv-00092, US District Court, Central District of California.