Nike, Converse Hit with Class Action Over ‘Unlawful’ Employee Checkout Policy at Boston Retail Stores

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A former Massachusetts Nike employee alleges the sneaker giant and Converse have utilized an unlawful off-the-clock store checkout policy that has caused retail associates to incur up to a half hour of unpaid work time per shift.

The 17-page lawsuit centers on defendants Nike, Nike Retail Services and Converse’s policy whereby retail associates must be checked out by a supervisor should they need to leave the store for any reason. In practice, an employee who needs to leave one of the defendants’ stores must clock out, walk to the front of the store and then wait until a manager is free to check them out before finally exiting the store, the suit says. The plaintiff, who worked for the defendants at their Newbury Street and Lovejoy Wharf locations in Boston, claims he and similarly situated workers, as a result of the defendants’ check out policy, had no choice but to wait an estimated 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the availability of a supervisor, by the door before leaving. 

This time spent waiting for a supervisor, which the plaintiff claims amounted to between 20 and 30 minutes per shift, went unpaid, the lawsuit alleges. According to the suit, Nike and Converse’s employee checkout policy violates Massachusetts overtime and minimum wage statutes in that time spent by employees waiting for a supervisor amounts to compensable work time. 

“Defendants could have easily paid Plaintiff and the other Associates for this time, but declined to do so,” the complaint alleges. 

The suit claims Nike and Converse’s employee checkout policy resulted in retail associates being deprived of proper overtime wages for every hour worked in excess of 40 each week. 

The suit looks to represent all similarly situated current and former hourly associates who worked for Nike, Nike Retail Services and Converse at any retail store nationwide at any time within the last six years and in Massachusetts at any time within the last three years. 

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