UPS Failed to Pay California Employees for All Hours Worked, Class Action Claims

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United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS) is facing a proposed class action lawsuit that claims the carrier failed to compensate California warehouse employees for all hours worked.

According to the complaint, UPS required warehouse workers to pass through security checks on their way in and out of the premises, including during lunch and rest breaks. Time employees spent waiting in line, undergoing security screenings, and walking from the screening area to the time clock was not counted as hours worked and therefore not compensated by the defendant, the case explains.

Under California law, an employer is required to pay its employees for all hours worked, which includes all time that a worker is under the company’s control. The lawsuit argues that UPS’ requirement that all warehouse employees pass through security before entering or exiting the facilities constitutes a form of control exerted over workers and that this time should therefore be compensated. The lawsuit claims that UPS employees are owed minimum wage, or overtime where applicable, for all hours worked while adhering to the defendant’s security requirements.

The case further contends that since workers were under UPS’ control during part of their lunch and rest periods, the defendant did not abide by the California Labor Code’s requirement that employees be “relieved of all duties” during these breaks. As a result of the defendant’s security checks, employees’ breaks were shortened to less than the 30-minute meal breaks and 10-minute rest periods required by state law, the case contends. The lawsuit claims proposed class members should have been paid an hour’s worth of compensation at their regular rate for each non-compliant meal or rest break.

Additionally, the case says that the defendant sent to proposed class members inaccurate and incomplete wage statements that were not compliant with California’s Labor Code. The statements allegedly identified the defendant only as “UPS” and did not use the entity’s full legal name or address as required by California law. Due to the defendant’s alleged failure to pay all owed wages for all hours worked, the hours, rates of pay and wages listed on employees’ paystubs were also inaccurate, according to the case.

Originally filed in the Superior Court of the State of California, the lawsuit has since been removed to the Northern District of California.