Wells Fargo Owes Call Center Workers for Unpaid Pre-, Post-Shift Work, Lawsuit Alleges

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Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. is on the receiving end of a proposed class and collective action that claims call center employees were not paid for time spent working before and after logging into and out of the bank’s phone system.

The two plaintiffs, a former premier phone banker and a current financial crimes specialist, argue in the 28-page lawsuit that because Wells Fargo required telephone-dedicated employees to be ready to handle calls at the start of their scheduled shift times and until their shift was over, workers spent significant unpaid time preparing for each shift and securing their work stations at the end of each shift.

“Plaintiffs and Class Members spent significant time performing this work off the clock and Defendant did not pay them for this time,” the complaint alleges, claiming much of the workers’ unpaid hours qualified as overtime for which they should have been paid at a time-and-a-half rate.

Wells Fargo maintains similar requirements at all of its call centers across the nation, the case says. Given workers must be logged into the bank’s telephone system and call queue at the start of each shift, the employees are permitted or required to arrive at their work stations prior to each scheduled shift in order to boot up their computer, launch several software programs and read company emails or instructions. Moreover, if an employee’s computer was “at Check Point” when they logged on, the worker must follow prompts to obtain an access code or speak to a representative to complete the Check Point process, the suit adds.

In all, Wells Fargo’s telephone-dedicated workers spent several minutes each day preparing for their shifts, and face discipline should they fail to do so, according to the case.

Similarly, employees were required to be available for calls until the end of each scheduled shift, after which they spent time logging off of their computers and securing their work stations and Wells Fargo’s customer and proprietary information, the lawsuit relays.

According to the case, employees’ pre- and post-shift work was “rounded away” from their pay, including time-and-a-half overtime wages.

Wells Fargo was aware that its employees were performing unpaid off-the-clock work yet “did not make any effort” to cease the practice, the suit alleges.

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