SEATTLE — Several Xerox Corp. affiliates will have to face the proposed overtime class action lawsuit filed against them, according to the Washington federal judge. The four Xerox affiliates, Affiliated Computer Services Inc. (ACS), Affiliated Computer Services LLC, Livebridge Inc., and Xerox Business Services LLC, all call center operations, are allegedly using a payment system that allows them to avoid paying minimum wage and overtime. The Washington federal judge ruled that the call centers’ employees were hourly workers and subject to minimum wages requirements, despite the affiliate’s payment system.
The Call Center Claim
Tiffany Hill, a former “customer care assistant” of ACS, filed her proposed class action in April 2012. She claims the Xerox affiliates failed to record and pay for all of the hours the employees worked. Her lawsuit alleges the affiliates’ hybrid per-minute pay system did not guarantee the employees would receive at least minimum wage for all of the hours they worked because tasks like logging on and off of computer systems, which are supposed to be covered under Washington wage laws, were not included in the employees’ recorded hours. Hill’s lawsuit requested certification of two classes, one for those paid per-minute and the other for those not paid for “off-the-clock” assignments before and after their shifts. The classes would include call center employees working for the company since June 2010. In the court’s recent rulings, the per-minute employee class action was granted certification, but the “off-the-clock” class certification was denied due to a lack of a common issue.
The Affiliate Pay Systems
The affiliated companies use three methods of payment, creating a hybrid pay system. The achievement based compensation (ABC) system pays hourly wages for a set of defined activities, like meetings; per-minute wages for time spent speaking to customers, calculated and based on the length and customer satisfaction of each call; and subsidies. The subsidies were only paid if an employee’s combined hourly and per-minute pay fell below minimum wage levels based on the employee’s total number of hours worked. Hill claims the ABC system led to unrecorded and unpaid work periods during employees’ shifts when they were not on calls or performing the defined hourly-wage activities. This hybrid method, also, makes it difficult to determine if an employee was earning at least minimum wage or was entitled to overtime and to calculate overtime pay. The Washington federal judge stated that if the Xerox request for summary judgment was granted, it would have allowed all employers to pay employees by the minute and avoid Washington state wage laws.
If you are a call center employee and your employer is paying you per-minute or has failed to pay you minimum wage or earned overtime, call our top-rated team of overtime pay lawyers today at (855) 754-2795 to discuss your rights. Or complete the Free Unpaid Overtime Case Review form and our knowledgeable legal team will evaluate your case. If we accept your case, we will represent you under our No Fee Promise. This means there are no legal fees or costs unless you receive a settlement.