Sears Employees Seek Compensation for Unpaid Work Hours

A putative class action lawsuit has been filed in a California state court accusing Sears Roebuck & Co., of illegally withholding proper pay from workers for time spent on the job while stores were closed to customers.

The suit alleges that the practice is unfair, fraudulent, and harmful to plaintiffs.

The lawsuit has been filed on behalf of former and current employees of Sears’ California stores. According to the complaint, staff in the states’ 150 branches failed to receive minimum wage for time spent working before and after opening hours. The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

The suit alleges that the practice is unfair, fraudulent, and harmful to plaintiffs (Sears staff) as well as the general public. It also seeks compensation for loss of commission during mandatory staff meetings.

Sears faces claims that could see the company payout around $4000 per employee due to their alleged failure to provide adequate itemized statements showing paycheck calculations. Plaintiffs also seek back pay for hours worked, plus interest, dating from 2006. They also seek costs and punitive damages, making any potential victory a costly one for the company.

The plaintiff, Antoantea Vatraleva, has also asked the court judge for an injunction preventing Sears from continuing the practice in the future.

Sears and its various divisions have faced multiple lawsuits of late, alleging, among other things, that the company withheld overtime pay and misclassified workers as exempt from overtime pay. The outcome of this latest case is yet to be decided, but a ruling in plaintiffs’ favor could see a more widespread change to the company’s compensation policy.

The case is Antoantea Vatraleva v. Sears Roebuck and Co., case number BC515650 in the Superior Court for the State of California for the County of Los Angeles.