Former Home Depot Employee Alleges Retailer Paid Wages Via Payroll Card Subject to Fees

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A former Home Depot employee claims in a proposed class action that she was unlawfully paid wages by way of a payroll debit card that incurred fees and denied proper breaks and accurate paystubs during her time with the retailer.

According to the case, the payment of employees’ wages through payroll cards has presented myriad “obstacles and hurdles” that prevented the workers from having complete access to their full wages.

Per the complaint, employees were charged a fee for each transaction made with their payroll cards, unable to withdraw their entire wages due to the inability of ATMs to provide exact change, and limited by banks’ locations and hours of operation.

The suit says Home Depot’s payroll debit card program constitutes an unlawful deduction of wages given workers’ pay was reduced without their authorization.

“In doing so,” the case says, “Defendant acted with the intent to deprive Plaintiff, Class Members, Subclass Members, and similarly situated employees of statutory wages, including but not limited to, overtime wages and minimum wages to which they were entitled to [sic] under California law.”

The lawsuit goes on to allege Home Depot employees were not provided with accurate, itemized wage statements that included their gross wages earned, total hours worked, net wages earned, all applicable hourly rates in effect during the pay period, and the corresponding number of hours worked at each rate, and were not allowed the option of receiving a written paper stub.

The plaintiff, whose employment with Home Depot ended March 5, 2020, says she and other workers were frequently denied uninterrupted 30-minute meal breaks and 10-minute rest breaks due to the store being “very busy.” According to the case, Home Depot had a policy to encourage, pressure, or require workers to take short, late, interrupted, on-premises, or on-call breaks without providing premium pay for any break that failed to comply with California law.

The lawsuit, which was recently removed from California Superior Court to the state’s Central District Court, alleges workers were never paid all of their wages due—including minimum and overtime pay that was withheld by Home Depot—upon their separation from the company.

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