Lawsuit Claims Consumer Cellular Failed to Pay Customer Service Reps for Pre-Shift Work

New to ClassAction.org? Read our Newswire Disclaimer

Consumer Cellular, Inc. has failed to pay call center employees for off-the-clock work performed before the start of their scheduled shifts, a proposed class and collective action claims.

The case alleges the defendant, a wireless carrier who provides no-contract cell phones and service plans primarily to individuals over 50, has run afoul of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Arizona Wage Act by failing to pay customer service representatives (CSRs) for every hour worked, including for overtime hours worked in excess of 40 each week.

“In reckless disregard of the FLSA and Arizona wage and hour laws, Defendant adopted and then adhered to its policy, plan, or practice of employing Plaintiff, and all other current and/or former CRSs, to perform pre-shift, compensable work off-the-clock,” the complaint claims. “This illegal policy, plan, or practice caused incorrect payments for all straight time and overtime performed by Plaintiff, and all other current and/or former CSRs, in violation of the FLSA and Arizona wage and hour laws.”

Consumer Cellular operates customer service call centers in North Phoenix and Tempe, Arizona and in several locations in Oregon, the lawsuit says. The plaintiff, who claims to have worked for the defendant as a customer associate advisor from February to April 2018, was primarily responsible for answering client calls, retaining customers, providing troubleshooting and resolving customer issues and billing inquires, according to the suit.

Per the lawsuit, the plaintiff’s job duties required her to spend time prior to the start of each shift booting up her computer, logging into various programs and applications, and signing in to the defendant’s phone system so she could be ready to receive her first call by the time her shift began. According to the case, this process typically took up to 15 minutes and sometimes more if the plaintiff experienced technical issues.

The lawsuit alleges Consumer Cellular failed to pay the plaintiff and similarly situated customer service representatives for any of their off-the-clock, pre-shift work. Regardless of how long the boot-up process took, the defendant allowed workers to clock in only two minutes prior to the start of their shift and after they had already logged into the required systems, the complaint says. If system issues prevented a worker from clocking in, a supervisor would log in and clock in the employee to reflect their exact shift start time, the case adds.

The suit argues that the boot-up and login process is “integral and indispensable” to the performance of customer service representatives’ principal job duties and is therefore compensable under state and federal law.

Get class action lawsuit news sent to your inbox – sign up for ClassAction.org’s newsletter here.