Lawsuit Claims Petco Failed to Pay Employees for Every Hour Worked

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Petco faces a proposed collective and class action that claims the pet supply store has failed to pay employees for every hour worked.

According to the 13-page case, defendants Petco Animal Supplies, Inc. and Petco Animal Supplies Stores, Inc., who operate over 1,000 retail locations that sell pet products and services and some live animals, have a common policy and practice of both deterring employees from reporting any hours worked beyond those that are scheduled and altering time records to reflect fewer hours than an employee has actually worked.

This practice, the suit contests, has caused Petco employees to not be paid for all of their regular and overtime hours, in violation of state and federal labor laws. Per the lawsuit, Petco “knew and/or recklessly disregarded” the knowledge that its employees were putting in more hours than scheduled or recorded in the timekeeping system yet refused to properly compensate them for the work time.

The lawsuit explains that Petco’s hourly employees, who include companion animal leaders, cashiers, guest advisors and aquatic specialists, are typically scheduled to work at least weekly five shifts of at least eight hours each. According to the case, however, employees regularly work more than the hours for which they are scheduled and thus often put in over 40 hours per week.

The suit claims it is Petco’s de facto policy to deter hourly workers from reporting more hours in the timekeeping system than they were scheduled to work, causing them to incur time for which they are not compensated. Moreover, the defendants often shave off hours from workers’ time records to reduce the number of hours for which they will be paid, the lawsuit alleges.

According to the suit, many, if not all, of the workers’ uncompensated hours are overtime hours and thus should have been paid at their time-and-a-half overtime rates.

The case states that Petco has faced multiple lawsuits over its apparent failure to properly pay employees for every hour worked.

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