Lawsuit: Jewelry TV Sales Agents Owed Unpaid Wages for Off-the-Clock Work, Missed Breaks

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Jewelry TV (JTV) operator America’s Collectibles Network, Inc. owes to sales agents unpaid wages for time spent working through breaks and off-the-clock, a proposed collective action claims.

According to the suit, the plaintiff worked for the defendant as an hourly paid sales agent responsible for selling jewelry advertised on the company’s television shows. Although the plaintiff worked eight-and-a-half hour shifts five days per week, JTV automatically deducted two 15-minute rest breaks from her recorded hours each day despite the fact that breaks 15 minutes in length are compensable under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the case says.

Further, the plaintiff claims the defendant automatically “edited-out” the 15-minute breaks from her hours regardless of whether she actually took a break or clocked out for that time.

The lawsuit alleges JTV also had a “common plan, policy and practice” of deducting a 30-minute meal break for each shift even when employees performed work during lunch breaks or were otherwise not fully relieved of their duties. According to the case, workers should have been paid overtime for the time they spent working during their automatically deducted breaks given the extra time caused their weekly hours to exceed 40.

Still further, JTV had a policy of “editing-out” from workers’ compensable hours the time they spent working at the beginning of their shifts when they were unable to clock in due to the defendant’s computer system being down, the suit claims. This and other time spent working when JTV’s systems were down dug into employees’ wages from multiple angles given they were robbed of compensable hours and prevented from making sales that would generate commissions.

Finally, the lawsuit alleges sales agents were not paid for time spent working off the clock after their shifts were over. Per the complaint, agents had to use their personal phones to call the defendant to clock in for their shifts but were automatically clocked out at the end of each shift even though they often continued communicating with prospective and regular customers past their shift end times.

According to the suit, JTV’s failure to pay sales agents for every hour they spent working was an intentional decision to save on payroll costs and taxes.

“Defendant’s common plan, policy and practice of failing to compensate Plaintiff and those similarly situated for all their aforementioned ‘edited-out’ and ‘off-the-clock’ work time was a means to save payroll costs and payroll taxes, all for which it has unjustly enriched itself and enjoyed ill gained profits at their expense,” the complaint scathes.

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