Dell Facing Large Overtime Suit

Brent Hunsberger at The Oregonian At Work Blog brings news of a large overtime suit being filled against Dell Computers at one of their call centers in Roseburg, OR.  Plaintiffs contends the Dell "worked its sales reps 'off the clock,' failed to provide proper rest breaks and improperly recorded their lunch periods."

Here are some more details about the suit:

[W]orkers allege in the lawsuit that they attended daily pre-shift meetings that ran two to 30 minutes long and spent time booting their computers and sorting through e-mails before officially clocking in for pay. They allege the federal Fair Labor Standards Act requires Dell to pay them overtime for those pre- and post-shift activities. They also allege that the company deducted an hour from their time cards for lunch even though they routinely spent only 30 to 45 minutes. And they say they didn't get rest breaks required by Oregon law. The lawsuit alleges Dell was told of some of the recordkeeping problems but failed to address it.

There is a developing trend with these type of lawsuits, and Brent mentions that similar suits at call centers have already been filed against T-Mobile USA, Cingular Wireless, ClientLogic Operating Corp. and American InterContinental University Online.

In addition, Wal-Mart has been hit with several major overtime verdicts recently, totaling over $250 million dollars, regarding federal and state violations of overtime and meal break laws in Pennsylvania and California.

PS