According to a report from Law Street Media, a class action wage and hour lawsuit has been filed on behalf of customer service workers of Mediacom Communications Corporation. The complaint filed in the United States District Court of the Southern District of New York alleges that employees were unlawfully short-changed on their hours for necessary and required “pre-shift” duties. Here, our Massachusetts & Connecticut class action wage and hour lawyers provide an overview of the class action claim filed on behalf of workers at Mediacom Communications Corporation.
Complaint: Call Center Workers Not Properly Paid for Required Pre-Shift Work
On June 21st, 2022, a representative class member filed a proposed class action wage and hour lawsuit on behalf of call center workers (Elizabeth Berry v. Mediacom Communications Corporation). The lawsuit was filed in New York State—though the named plaintiff worked at a branch office in Iowa. The claim states that hundreds of call center employees nationwide may be class members.
The employer (Mediacom Communications Corporation) is one of the largest cable television providers in the United States. The company operates large call centers, staffed with customer service representatives. The employees in these call centers are engaged in a number of different duties, including answering customer inquiries and helping with billing issues.
Allegation: Off-the-Clock Work for “Boot Up” Time
The employees within the call center are hourly workers. They are paid an hourly rate instead of a salary. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), employers must properly record the working time of all hourly employees. The named plaintiff contends that call center employees at Mediacom Communications Corporation were regularly required to do “off-the-clock” work. Specifically, workers were not paid for “boot-up” time.
At the start of a shift, workers in the call center had to boot up their company and log into various software applications. The lawsuit states that the boot-up time at the Mediacom Communications Corporation took an average of ten minutes. Though, it could take longer than that if any technical issues arose. The lawsuit states that call center employees were not properly compensated for their boot-up time.
Legal Argument: Violation of the FLSA (and Certain State Laws)
The class action wage and hour complaint contends that the employer violated the FLSA by failing to pay workers for their boot-up time. As stated in the claim, the employer should have allowed workers to clock-in before the boot-up worker started. The representative employee is seeking class action certification and financial compensation for wage and hour damages on behalf of herself and all similarly situated call centers employees.
Contact our Class Action Wage and Hour Attorneys Today
At Hayber, McKenna & Dinsmore, LLC, we are proud to be lawyers for workers. If you or your loved one is a call center employee and you believe that your legal rights were violated, our attorneys are here to help. Call us now or contact us online for a confidential case assessment. We provide class action representation to call centers employees throughout Massachusetts and Connecticut.