An employment class action lawsuit has been filed against Sykes Enterprises Inc, also known as Alpine Access (collectively SEI), which employs 46,000 people in over 75 international service call centers, alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and breach of contractual obligations including unpaid wages and unpaid overtime.
Lead plaintiff, Brandie Minor, alleges that she was required to start-up and log in to various secure computer systems and servers in order to access pertinent client data, sales records, etc., creation of secure (VPN) connections with SEI’s and its corporate customer’s computer systems, and the downloading of customer information. This process took 8 to 10 minutes per session to complete and a typical Client Services Agent (CSA) logged in and out of these systems between 2 and 3 times per day, as part of their normal work schedule. Minor also alleges she was not allowed to electronically “clock in” for her shifts each session until the setup and login process was complete, meaning the she and her colleagues worked at least 8-10 minutes each, per session, that they were never compensated for. The time they spent setting up and logging in each session directly benefitted SEI and this process was an essential part of their job responsibilities as a CSA.
Additionally, SEI’s computer system automatically “clocked out” Ms. Minor at the end of her designated shift even if she was in the middle of a call with a customer. Depending on the customer and issue, she often spent between 5 and 10 additional minutes wrapping up the last call of her shift,
The class action lawsuit seeks to represent all current or former SEI employees who provided call center support services in the United States.
If your employer has violated California’s employment laws, please give my office, The Law Offices of Todd M. Friedman a call at (877) 449-8898.
