Amazon’s Oregon employees filed a class action suit against their employer in 2019 alleging the e-commerce giant cheated them out of more than 40,000 hours of pay over seven years.
Amazon employs thousands of hourly employees at its order fulfillment centers. These employees clock-in and clock-out with their ID badges at time clocks in their facilities.
Amazon provides a 5-minute grace period to account for unanticipated situations that may delay start time or cause an early punch out before and after the shift. This grace period does not affect pay. However, it indicates when the scheduled time must be covered by an employee’s time off options.
For payroll purposes in punches and out punches which occur within 5 minutes of the start and end time will be rounded to the scheduled shift start or end time (e.g., a time punch that occurs 5 minutes prior to or after the start of the shift will be rounded to the scheduled start time). All other time punches will be coded to the minute.
All associates working more than five hours are required to take a work-free 30-minute meal period.
The meal period for associates working in California, Illinois, Kentucky, New Hampshire, Oregon, and Washington State must start no later than five hours into the associate’s shift.
Meal periods are not paid and not counted towards hours worked. During meal periods, associates must not perform any work. Associates are required to record the start and end time of each meal period. For facilities equipped with time-clocks, associates are required to punch in at the start and end time of each meal period.
“Corrective action” was applied to the time cards of workers who clocked in late and no additional pay if they clocked in less than five minutes early. The complaint alleges the company also failed to pay employees if they took breaks shorter than the required 30 minutes.
Affected employees received notices last weekend of the settlement which was approved in September. Over 10,000 employees will receive almost $100 in back pay. An additional $1,200 in penalties is available for those who file claims. There is The Rounding Class of plaintiffs and The Unpaid Break Class.
If you believe your wages have been affected by rounding errors contact our experienced attorneys who will aggressively represent you in settlement discussions or in court.