Walmart Security Check Labor Law Violations California Class Action

This class action alleges a long list of employment violations under the California Labor Code and Industrial Welfare Commission Wage Orders against Walmart, Inc., Wal-Mart Associates, Inc., and Walmart Fulfillment Center. The violations are familiar, including failure to pay for all hours worked, failure to pay overtime, and failure to provide proper meal or rest breaks, among other things, all stemming from a mishandling of security checks.

The class for this action is all current, former, or future employees of the named Walmart companies, between February 1, 2018 and the present, who work as hourly, non-exempt employees at the companies’ California distribution centers.

The first allegation the complaint makes is that employees are not paid for all hours worked, because they are required to pass through bag-check or other security checkpoints whenever they clock in or out of their shifts, including for rest or meal breaks. The complaint alleges that this security checkpoint time is part of the employees’ shift and that the time required for it should be included in the time clocked for the shift.

The second allegation is that the companies do not pay employees at the proper overtime rate of pay. The California Labor Code says, “Any work in excess of eight hours in one workday and any work[] in excess of 40 hours in any one workweek and the first eight hours worked on the seventh day of work in any one workweek shall be compensated at the rate of no less than one and one-half times[] the regular rate of pay for an employee.”

After twelve hours in a day, or after the first eight hours on the seventh day of work in a workweek, overtime pay is raised to twice the regular rate of pay.

The complaint contends that when employees are so frequently forced to go through the abovementioned security checks, when they are already working an eight-hour shift, the additional time that must be added to their shifts puts them into overtime for the day or week. According to the complaint, the companies do not pay this overtime.

Another contention is that the companies do not allow workers the required meal or rest breaks. California law requires that employees receive thirty uninterrupted minutes for meals during which the employee is relieved of all duties and out of the employer’s control. The complaint alleges that because the security checks have not been performed on the clock, they have instead cut into the employees’ meal and break times.

When full meal and rest breaks are not provided, the law requires that workers receive extra compensation. The complaint alleges that the companies have not done this.

These violations cause “downstream” violations of labor laws, because wage statements are then not complete or accurate and all wages are not paid promptly at termination. Finally, the complaint alleges that not following labor laws constitutes an unfair business practice.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Employment
Tags: Employment Violations, Inaccurate calculation of breaks, Not Paid for All Hours Worked, Unpaid Overtime