T-Mobile USA Inc. has reportedly agreed to pay $4.8 million in back wages to employees in 13 call centers after a Department of Labor investigation at three of the call centers found that employees were not paid for preparatory work.
“T-Mobile has accepted its responsibility to pay back wages and to take steps to come into compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act,” said Labor Secretary Elaine Chao.
A consent agreement has been filed and must be approved in federal court in Seattle.
“An investigation by the DOL’s wage and hour division at three of the firm’s call centers found that customer care representatives were not paid for preparatory activities performed prior to the start of their shift. Such preparatory activities are work hours that must be compensated. After the company was made aware of the violations, it worked cooperatively with the department,” said DOL.
T-Mobile did not admit any wrongdoing and had a different take on the allegations.
“Certain customer-service representatives, with the best of intentions, may have started their shifts a few minutes early and failed to fully record this time,” said T-Mobile spokeswoman Kim Thompson.
The payments, averaging more than $200 per employee, must be made by Feb. 22 and will be for the period from Nov. 16, 2000, to Oct. 14, 2003.
