WASHINGTON-AT&T Wireless Services Inc. has been hit with a class-action lawsuit alleging the No. 3 mobile-phone operator broke federal labor laws by denying call-center workers overtime pay, litigation that comes at a time when the carrier reportedly is considering outsourcing customer service jobs and only days after T-Mobile USA Inc. agreed to pay $4.8 million in back wages to employees in 13 call centers to settle a suit brought by the Labor Department.
Both the lawsuit filed yesterday against AT&T Wireless in Dallas federal court and the Labor Department’s action against T-Mobile claim violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which requires non-exempt workers to be compensated for overtime work.
The suit was filed on behalf of Evelyn Touchette, of Plano, Texas, and other AT&T Wireless call-center employees in Texas and elsewhere from Nov. 26, 2000, to the present.
Jeremi Young, an attorney at the Law Offices of Jeffrey H. Rasansky, said the amount of damages being sought will not be established until lawyers review records in the case.
AT&T Wireless said it could not comment on the lawsuit yet because it had not received it.
