Former employees of Big Blue started an action against IBM in a Dallas district court, alleging that call centre staff were forced to work unreasonable work hours.
The action, by Tajuana Banks, Kimberley B Maloney and others, is based on the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
IBM has a call centre in Dallas, Texas.
Both Banks and Maloney formerly worked for IBM, and they allege that while employees worked overtime, and were entitled to premium compensation for working more than 40 hours a week, the company "wilfully refused" to pay up.
IBM's policy, the filing continues, is to only pay for 40 hours. But employees have to arrive at work 10-15 minutes before their scheduled hours to boot up their PCs and load their applications.
"In addition, Call Centre employees are required to complete all customer calls before they can leave work, even if their shift has ended, and are required to work during meal and rest breaks if necessary, to complete customer calls. As a consequence, call centre employees routinely work in excess of forty hours per week without receiving overtime compensation."
The two, along with a number of other nationwide collective plaintiffs, want damages and compensation.
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You owe these people for any time in excess of 40 hours, if they were not classifiable as exempt. Plus they are allowed a certain amount of time for rest and meal breaks.
These people deserve back pay, with interest. But damages? What actual damages were incurred?
I can understand IBM wanting to make sure their customers are properly cared for. But then IBM has to pay for that to happen. And no cheating.
An hour lunch break is an hour lunch break.
Belting out the door as soon as the shift ends without thought for the customer is screwing your own company.
IBM outsourced my job, but that that didn't work out too well for them so they asked me to come back as a contractor at less pay. I didn't want to go back to IBM - who would ? But I figured I'd be making so much more money at 40 hours regular pay and 30 hours OT. That worked out well for a few weeks until I was told no more OT. I asked if that meant no more OT or no more paid OT. Was never given a definitive answer, but the meaning was no more paid overtime. I asked which work items should I stop performing. I was told I needed to complete all work items, but not to turn in any OT hours .I continued to turn in my time for the 70 hours I worked, then the OT stopped appearing in my check. Had to file complaint with labor board to get paid.
Fortunately I found better employment about the same time I filed complaint.
IBM is a dirty company and I have no doubt that this isn't the only case of labor law violation constantly going on within IBM.
IBM now in downhill mode.