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Insurance company GEICO intimidates its employees into invoicing for less hours per day than they actually worked by creating a culture where people are afraid to speak up, a new class action lawsuit alleges.
In the multi-state class action filed Wednesday in a Pennsylvania federal court, Plaintiff Susan Olivia Hart accuses GEICO of violating federal and state laws through pressuring its employees out of their deserved overtime payments.
Hart has been employed by GEICO as a claims assessor since May 2018. She says she works 8 a.m. to 5:30 or 6:30 p.m., five days per week, and does not take a meal break of any significant length.
However, she says GEICO instructs her to enter 7.75 hours per day of work, despite the fact she works 9.5 – 10.5 hours per day.
“Through GEICO-company wide policies and business practices, carried out through intimidation tactics and implied adverse employment consequences, GEICO successfully pressures Plaintiff and [other employees] to customarily enter 7.75 hours of compensable time per day, notwithstanding that plaintiff and [other employees] regularly and customarily worked more between 8-10 hours per day.”
Hart says GEICO instructed supervisors that 7.75 hours per day was sufficient if employees were “working hard and doing their job.” The implication is that if an employee works beyond 7.75 hours, it means “poor work performance,” the claim alleges.
The class action says the insurance firm has created a culture that encourages people to “stay quiet and allow GEICO to steal their hours/wages rather than speak up.”
Hart says speaking up risks your reputation at work, and could lead to negative performance reviews and other consequences. The class action alleges employees should have been paid overtime, but they were intimidated out of it.
Hart is suing for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act and other employee protection laws.
She is seeking to represent all Region 1 Automobile or Residential Damage Claims Adjusters who worked for GEICO in Pennsylvania, Maryland, District of Columbia, Delaware or West Virginia in the last three years and who were paid on an hourly basis and not compensated for overtime. She is also seeking to represent two Pennsylvania subclasses.
The class action asked for certification of the class action, damages and owed wages, interest, fees, costs and a jury trial.
Meanwhile, GEICO frequently faces class actions and lawsuits over its business practices.
Earlier this month, it was accused of “systematically and uniformly underpaying” thousands of consumers who suffered the total loss of their vehicle, while vehicles were insured with comprehensive coverage, according to another class action lawsuit.
In another recent class action lawsuit, plaintiffs allege Geico charged exorbitant premiums during the pandemic based on old and irrelevant data, misled customers about passing on savings, and ultimately profited off the pandemic.
What do you think of GEICO’s alleged practice of intimidating its employees out of overtime payment? Let us know in the comments!
The plaintiff is represented by Zachary E. Nahass of CGA Law Firm.
The GEICO FLSA Class Action Lawsuit is Hart et al., v. GEICO, Case No. 4:21-cv-00859-MWB, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
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24 thoughts onGEICO Pressures Employees to Enter Less Hours Than They Work, Class Action Alleges
this is all very true, i was advised by a supervisor to put in 7.75 hours regardless, lunch, or other breaks were taken as your drove to the next claim to keep productivity up i spent 13.5 years with the GEICO
I been with geico almost a year now and it unfair that if the computer has issues or if there’s a outage we have to make up that time. When clearly it isn’t our fault when the computer crashes or we can’t control the weather but instead of thanking us for being patient and staying on the job ; they tell us that we got to stay over our shift or use our vacation or sick time to cover the time. Geico is money hungry
Region 1 GEICO here and have worked there for 4 years… never had any of these problems, if anything sometimes i get paid more than what i work depending. They are very strict about making sure i use all my break and lunch and if i dont use it all they just give me OT. If i need to leave early or take a day off short notice they kind of let me do what i want for the most part. Sorry to hear other regions have had problems but region 1 i think could just have their heads on their shoulders
I spent 9 years at GEICO and left in October 2020. The AD director for Region 1 is aware of the underpaid issue. My supervisor pressured me all through the pandemic to work through my lunch and stay late/come early to get through the estimates. I had to get the director involved to get back pay and have myself removed from that supervisor. They also screw their partner body shops by cutting hours or removing lines in their estimates for standard work (like aiming headlamps) geico will pressure the shops to keep quiet by controlling how many appointments they get.
I also have stories of how Region 7 service would constantly have us come in before our shift to get ready so we can start taking calls right at the start of our shift. It was unpaid time and you could be put on a memo if you didn’t do it.
Region 5 checking in to echo what everyone else is saying. This is a company-wide epidemic that is borne out of greed in the highest levels of management (less labor cost = more profit = a higher bonus) and is compounded by the silent majority of workers who work the free overtime and won’t speak up either because they are afraid to or they are bennifiting from not entering OT hours to boost their productivity. I used to be one of these people – fresh out of college, no wife/kids, not much going on during the week so I didn’t mind working for free, especially when it made me look like a rockstar. Being very new to GEICO I had no idea how I was negatively affecting my peers and their performance and I’m sure this is the case for most people that work for free.
The final straw for me was when I was discussing my productivity with my supervisor (who has worked for the company for decades) and he said:
“I have kids and a wife. If I don’t get a raise because you can’t do your jo–, uhm, can’t lock enough claims, my family is going to be very disappointed.”
In any case, this isn’t the first class action lawsuit for this exact reason, it won’t be the last. I hope this goes well for the plaintiffs at least.
I have been a Geico adjuster for many years in region 8 AD and I can confirm every comment on this thread. For years now i have been teased with the promise of a promotion only to be a few points short on 1 metric rating or my customer service survey was “very good” instead of “excellent”.
Just recently I discovered that our regional manager has been manipulating my productivity rating, most likely to get me to close more claims. When I stood up for myself and proved my rating, i didn’t even get a reply to my email.