$19 Million California Labor Violations Lawsuit Hits T-Mobile

T-Mobile has been hit with a California labor violations lawsuit alleging that it failed to pay almost $19 million in employees’ wages. The telecommunications company has requested that the California labor violations lawsuit be moved to federal court.

The California labor violations lawsuit was filed just earlier this year, by a former T-Mobile employee. Plaintiff Jesse B. worked as a field technician for T-Mobile, and filed his January 31 lawsuit over the company’s alleged failure to properly compensate technicians like himself.

According to the California labor violations lawsuit, the company violated a number of labor laws, including failure to pay technicians like Jesse for off-the-clock work, failure to provide proper meal and rest breaks for those who worked ten-hour shifts or more, and failure to properly calculate overtime pay rates.

In his California labor violations lawsuit, Jesse is seeking around $18.2 million that he alleges T-Mobile owes its employees from unpaid minimum and overtime wages. His lawsuit seeks an additional million or so more in premiums for meal and rest periods.

According to the California labor violations lawsuit, T-Mobile had an “on call” policy that required its technicians to be on standby 24-7 for a week at a time, waiting until they were needed. They were paid $22.47 per day for standby, and when they were called in, they were paid hourly on top of that flat standby rate.

Jesse noted, however, that this standby time, which was not free time, required being able to respond and begin work at any given time during a whole week. This meant that, 24/7, for an entire week, he and other field technicians had no free time at all, and were paid only $22.47 per day until they were called in.

The California labor violations lawsuit alleges that he and others in his position were also entitled to minimum wage pay, time-and-a-half pay, and double pay for the hours in that 24/7 period applicable under California labor laws.

Wage and Hour Regulations

There are a series of both federal and state wage and hour laws put in place to protect workers and ensure they are treated fairly. However, many workers across the country do not know the protections that the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) offers, which can lead to employers taking advantage of them, in some cases requiring unpaid overtime work despite the illegality of doing so.

Some workers may find themselves unable to file wage and hour complaints like this unpaid overtime lawsuit because they are not aware of FLSA rules. Others may be afraid that their employers will retaliate or even fire them if they speak up about these kinds of FLSA violations. To protect workers who help to enforce FLSA rules, laws also exist to protect workers from discrimination based on wage and hour complaints.

Filing an Unpaid Overtime Lawsuit

If you have worked for an employer in California like T-Mobile that may have failed to follow the Fair Labor Standards Act or state labor laws, such as overtime requirements, you may be able to either join a wage and hour class action lawsuit or file an unpaid overtime lawsuit of your own.

Join a Free California Wage & Hour Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you were forced to work off the clock or without overtime pay within the past 3 years in California, you have rights – and you don’t have to take on the company alone.

Get a Free Case Evaluation Now