Chase Bank Tellers in California Not Paid For All Hours Worked, Class Action Lawsuit Says

Chase bank violates California labor laws by not paying workers for all hours worked, according to a class action lawsuit.

Plaintiff Rocio D. filed her Chase unpaid wages class action lawsuit, challenging practices by the bank when paying its bank tellers and bank associates.

These employees were forced to work off the clock, were paid overtime wages without considering non-discretionary bonuses, and were denied meal and rest breaks, the lawsuit says. These actions allegedly violated California labor laws.

Rocio says that she worked for Chase as an hourly bank associate between August 2019 and late 2020. Over the course of her employment, she allegedly worked between five and a half and six hours a day, five days a week. However, Rocio claims to have worked occasional shifts lasting eight hours or more.

Unfortunately, Rocio was allegedly denied the wages she earned due to pre-shift and post-shift off-the-clock work. Each shift, the plaintiff says, she was required to tally her drawer and perform other tasks which lasted between three to 10 minutes.

In addition to this off-the-clock work, Rocio was allegedly forced to follow time-shaving policies. These policies involved rounding her stop and start times and only inputting her scheduled hours instead of actual hours worked.

These policies, in addition to off-the-clock work, allegedly caused workers like Rocio to receive lesser wages than they deserved.

Unfortunately, Chase unpaid wages practices didn’t stop there, according to Rocio. Her Chase class action lawsuit says that Chase regularly paid overtime wages without considering non-discretionary bonuses such as “special awards” and “recognition awards.”

Under California law, the pay periods where these bonuses were paid should have resulted in an increased regular rate of pay based on this compensation. This increased rate is supposed to be used when calculating overtime rates of pay for the applicable pay period.

Finally, Rocio claims that she was also denied timely meal period and rest breaks based on her shift length. Additionally, these missed breaks were allegedly not compensated as required by California laws.

The plaintiff says that countless other workers may have been subject to the same unlawful policies. Rocio seeks to represent a Class of Californians who worked as non-exempt tellers, bank associates, or under similar job titles by Chase within the last four years. According to Rocio, there are numerous potential Class Members in her wage and hour claim—though the exact number isn’t known.

On behalf of herself and the proposed Class, Rocio seeks compensatory damages, restitution, interest, court costs, and attorneys’ fees.

The Chase Unpaid Wages Class Action Lawsuit is Rocio D. v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, et al., Case No. 2:21-cv-01907-ODW-AFM, in the Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Los Angeles.