By Jon Styf  |  July 19, 2023

Category: Labor & Employment
Delivered Chewy.com box at a doorstep, representing the Chewy class action.
(Photo Credit: JJava Designs/Shutterstock)

Chewy class action overview: 

  • Who: Plaintiff Lacrecia Millican filed a class action lawsuit against Chewy, Inc., regarding the company’s timecard policies for call center employees. 
  • Why: The plaintiff claims Chewy requires customer service representatives at its three U.S. call centers to work approximately seven uncompensated minutes each work day.
  • Where: The Chewy class action was filed in federal court in Boston, Massachusetts.

Plaintiff Lacrecia Millican filed a class action lawsuit claiming that Chewy, Inc., has policies in place that require call center employees to work uncompensated time in each shift.

Chewy requires its customer service agents to be ready to take calls and answer customer questions the minute a shift begins or a lunch break ends but does not allow agents to clock in on their timecard until the exact start of their shift, according to the Chewy pay class action.

That means that each employee has to arrive before their shift or the end of their lunch break and turn on the computer, log into necessary programs and be prepared to clock in and then take calls. That leads to an estimated seven minutes of unpaid time each workday, according to the Chewy class action.

Employees at the three U.S. call centers — in Richardson, Texas, Hollywood, Florida and Dallas, Texas — are subject to disciplinary action if they clock in early or are not prepared to take customer calls the minute a shift begins, according to the Chewy pay class action.

Guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor warns call center employees that they should be paid from the start of the first principal work activity of each day and, with an online timecard system, that is impossible to have happen because turning on the computer and logging into the timecard system takes time, according to the Chewy pay class action.

Class should receive damages and interest as well as attorneys’ fees, Chewy class action claims

Chewy should be required to change its timecard practices along with paying class members damages with interest for the unpaid work, according to the Chewy pay class action.

Top Class Actions looked at the worst pet products on the market based upon recent class action lawsuits and recalls.

Have you been asked to do work that you were not compensated for? Let us know in the comments.

The plaintiff is represented by Benjamin Knox Steffans of Steffans Legal PLLC and Kevin J. Stoops and Alana Karbal of Sommers Schwartz, P.C.

The Chewy class action lawsuit is Millican v. Chewy Inc., Case No. 1:23-cv-11587-DJC, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts Boston Division.


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3 thoughts onChewy class action alleges company fails to pay workers adequately

  1. Janet Fogarty says:

    Please add

  2. Cassidy L Goff says:

    This seems to be a company wide practice with Chewy. I was an employee at their now shutdown Mechanicsburg Warehouse facility, where the company managed to weasel a large amount of free labor out of employees both at the start and at the end of shift. Order Pickers where expected to be there before shift to inspect and sign in their Movex (picking equipment). If one did not show up early there would be no Movex’s left and one would have to walk, significantly reducing their pick rate. It was stressful as an employee to know if you didnt show up 10-15 minutes early and partake in this your day would be made significantly more difficult. Every day I saw all the order pickers working off the clock.

    The companies HR and Management has also engaged in extreme gross unethical behavior against me. I believe a member of HR has friendships or relations with the police and sent them to harass me. The HR is very unaware of what goes on but will act like it knows everything and has left me an incredibly harsh review that has significantly effected my treatment at future jobs. They have also given out my personal information to their friends, including my new location I moved to and new place of employment which I do not appreciate. I have a right to privacy and HR invaded that without any consideration for me. The company has a lot of ethical and maturity issues.

  3. John Michael Mills says:

    I was targeted and terminated from Chewy 10/9/2023 for no or very little reason without due process after working there for 2.5 years.

    December of 2022 they messed up five paychecks in a row, and then threatened me to not tell anyone internally or externally or else I’d be terminated. Although any employee talking about wages and pay is federally protected by law. Internally or externally. Protected by Federal Law. This resulted in late rent payment and credit card payment during Christmas time.

    April of 2023, they made me work while my house was under a foot or more of water due to a flash flood in Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood, FL area. This event in FL was considered a natural disaster and many people lost their homes. Also this is where Chewy is headquartered.

    September of 2023, they looked back in records from Labor Day week about me being sick with Covid, lost my voice, and then my grandmother passing (same week), amongst other life stresses. Used my own sick, unpaid time to cover because they fought me on bereavement. Ultimately Fired me this Monday because I lost my voice and called it a tech issue that I did not report. They used it as an excuse as I was questioning their bereavement policy. They ended up giving me bereavement for the time, but unpaid as they would not take what I sent them as proof of death. However, like I said I was fired this Monday as a result. It was most definitely targeted.

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