Amazon Warehouse Workers Seek $3.8M Wage and Hour Settlement Approval

On Tuesday, three lead plaintiffs in an Amazon.com Inc. class action lawsuit alleging wage and hour violations asked a U.S. District Court judge to approve a $3.7 million settlement with SMX LLC, the temporary staffing agency used to fill Amazon warehouse positions.

Lead plaintiffs David C. Saldana, Ladaisja Brewster and Monica Carlin had all worked as packers in Amazon’s San Bernardino, California warehouse facility. They filed the wage and hour class action lawsuit against Amazon and SMX in 2013.

The former workers allege that non-exempt workers at Amazon warehouses classified as “pickers” and “packers” were required to participate in mandatory security searches onsite after they clocked out for meal periods and at the end of their shifts. The plaintiffs allege that each of the mandatory individual security searches resulted in 20 to 30 minutes or more of unpaid work daily.

This time spent unpaid in security screenings allegedly resulted in “a daily underpayment for all time worked, daily interruptions in employee meal and rest periods, failure to provide correctly itemized and accurate wage statements showing all hours actually caused or suffered to work, and a failure to pay all wages owed at separation to separated employees.”

The claims in this class action lawsuit are a part of ongoing multidistrict litigation (MDL) against Amazon and other contractors like SMX who provided staffing or warehouse space for the online retailer. Initially, the class action lawsuits in the MDL alleged violations against the Fair Labor Standards Act (FSLA) as well as state laws. However, last December, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that time spent participating in security checks was not compensable under FLSA.

Amazon has also attempted to dismiss some of the lawsuits in the MDL, stating that in certain states such as Arizona and Nevada, security screening time was not compensable time under current wage and hour laws.

The proposed settlement Class includes all employees hired by SMX to work at California Amazon warehouses from Oct. 1, 2012 until the present. The $3.7 million settlement will be used to compensate more than 33,000 affected members in the settlement Class, and members will receive either $20 or $30 per shift, depending on the time period when they worked for the company.

“The settlement before this court came only after the case was fully investigated by counsel,” the plaintiffs say in support of the proposed Amazon class action settlement. “This litigation, therefore, has reached the stage where the parties have a clear view of the strengths and weaknesses of their cases sufficient to support the settlement.”

Amazon and SMX have denied any wrongdoing in the settlement and agreed upon a settlement through mediation “to avoid the expense, distraction, and uncertainty of protracted litigation.”

The California plaintiffs are represented by Mark R. Thierman and Joshua D. Buck of Thierman Buck LLP, Isam C. Khoury, Diana M. Khoury and Jason J. Hill of Cohelan Khoury & Singer, David R. Markman of The Markman Law Firm, Christopher J. Hamner of Hamner Law Offices APC and Walter L. Haines of United Employees Law Group PC.

The Amazon Wage and Hour Class Action Lawsuit is In re: Amazon.com Inc. Fulfillment Center Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Wage and Hour Litigation, Case No. 3:14-md-02504, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky.

Join a Free California Overtime, Wage & Hour Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you were forced to work off the clock or without overtime pay in California within the past 2 to 3 years, you have rights – and you don’t have to take on the company alone.

Get a Free Case Evaluation Now