Bloomberg Settles Wage and Hour Lawsuit for $5.5M

Bloomberg LP, the self-described global business and financial information and news leader, has settled a near $5.5 million proposed class action lawsuit filed by New York call center employees regarding wage and hour issues.

The settlement was announced May 12, 2016 in response to a wage and hour lawsuit filed in 2012 by plaintiffs who said Bloomberg refused to pay help desk call center employees for time worked during meal breaks and after hours.

They alleged that Bloomberg required them to work off the clock in order to avoid logging more than 40 hours per week.

The settlement will cover nearly 160 employees who worked for Bloomberg’s New York call center as global technical support representatives between June 2006 and March 23, 2016.

The Bloomberg wage and hour lawsuit was brought forth by technical support representatives Peter Enea, Victor McLean, Chantay Dingle-El and Kenny Altidor, who alleged the company violated the Fair Labor Standards Act and New York labor laws on breaks.

Their positions required them to provide support for Bloomberg customers with Bloomberg Terminals and software. The call center employees provided assistance to customers who needed help navigating the terminals or who experienced issues with the software.

The tech support representatives alleged in the lawsuit that they were ordered to work past their shift end times and through their meal breaks in order to assist customers on the phone, without compensation or overtime pay for working more than 40 hours per week.

This is illegal because of U.S. Labor Department wage and hour laws.

Damaged Reputations

While the employees insist that Bloomberg knew and required this off-the-clock work, Bloomberg retaliated that the workers were “disgruntled individuals” who were “mediocre to poor performers” who were “constantly underperforming.”

Since these statements were made in earlier court filings, the comments regarding the employees’ work ethics still show up in internet searches.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs say the employees took risks of their reputations when they decided to file the wage and hour lawsuit, and as such, are seeking up to 30 percent of the the settlement, approximately $1.6 million, plus service awards up to $30,000.

“By pursuing this litigation against such a prominent global company, the named plaintiffs risked permanent harm to their reputations,” they wrote.

Not Bloomberg’s First Wage and Hour Settlement

Amazingly, this settlement was announced merely weeks after Bloomberg settled a different wage and hour class action lawsuit brought forth by other employees who worked in another New York call center.

Plaintiff Shavez Jackson filed suit in March 2013, alleging claims of being denied overtime pay. Bloomberg agreed to pay $3.2 million to settle that class action lawsuit.

Also in 2013, the U.S. Department of Labor made Bloomberg change the classification of global customer service representative from exempt to non-exempt. (Exempt workers are managerial level, salaried employees; non-exempt workers are paid an hourly wage and are eligible for overtime pay.)

Labor Laws Protect Employees

If you feel you are misclassified as an exempt employee, or if you have been asked to sign out of work but to continue working either through breaks or after hours, you could benefit from a wage and hour class action lawsuit.

The U.S. has labor laws on breaks to specifically protect employees from working unpaid hours.

The Bloomberg Wage and Hour Class Action Lawsuit is Peter Enea et al. vs. Bloomberg LP, Case No. 1:12-cv-04656 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

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