CVS Overtime Lawsuit Filed by Call Center Employee

A CVS overtime lawsuit has been filed by a woman on behalf of herself and others similarly situated alleging that the drug store chain violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by failing to pay thousands of telephone-dedicated employees for work performed before their shifts.

Plaintiff Susan Siegel filed the CVS overtime lawsuit in Texas federal court alleging she and many others have been systematically underpaid for their work as telephone-dedicated agents in CVS call centers.

Susan and other agents place and receive phone calls from CVS pharmaceutical benefit clients.

“CVS has rewarded these essential employees by failing to pay them for necessary pre-shiftwork activities necessary to take CVS client calls,” the CVS overtime lawsuit states.

It accuses CVS of unfairly withholding pay for these employees “despite earning millions if not billions of dollars in earnings based on their hard work.”

Susan states that she has been employed as a telephone-dedicated agent for the last three years and interfaces with CVS customers as well as potential customers in her employment at a CVS call center. Susan states that she and other agents are required to arrive the work in order to be ready to answer phones at her assigned shift time.

“Each day, prior to beginning their duties, the telephone-dedicated employees are required to prepare for their day’s work by, among other things: Powering up the necessary electronic equipment, booting up a variety of computer programs, logging into the necessary programs, initializing and accessing customer interfaces, initializing and accessing portal systems, starting up and connecting to CVS-specified systems to assist customers, and checking relevant alerts and/or emails,” the lawsuit states.

All of the above functions are expected to be performed prior to the shift in order for the agent to begin taking calls the moment the shift begins. Susan states this work to prepare before the shift “was/is substantial and for the significant benefit of the Defendant.”

Susan states that these preparatory activities should be considered compensable because they are “ and integral and indispensable part of the employees’ principal duties,” but CVS fails to record and pay for these activities.

“Because Plaintiff and the Class Members regularly work 40 hours (or more) per workweek, the unrecorded and unpaid time should be paid at time-and-a-half of each employee’s regular rate of pay in accordance with the FLSA. CVS’ failure to pay for this compensable work is a willful violation of the FLSA,” the CVS overtime lawsuit states.

Susan seeks to represent a class of CVS telephone-dedicated employees who make and receive calls from CVS clients call centers located throughout the country.

She brings forth a single cause of action: failure to pay wages in accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act.

On behalf of herself and others, Susan is seeking relief in terms of unpaid back wages and for “liquidated damages in amount to the unpaid compensation found due to Plaintiff,” attorneys’ fees and costs, pre- and post-judgment interest and any additional relief as deemed necessary and appropriate.

The CVS Overtime Lawsuit is Susan Siegel et al. v. CVS Health Corporation, Case No. 5:15-cv-871, in the U.S. District Court for the Western Division of Texas, San Antonio Division.

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