Wells Fargo Pays Workers It Cheated
Posted by
Elaine MandelOctober 10, 2006 6:16 PMIf you or someone you know has not been paid for overtime, or been cheated out of break time or meal time, you may have a claim -- and you coworkers might too. These are called "wage and hour" claims, and Wells Fargo just settled one for $12.8 million.
Some employers are required to give their hourly workers breaks, such as lunch breaks. Hourly workers are also required to be paid for their overtime work. Unfortunately, sometimes employers don't fully pay their employees for overtime, or short-change those workers on meal times and break times. Wells Fargo, one of this nation's leading banks, was sued by over 4,500 workers for exactly these types of claims, known as "wage and hour" claims.
Financial services provider Wells Fargo Co. said Monday it reached a $12.8 million settlement in an overtime pay class action lawsuit.
The settlement was preliminarily approved on Friday in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California.Under the terms of the settlement, current and former employees will be entitled to monetary compensation from a fund created by the settlement.
If you are paid hourly, and you're not getting paid for overtime work, you may have a claim. Likewise, you may have a claim if your employer routinely requires you to shorten break-times or meal times. These claims are often brought as class-action cases, on behalf of many workers at once, instead of as individual claims. This is because the amount of money one worker might be owed is relatively small, but when you add up all the workers who've been cheated, the employer may be on the hook for a very large sum of money.
This firm is currently bringing a "wage and hour" claim against Securitas, a huge security services company that routinely failed to pay its workers for their breaks. If you or someone you know has not been paid for overtime, or been cheated out of break time or meal time, you may have a claim -- and you coworkers might too.