HSBC Bank USA is the latest target in a series of lawsuits that workers are filing against call centers.

Workers claim they were not being compensated for full amount of time spent on the job.

The claim against HSBC was filed in New York federal court, Wednesday by two lead plaintiffs from the Buffalo center, on behalf of themselves and other telephone-dedicated employees in call center facilities, for allegedly violating Federal and New York State labor laws.

Earlier this year similar suits were filed against Client Logic and Teletech's Buffalo call centers.

"HSBC's practices are not unique. We've seen call centers across the area and the country in which workers are asked to put in time before their scheduled shifts," says Justin Swartz Attorney at Outten and Golden LLP in New York City representing the plaintiffs, "This case is about getting workers paid for the time they work, no more no less."

Workers claim they were directed to arrive early to set up their call stations so they could be ready to take calls when their actual shift began and at times they were told to work through their lunch-breaks. They say the extra time was not reflected in their paychecks.

"I was directed to be on the phone at a specific time," says Keith Panaccione, plaintiff and former HSBC employee, "there was no way to do that unless I did arrive early."

"While we have yet to receive a copy of the lawsuit and therefore cannot comment specifically on it, however, HSBC takes great pride in its workplace practices and is frequently recognized as an employer of choice by various organizations," says Stephen Kohen, public relations director at HSBC world-bank. "We regularly survey our employees about satisfaction in the workplace and they overwhelmingly tell us that they are satisfied with jobs at HSBC and that they recognize HSBC as a good place to work."

Panaccione worked for HSBC for 10 months and says he never received a survey asking his input on being an HSBC employee.

"My sense is that the employees didn't complain because this is the way it was," says Swartz. Both he and Panaccione expect more people to come forward in the case against HSBC.

Swartz says the sheer number of people who responded quickly to suits against Client Logic and Teletech, lead him to believe that these practices are occurring in Buffalo and across the country. Outten and Golden is currently investigating some of those companies.

"No two cases are exactly the same," says Swartz, "but the complaints are almost identical, almost like the same person set up all of these call centers because they run so similarly."

Teletech is denying the claims of 1,000 former employees nationwide, 200 of which are from Niagara Falls, Client Logic has yet to answer to the lawsuit and HSBC has been notified.

"If HSBC wants to save money they should take it out of the pockets of people who make more than 11 or 12 dollars per hour," says Swartz.

Dawn Denecke Business First of Buffalo - July 21, 2005
http://buffalo.bizjournals.com/buffalo/stories/2005/07/18/daily32.html