Michael Hooper

An attorney for employees of TeleTech Holdings Inc. in Topeka said today he was preparing a lawsuit against the company alleging unlawful compensation practices.

George A. Hanson, attorney with Stueve Siegel Hanson Woody LLC, of Kansas City, Mo., said he planned to file the lawsuit Thursday in federal court in Kansas.

He said more than 86 current and former TeleTech employees had signed up as plaintiffs in the lawsuit, and more are expected to join. Hanson signed up employees during meetings in Topeka last week.

"It appears TeleTech was trying to save payroll costs and increase profits by working its hourly employees off the clock," he said.

The TeleTech call center in Topeka has been serving Verizon Wireless customers, but is scheduled to close on April 2, putting 790 people out of work.

Shirley Morris, a TeleTech employee for three years, said that as a general rule, employees spend five to 15 minutes each day preparing their station for work, but aren't paid for that time. She said she was told by TeleTech managers that customer service representatives start getting paid "the minute they pick up that first call on their shift."

She said employees must log onto a computer and pull up customer account information before they actually go on the clock to get paid. Customer service representatives must have two to three different screens of information on their computer before they start taking calls.

"You have to have those screens up before you take that first call," Morris said. To start taking calls and go on the clock as a paid employee, the customer service representative must enter his or her identification number into a telephone. Once that is done, the employee is on the clock and taking calls.

She said she sometimes has to do work off the clock that involves a major overhaul of someone's bill. To get paid for that work, she has to file an exception. But the exception must be approved by a supervisor.

"We've had memos that supervisors aren't doing any exceptions," she said.

Carol Hahn, spokeswoman for TeleTech, said she needed to research the allegations in the lawsuit before she could respond.

TeleTech Holdings announced on Jan. 28 that it would close its Topeka call center. Hanson said the fact that TeleTech was leaving Topeka had added another dynamic to the case.

"There is a momentum here that you might not otherwise see," Hanson said.

He said the lawsuit would assert that TeleTech's compensation practices violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the federal law requiring payment of overtime work at one and one-half times an employee's regular rate of pay.

Employees say they earn $10 to $12 per hour as customer service representatives in Topeka.

Hanson's case is a collective action, meaning that current and former employees of TeleTech in the past three years are eligible to join. They must opt-in or sign up if they want to be part of the case, Hanson said.

The lawsuit will seek damages in the form of back wages and overtime pay for all uncompensated work performed by TeleTech employees over the last three years. The law also permits double recovery of back pay in cases where an employer's violation of the FLSA is willful.

Hanson estimated that TeleTech in Topeka could have $1 million in unpaid compensation in each of the last three years, "maybe more," he said.

Wal-Mart has faced similar compensation lawsuits, Hanson said.