Connecticut Amazon workers sue over unpaid screenings, searches
Hartford CT Sept 21 2021 Amazon employees in Connecticut have filed a class-action lawsuit against the company, arguing they are entitled to compensation when they undergo mandatory screenings and searches inside facilities that are considered off-the-clock and therefore unpaid.
The plaintiffs — Javier Del Rio, Colin Meunier, and Aaron Delaroche are suing Amazon on behalf of themselves and other employees, arguing they are forced to stay on the premises after clocking out so they can go through mandatory security screening processes within the facility.
Meunier and Delaroche both worked at the Amazon warehouse in Windsor at various times between May 2018 and April 2021.
They argue that Connecticut law requires employers to compensate their workers for all time they are “required by the employer to be on the employer’s premises.”
The screening, which requires all employees’ bags and personal items to be searched by security guards, is also required when employees are on unpaid breaks, the suit says.
Employees are required to pass through a metal detector and if the alarm goes off, they are individually searched by a security guard.
Workers are prohibited from leaving the facility until the security process is complete, the suit adds.
“The screening process routinely took between 10 and 20 minutes or more per employee,” and Amazon did not pay its employees during that time, according to the lawsuit. “As a result, (Amazon) retained millions of dollars in wages that should have been paid to the class.”
Amazon also automatically deducts 30 minutes from workers’ pay each shift for a meal break, the suit says, but employees are required to stay within the facility during that unpaid break.
In order to exit the facility or access break rooms during their meal break, Amazon requires employees to go through the same mandatory screening process.
The lawsuit argues the clock-out requirement and mandatory screening process during the unpaid meal break “is solely for the benefit of Amazon and not for the benefit or convenience of workers.”
Workers are seeking twice their normal wages for time lost and twice the minimum wage for overtime lost, as well as attorney fees, according to the suit.
The lawsuit covers all current and former Connecticut Amazon hourly non-exempt employees between April 16, 2018, and the final judgment of the lawsuit. That would include as many as 10,000 workers.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in July that Amazon had to pay warehouse workers for their time spent in mandatory screening. That lawsuit resulted in a $13.5 million settlement after a legal battle lasting more than a decade.
The ruling provided payments to more than 42,000 workers, who split $8.67 million, with attorneys receiving $4.5 million in fees. The largest pay-out for a single employee was about $5,700.
