1-800-Flowers Call Center Workers – Class and Collective Wages Lawsuit

Call Center Customer Service Representatives of 1-800-Flowers Allegedly Spend Time Each Shift Working Without Compensation

On March 8, 2018, a class and collective action complaint was filed against 1-800-Flowers Team Services, Inc., 1-800-Flowers Service Support Center, Inc., and 1-800-Flowers.com, Inc. (“1-800-Flowers” or “Defendants”) in United States District Court for the District of Oregon, Medford Division, asserting claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and Oregon wage statutes, on behalf of “current and former 1-800-Flowers employees who handled calls at its Medford, Oregon call center,” in an attempt “to recover all available damages for 1-800 Flowers’s failure to pay all wages owed to her and those she seeks to represent under the FLSA and Oregon state law.” Among other relief, the class action seeks unpaid wages, liquidated damages, penalties, prejudgment interest, costs, and attorney’s fees.

Alleged Common Policy and Practice of Failing to Pay Call Center Workers for All Time Worked

According to the class and collective action complaint:

1-800-Flowers has a common policy and practice of failing to pay its call center workers for all time worked. 1-800-Flowers expects call center workers to adhere strictly to their schedules by, among other things, clocking in and out at scheduled times, taking paid and unpaid breaks when scheduled, and spending as much of their scheduled shift as possible available to handle phone calls. In order to meet these expectations, 1-800-Flowers’s call center workers spend time each shift performing work activities without compensation.

Specifically, 1-800-Flowers’s call center workers perform off-the-clock work activities without pay prior to clocking in at the beginning of their scheduled shifts, during the beginning and end of their 30-minute unpaid meal breaks, after clocking out at the end of their scheduled shifts, and at various other times during their shifts when they are clocked out for pay purposes. For example, some of this off-the-clock work includes work activities before their paid shifts begin, including, without limitation, activities related to the operation of their computers.  Moreover, when the phones crash or call center workers are otherwise logged out of the phones while performing work activities, 1-800-Flowers does not compensate workers for this time. Through these policies and practices, 1-800-Flowers deliberately fails to pay its employees for all time worked, including overtime, in willful violation of the FLSA and Oregon state law. (Emphasis added)

1-800-Flowers Operates Call Centers Across the USA – Thousands Handle Calls – Call Center Workers Allegedly Instructed to Work “Off-the-Clock” Without Compensation

1-800-Flowers, according to the complaint, operates call centers across the United States and employs thousands of individuals in the company’s call centers to handle calls on behalf of 1-800-Flowers.com, Inc. Family of Brands, such as FruitBouquets.com, Harry & David, and The Popcorn Factory.  The Plaintiff and other individuals similarly situated work in the Medford, Oregon call center, spending the majority of their time handling telephone calls on behalf of the 1-800-Flowers.com, Inc. Family of Brands.  Allegedly, 1-800-Flowers “instructed, required, and/or permitted Plaintiff and its other call center workers to perform work ‘off the clock’ without compensation.”

The complaint also alleges that 1-800-Flowers’s timekeeping system “does not capture all the time its call center workers spend working each day,” and the company “. . . requires its call center workers to perform off-the-clock work activities without pay prior to the beginning of their scheduled shift, during the beginning and end of their 30-minute unpaid meal breaks, after clocking out at the end of their scheduled shifts, and at various other times during their shifts when they are clocked out for pay purposes.”

Further, the complaint alleges that “[o]ther call center workers . . . were scheduled to work 40 hours or more each week and . . . spent time each shift working off the clock over and above their scheduled shifts,” thus “regularly work[ing] overtime hours without being compensated at time and a half of their regular hourly rate for all . . . hours above 40 in a week.”

1-800-Flowers Call Center Customer Service Representatives and Workers

If you served as a 1-800-Flowers Call Center Customer Service Representative or Call Center worker outside of Oregon and believe you were improperly compensated, please contact Michael K. Yarnoff, Esq., (215) 792-6676, Ext. 804, [email protected], complete the form above on the right or e-mail [email protected], if you wish to discuss your potential legal options and claims.

Kehoe Law Firm, P.C.