Today, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal by Amazon.com in a wage and hour case involving workers required to pass through security checkpoints before leaving work at Amazon warehouses. The workers allege that they are not being properly paid for the time, which can often amount to 20 minutes for every occurrence. Amazon lost its bid to strike the action when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found the claim was viable under the law. Amazon sought leave from the Supreme Court to hear the case, Integrity Staffing Solutions v. Jesse Busk et al.
Sommers Schwartz is currently representing hundreds of Amazon workers in the same litigation, which (as discussed in a prior blog post) was recently centralized into a multidistrict proceeding in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky before the Judge John G. Heyburn. Employment attorney Jason. J. Thompson represents workers from Washington, California, Kentucky, Arizona, and Pennsylvania in this putative class action.
Mr. Thompson commented on the appeal saying, “The legal issue in this case is who primarily benefits from the security checkpoints. I can’t imagine that our Supreme Court would tell thousands of workers they have to volunteer, off the clock, to help Amazon guard against workplace theft.”
When asked if the Supreme Court’s decision to hear the appeal spells doom for the workers, Thompson said, “No, it tells me that they recognize the importance of this case in today’s big-box marketplace, and that they see the need to provide guidance to the other Circuits on this question. But, obviously we hope they tell employers to pay their workers for the time.”
If you suspect that your employer is withholding pay or improperly reducing your compensation, know that federal and state laws are in place to protect you. Please call us today to discuss your case and learn how we can help.
Jason J. Thompson
Jason Thompson is a nationally board certified trial attorney and co-chairs Sommers Schwartz’s Complex Litigation Department. He has a formidable breadth of litigation experience, including class action and multidistrict litigation (MDL), and practices nationwide in both state and federal courts.
