Denver Colorado Overtime Law
In Miller v. Startek USA, Inc., 2011 WL 1883012, (U.S. D. Col. May 17, 2011), employees, call center workers, acting as customer service representatives and technical service representatives who used defendant's computerized network to perform their duties were not paid for time spent logging in and logging out of programs, waiting for the program to load, or shutting down the workstation. The below case was brought to secure unpaid overtime wages stemming from this uncompensated time that reached unpaid overtime in excess of 40 hours per week.
Like most circuits, the Tenth Circuit adopted the two-step analysis governing the determination of conditional certification. At the initial "notice stage," the trial court must determine whether plaintiffs have made "substantial allegations that the putative class members were together the victims of a single decision, policy, or plan." Colorado federal district courts make this determination by relying on the allegations of the complaint and any affidavits filed by plaintiffs. Certification at this step is conditional, and the standard of proof "is a lenient one that typically results in class certification," allowing notice to be sent to the putative class members and discovery to be undertaken.
Colorado Call Center Overtime Law
Looking solely to the allegations of the Amended Complaint and plaintiff's affidavits, plaintiffs allege that their jobs require them to use defendant's computerized network to assist customers who call in for help with billing, technology, and other questions and issues. In order to perform this work, the employee first must be logged in to the network, and it requires an average of seven to ten minutes to have all necessary programs up and running so that calls may be accepted. However, the system does not begin recording compensable work time until all these tasks are completed and the employee's workstation is available to accept calls. Likewise, once an employee's shift has ended, it requires an average of five minutes to shut down the workstation appropriately. Plaintiffs allege that these preliminary and postliminary tasks are integral and indispensable to their principal work activities and thus, must be compensated at an overtime rate of pay as provided by the FLSA.
The Denver Colorado federal district court concluded that plaintiffs presented substantial allegations that the putative class members were, as a group, the victims of a single decision, policy, or plan resulting in potential violations of the FLSA.
