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Victoria’s Secret has settled a multi-million dollar class-action suit in federal court in California, agreeing to pay $12 million to avoid trial. The suit, which was filed in a California court in August 2014 by Mayra Casas and Julio Fernandez on behalf of themselves and a class of current and former Victoria’s Secret employees, alleged that the Ohio-based lingerie giant failed to adequately pay store clerks as a result of its policy of “call-in” shifts.
According to the complaint, the plaintiffs claimed that Victoria’s Secret observed two differing types of shifts: Traditionally scheduled shifts and mandatory on-call shifts. In accordance with Victoria’s Secret policy, for the on-call shifts employees were required to call their manager roughly two hours before the start of their shift to confirm if they would be needed that day. If an employee called in and was not need that day, he/she was not owned “reporting time pay.”
As noted by Law360, “The plaintiffs contended that under a California labor law – known as Wage Order 7-2001, which entitles employees to pay when they report to work but are furnished less than half of their scheduled shift – employees who were required to call their store two hours before a scheduled shift to find out whether they would be working that shift qualify as having ‘reported’ to work.”
In July 2015, less than a year after the lawsuit was filed, Victoria’s Secret ended its use of call-in shifts entirely, and now, the retailer has agreed to furnish a $12 million settlement, of which the thousands of sales clerks who were part of the class action (the original complaint estimated that as many as 28,000 individuals may have been affected by the call-in shift practice) will receive a portion, as will the plaintiffs’ counsel.
Columbus-based L Brands, which owns Victoria’s Secret, was not immediately available for comment.
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