Posted on Thu, Nov. 05, 2009

A former employee of Bank of America's Wichita call center has filed a lawsuit against his former employer alleging he is owed unpaid wages.

Curtis Schreiber filed the lawsuit Oct. 29 in U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas.

Schreiber alleges in the lawsuit that it is the bank's "policy and practice to deny earned wages and overtime pay to its hourly employees at its call center facilities," court documents said.

The lawsuit further alleges those policies and practices violate the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

At issue is nonpayment for "preparatory activities" and activities at the end of a shift that "are integral and indispensable to (call center employees) principal work activity," court documents said.

Those activities include retrieval of headsets and other equipment and reviewing memoranda and e-mail before call center employees clock in for their shifts.

"Employees are not allowed to clock in until the beginning of their scheduled shift; however, they must be ready to take phone calls as soon as their shift begins," court documents said.

George Hanson, the Kansas City, Mo., lawyer representing Schreiber, said he is seeking to get the lawsuit certified as a class action.

No other plaintiffs are yet included in the lawsuit, Hanson said, but "there will be others."

"I've had contact with additional folks in Wichita and other call centers," he said.

The class action could extend to include other Bank of America call centers. Hanson estimates there are five or six more in the country.

Bank of America spokeswoman Diane Wagner confirmed that Schreiber was employed by the bank.

But she declined to comment on the lawsuit.

"We don't comment on personnel matters due to privacy," she said.

Contributing: Dan Voorhis of The Eagle Reach Jerry Siebenmark at 316-268-6576 or jsiebenmark@wichitaeagle.com.