A class action lawsuit has been filed against computer maker Dell. The lawsuit alleges that the company has 5,000 underpaid call center employees.
The lawsuit was given class-action status last week by a federal judge in Oregon. The suit shall include all U.S. Dell call center employees who worked for the company from February 8, 2004 to the present.
Two employees filed the lawsuit in February 2007 claiming that they were not properly paid for overtime, training, and work preparation time. The employees seek payment for their missing wages, including interest, and to fund the attorneys’ fees.
Eighty more employees have signed on as plaintiffs ever since the case was granted class-action status. The plaintiffs’ lawyers said that the lawsuit applies to as many as 5,000 former and current call center employees from various Dell offices located in Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Idaho, and Oregon.
Dell refused to comment on the specifics of the case but confirmed that the company disputes claims in the case filings.
In retrospect, Dell lost a lawsuit last May brought by the New York attorney general over charges of fraud and deceptive business practices.