Claim: In California, the online shopping behemoth shaves wages through timeclock system and failure to pay for split shifts

August 1, 2017

LOS ANGELES — Two of Amazon’s California fulfillment centers are rounding clock-in and clock-out times, shaving a few minutes of time – and wages – from thousands of employees’ paychecks, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in California Superior Court. The company is also accused of not paying employees working split shifts an hour’s pay differential, which is required under California labor law.

“For a few hours last week Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was the world’s wealthiest person, his worth topping $90 billion,” said Attorney David Yeremian, whose Los Angeles practice specializes in employment law. “But how much of his success comes at the expense of thousands of workers at Amazon fulfillment centers who aren’t paid all the wages they are due?”

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of former fulfillment center employees Linda Quinteros and Christopher Ward. Quinteros worked in Patterson, Calif. Ward worked in San Bernardino, Calif.

Fulfillment center operator Golden State FC, LLC, was named as a defendant along with Amazon in the suit, filed Tuesday, Aug. 1, in Stanislaus County Superior Court. The suit seeks class action certification.

Seeking temporary relief from collecting sales tax, Amazon in 2012 struck a deal with California and agreed to build new fulfillment centers in Patterson, in Stanislaus County, and in San Bernardino. Today, Amazon’s one million-square-foot Patterson warehouse is the county’s top employer. Two Amazon fulfillment centers in San Bernardino County – in the city of San Bernardino and in Redding – are the county’s top employers. Amazon employs thousands of people at nine fulfillment centers in California and is building two more Inland Empire facilities.
Golden State FC LLC was created to build the fulfillment centers, formed by Amazon; H. Ross Perot’s Fort Worth, Texas-based development company, Hillwood Properties; and New York-based real estate investment manager, Clarion Partners.