Target warehouses are so large that workers spend almost 30 minutes walking from the entrance to their work station, and are not paid for it – which could be costing them up to $2,000 per year, a new lawsuit alleges.
Employees paid by the hour working at warehouses in New York state are required to clock in at the entrance of the “enormous” industrial sites, though their pay does not account for the time spent walking “up to approximately half a mile” into the facilities.
The suit, filed this week in the U.S. District Court in Albany and seen by The Independent, alleges Target is in violation of state labor laws and seeks class action status. Former employee Jeanna Kratzert and current employee Neil Mosher are named as plaintiffs.
It focuses on two sites, located in Wilton and Amsterdam, in New York which are approximately 1.5 million and 1.8 million square feet, respectively. The two sites employ a combined 2,000 people, the suit states.
Hourly employees of the warehouses are required to walk long distances, “up to approximately half a mile” to and from their assigned departments, where they are required to clock in at the start of each shift and clock out at the end of each shift, according to the suit.
Though Target requires such employees to swipe their badges for security purposes at the entrance of the warehouse, Target has allegedly refused to pay Kratzert, Mosher, and thousands of other hourly-paid warehouse workers “for the time they spent walking to and from their assigned time clocks.”
“In so doing, Target failed to pay Plaintiffs for all of their work time at their promised wage rate, and failed to pay them the state minimum wage for all hours worked, in violation of the New York Labor Law,” the suit states.
The suit estimates that the unpaid time adds up to “more than two million dollars annually” – noting the “massive wealth transfer” from the workers who generally earn between $39,000 and $57,000 a year – to Target, a corporation with a net worth estimated at over $43 billion.
In addition, the suit alleges that Target also violated the labor laws by failing to pay the plaintiffs for time spent walking in the warehouse that went beyond 40 hours in a workweek at the overtime premium rate.
“In this day and age, there is no technological barrier to paying Plaintiffs and other employees for such time,” the suit states, noting that Target already tracks the times employees enter and leave the building.
“So it can readily calculate the time Plaintiffs and other employees spend walking to and from their assigned time clocks inside the warehouse.”
For each employee who is not paid for walking time, that time can add up to approximately $1,000 to $2,000 per year, the suit alleges.
The suit also notes that, despite not being the central complaint, that Target employees have also been subject to bag checks before entering the facility. The suit notes that the complaint may be updated, if it is found this also impacts on time that employees are not paid.
The Independent has reached out to Target for comment on the lawsuit.
