T-Mobile sued for not covering the costs it imposes on employees

As it became known Wednesday, T-Mobile might face a class action lawsuit over claims that it made employees work without pay using mobile phones and email devices, breaking the US employment laws in New York and California at a time of always-on communications.

Thus, the law company Pelton and Associates in New York appeal people to join a class action over the issue. Class action suits are a way for a single hearing to judge the cases of many people in very similar situations, that can result in payouts of billions of dollars in damages because of the potentially large number of litigants. 

"The Complaint alleges that T-Mobile hired retail sales associates and supervisors who were required to work well over forty hours per week yet were not paid wages or overtime compensation for all of the hours that they were required to work," said a statement from Pelton and Associates.

"The Complaint alleges that these employees were issued T-Mobile smart devices and were required to review and respond to numerous T-Mobile-related emails and text messages at all hours of the day and night, whether or not they were logged into T-Mobile's computer-based timekeeping system," it said.

"The Complaint also alleges that the employees were required to take and place T-Mobile-related telephone calls, participate on T-Mobile conference calls and to work 'off the clock' during scheduled lunch breaks," said the law firm's statement.

"While plaintiffs were classified as non-exempt hourly employees they were typically required to spend 10-15 hours per week reviewing and responding to email, texts, phone calls, participating on conference calls and studying/reviewing corporate documents for which they were not paid any compensation," said the court filing.

However, as T-Mobile told the Wall Street Journal, the company was in compliance with the law.