February 1st, 2018
Posted By
Kerry V. O’Brien

On January 16, 2018, the O'Brien Law Firm firm sued entities doing business as ETECH GLOBAL SERVICES, on behalf of two former call center workers and all of their former coworkers who were also denied overtime pay and regular pay that they had rightfully earned. In the suit, the Dallas call center workers allege that instead of using a time clock to punch-in and punch-out to track their work time, ETech used a clunky system of "exception time." Generally speaking, Etech would only include certain periods of time when the workers were actively engaged in certain activities as payable time, and the workers could request to be paid for other periods of time - "exception time" - when they were kicked offline, or meeting with a manager, or doing many other things that are payable as work by law, but that Etech was not tracking. Witnesses allege that the system was inadequate, and managers would even refuse to pay requested "exception time" on many occasions. Witnesses also allege that sometimes, actual work time simply didn't show up in Etech's tracking system. It is a despicable practice that even led some of these call centers workers to tears when they would receive a paycheck with so many less hours than they knew they worked. This is called "stopwatch" timekeeping, and it would be illegal under these types of circumstances.

The O'Brien Law Firm is working hard to ensure that Etech is held responsible for what appears to be highly illegal timekeeping practices. That case is Wilson et al. v. Etech Global Services LLC, et al., Civil Action No. 3:18-cv-00053, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division. If you believe you have been denied overtime pay from your work at Etech Global Services, contact our firm today at 844-OBRIEN4 (844-627-4364).