• Home
  • News
  • Business
  • Victoria's Secret reaches 12 million dollar settlement

Victoria's Secret reaches 12 million dollar settlement

By Kristopher Fraser

loading...

Scroll down to read more

Business

Victoria's Secret has learned their lesson about paying their employees and not messing with their time. The company has reached a 12 million dollar settlement for their use of call-in shifts.

A call-in or on-call shift is where a retail store will over schedule hours in case the store is busier than expected at a given time. Employees call in a few hours before the on-call time posted on their schedule, and they are told whether or not they are needed. If they are not needed, they are not compensated for their potential scheduled time.

In 2014, a Victoria's Secret employee named Mayra Casas decided this was unethical and unfair to employees, so he hired a lawyer and took on Victoria's Secret in a class action lawsuit. The employees involved in the suit declared that call-in shifts "required them to mold their lives around the possibility that they might have the chance to work more hours."

The lawsuit originated in California. According to California labor law, employees must be paid for reporting time for on-call shifts, equating to payment of half the shift if they don't end up working, or equal to two hours if they are called in for less than one hour of work.

Victoria's Secret to pay out 12 million dollars in lawsuit

The original lawsuit asked for 37 million dollars in damages, and asked for compensation for time employees spent waiting for managers to unlock and lock stores. The employees won an appeal for Victoria Secret's total dismissal of the lawsuit, and the end settlement of 12 million dollars was reached.

The settlement will be split 70-30, with 8 million dollars going towards former and current employees, and 3.6 million going towards the legal counsel. Victoria's Secret will not be able to regain any unclaimed settlement money. An approval hearing is scheduled for July.

This ongoing lawsuit has affected the scheduling practices of several retailers nationwide, far before this verdict was announced. In December 2016, AP announced that six retailers agreed to stop using on-call scheduling following an inquiry by a coalition of nine attorney generals.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said 50,000 retail workers nationwide benefitted from this.

“On-call shifts are not a business necessity and should be a thing of the past,” Schneiderman said in a statement. “People should not have to keep the day open, arrange for child care and give up other opportunities without being compensated for their time.”

photo: via Victoria's Secret Facebook page
Victoria's Secret