Droesch v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.

District Court, N.D. California·Decided December 14, 2022·No. 3:20-cv-06751·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 DENISE DROESCH, et al., Case No. 20-cv-06751-JSC

8 Plaintiffs, ORDER RE: WELLS FARGO’S 9 v. MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT 10 WELLS FARGO BANK, N.A., Re: Dkt. No. 126 Defendant. 11

12 Plaintiffs bring this this wage and hour collective and class action against their current and 13 former employer Wells Fargo Bank N.A. alleging that Wells Fargo fails to pay telephone-based 14 employees for all hours worked. Following conditional certification under Section 216(b) of the 15 Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), Wells Fargo filed the now pending early motion for summary 16 judgment insisting that the named Plaintiffs’ claims fail as a matter of law. (Dkt. No. 126.) 17 Having considered the parties’ briefs, including their supplemental submissions, the relevant law, 18 and having had the benefit of oral argument on November 30, 2022, the Court GRANTS IN 19 PART and DENIES IN PART the motion for summary judgment. Wells Fargo is entitled to 20 summary judgment on Ms. Goins’ claims, but it has not established that it is entitled to judgment 21 on Ms. Thompson’s or Ms. Harrison’s FLSA or state law claims. 22 BACKGROUND 23 Plaintiffs were or are telephone-based employees of Wells Fargo. At the beginning of each 24 workday, Plaintiffs must boot up their computers before they can begin work. Once their 25 computers are booted up, Plaintiffs launch a telephone software program known as either 26 Softphone or ACES, which enables them to receive phone calls. At the end of the workday, 27 Plaintiffs go through the same process to log-off of Softphone/ACES and shutdown their 1 computer. This process is the same regardless of whether the employees are working at a call 2 center or working from home. 3 Non-exempt employees such as Plaintiffs are responsible for recording their own time in a 4 Windows-based computer program called “Time Keeper.” As with the Softphone or ACES 5 program, employees open the Time Keeper program once their computer boots up and manually 6 record the time they start work as well as the time they finish work at the end of the day. 7 According to the Wells Fargo Team Member Handbook, employees are: “responsible for 8 submitting timely and accurate records in Time Tracker of the time you work. This includes any 9 time spent on electronic devices for business purposes.” (Dkt. No. 111-21, Lusk-Herron Decl. at ¶ 10 3; Dkt. No. 111-22—Dkt. No. 111-30 (2017-2021 versions of the Handbook).) 11 Wells Fargo sends an “annual right to be paid” reminder to all non-exempt employees 12 which states in relevant part:

13 Team members are required to record all time worked in Time Tracker, Wells Fargo’s system of record for all timekeeping. Team 14 members should record their actual work start and end times (including meal breaks) - for example, 8 :06 a.m. and 5: 10 p.m., not 15 simply 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. 16 (Dkt. No. 111-21, Lusk-Herron Decl. at ¶ 4; Dkt. No. 111-31—Dkt. No. 111-35 (2017-2021 17 versions of the letter).) The letter also advises employees:

18 If you have concerns or are receiving conflicting guidance about recording your hours worked, contact the Ethicsline at 1-800-382- 19 7250. You may also complete the HR Advisor eForm to request a consultation or visit the Contact HR Advisor page to learn more. 20 (Id). Finally, the Wells Fargo intranet, which is called Teamworks, includes a section called 21 “About Time Tracker” which states: 22 Nonexempt team members are required to use Time Tracker to 23 accurately fill out and complete timesheets. Team members record their actual work start and end times, including time out and back in 24 for meals – for example, 8:06 a.m. to 5:10 p.m., not simply 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. 25 …

26 [ ] Report all your hours worked to ensure that you are paid for all time actually worked, even when it exceeds your scheduled hours. 27 1 (Dkt. No. 111-21, Lusk-Herron Decl. at ¶ 5; Dkt. No. 111-36—Dkt. No. 111-41 (2017-2021 2 versions of Teamworks).) 3 Plaintiff Kyonna Harrison began working for Wells Fargo in 2012 and continues to work 4 out of their Banking Call Center in San Bernardino, California as an Account Resolution 5 Specialist 3. (Dkt. No. 111-21, Lusk-Herron Decl. at ¶¶ 13-14.) Shakara Thompson worked for 6 Wells Fargo from 2015-2021 as a Financial Crimes Specialist in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Dkt. 7 No. 111-2, Lusk-Herron Decl. at ¶¶ 10-12.) Shana Goins worked for Wells Fargo as a Phone 8 Banker in Phoenix, Arizona from 2010-2017. (Dkt. No. 111-21, Lusk-Herron Decl. at ¶¶ 16-17; 9 Dkt. No. 106 at ¶ 14.) Ms. Goins went on medical leave in 2017. (Dkt. No. 111-21 at ¶ 18.) 10 When Ms. Goins returned to work in 2019, she was placed in a training class during which time 11 she did not answer any calls or have access to the computers. (Dkt. No. 111-4, Goins Depo. at 12 32:19-33:3.) 13 DISCUSSION 14 Plaintiffs bring claims under the FLSA and their respective state laws contending that 15 Wells Fargo failed to pay them for all time worked. Because Wells Fargo required they be “call- 16 ready” at the start of their shift, they had to spend unpaid time before their shift began booting up 17 their computer and reviewing emails. They similarly contend that because they had to remain call- 18 ready until their shift ended, they spent unpaid time after their shift documenting issues that arose 19 during calls throughout their shifts (“after-call-work”) and logging off their computer. Plaintiffs 20 concede that Wells Fargo’s written policy requires employees to record all their time, including 21 time spent before or after their shifts, but contend Wells Fargo supervisors and performance 22 evaluation metrics discouraged them from recording the time booting up their computers at start of 23 the day and logging off their systems at the end of the day.1 Wells Fargo insists that Plaintiffs’ 24 claims fail because it lacked knowledge of their off-the-clock work, and any such off-the-clock 25

26 1 As the Court does not rely on Plaintiffs’ metrics’ argument in resolving Wells Fargo’s motion it does not address Wells Fargo’s argument that Plaintiffs are barred from proceeding under this 27 “theory” because it was not alleged in their complaint. 1 work was de minimis. 2 I. FLSA Claim 3 A. Wells Fargo’s Knowledge of Overtime Work 4 The FLSA requires employers to pay employees 1.5 times their regular pay for any time 5 worked over 40 hours per workweek. 29 U.S.C. § 207. “[A]n employer who knows or should 6 have known that an employee is or was working overtime” violates section 207. Forrester v. 7 Roth's I. G. A. Foodliner, Inc., 646 F.2d 413, 414 (9th Cir. 1981). Where the employer is aware of 8 the overtime work, the employee is not required to make a claim for overtime compensation to 9 trigger the obligation; “[h]owever, where an employer has no knowledge that an employee is 10 engaging in overtime work and that employee fails to notify the employer or deliberately prevents 11 the employer from acquiring knowledge of the overtime work, the employer’s failure to pay for 12 the overtime hours is not a violation of [the FLSA].” Id. 13 Wells Fargo insists that it had no knowledge of Plaintiffs’ overtime work and emphasizes 14 its written policies requiring employees to record all time worked in Time Tracker. Plaintiffs 15 maintain that notwithstanding the policies, Wells Fargo was on at least inquiry notice that 16 Plaintiffs were working without compensation. Drawing reasonable inferences from the record 17 evidence in Plaintiffs’ favor, a trier of fact could find the following. 18 First, Wells Fargo supervisors told Ms. Thompson and Ms.

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