Former GEICO employee in Macon sues company for allegedly violating federal labor laws
A former employee of GEICO’s call center in Macon is suing the insurance company for allegedly violating federal labor laws and retaliating against her when she complained.
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court in Macon, Amalia Benvenutti claims GEICO routinely did not pay her for all the hours she worked and required her and other employees to underreport hours.
As a customer service representative, Benvenutti alleges she was scheduled to work eight hours and 15 minutes a day, but only paid for seven hours and 45 minutes when a 30-minute unpaid lunch break was factored in.
However, the lawsuit claims CSRs are only paid for the number of hours they’re logged into a software application called Finesse. Employees are given a quota on the number of calls they have to handle during their 7.75 hour work day, and not meeting the quota “may result in discipline for poor work performance,” the lawsuit alleges.
Answering emails, booting up her work computer and frequent issues with the software resulted in Benvenutti having to work during her unpaid break or after her shift had ended, the lawsuit claims, during her three years at GEICO.
The lawsuit alleges GEICO violated the Fair Labor Standards Act and owes Benvenutti compensation for all the hours worked, including unpaid overtime hours.
The lawsuit also claims the company created a hostile work environment for her after Benvenutti complained about the unpaid hours to management and HR.
GEICO has three weeks to respond to the lawsuit. The Macon office is GEICO’s largest regional office with around 7,000 employees.
This story was originally published May 12, 2022 at 3:28 PM.
