Bank of America is facing a proposed class action lawsuit alleging it failed to pay hundreds of hourly employees for time spent booting up their computers and logging into work systems before their official shifts began.
Filed on October 23 in federal court, the complaint by former employee Tava Martin accuses the financial giant of violating the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by not compensating workers for essential pre-shift and post-shift computer tasks.
According to the filing, employees were required to perform several steps before they could clock in — including starting up their computers, logging into multiple security systems, connecting to VPNs, downloading spreadsheets, and launching required software. These processes reportedly took 15 to 30 minutes each morning, and sometimes longer when technical issues occurred.
Martin, who worked both remotely and at Bank of America’s Jacksonville facility, claims the company’s strict “phone ready” policy required employees to be available to take customer calls the moment their shift started. However, workers couldn’t even access the timekeeping system until after completing these setup tasks — meaning that significant amounts of time went unpaid.
The complaint further alleges that workers faced pressure not to record any time outside their scheduled hours. Paystubs routinely showed exactly 40 hours per week, regardless of the extra time spent on system startup or shutdown.
Even during lunch breaks, when systems would disconnect, employees reportedly had to re-log in — taking another three to five minutes of unpaid time each day. Shutting down and logging off securely at the end of shifts also added two to three minutes of uncompensated work.
Martin, who earned $46.17 per hour through a staffing agency but worked under Bank of America’s supervision, says the unpaid time should have been compensated — especially when it pushed total hours above 40 per week, qualifying for overtime pay.
The lawsuit cites 2008 guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor, which specifies that for call center workers, booting computers and opening applications needed to perform job duties count as compensable work time.
Martin seeks to represent hundreds of current and former remote Business Analysts and similar hourly workers affected by the same policy. The case — Martin v. Bank of America — is currently in its early stages, with no court ruling yet on whether it will proceed as a class or collective action.
As of now, Bank of America has not issued a public response to the allegations.
