American Express is ranked 15th Most Valuable Brand in the World by BusinessWeek. Its customer service vendor violated state and federal labor laws, according to a lawsuit filed late on Tuesday in federal court.

A telephone worker at American Express Travel Related Services Company ("American Express Travel") in Greensboro, NC, Ashley Amick alleges that he and his coworkers, who handle telephone inquiries from American Express customers regarding their credit card and investment services, were not paid for all the hours they worked and did not receive overtime pay as required by federal Fair Labor Standards Act and North Carolina state laws. The lawsuit seeks to recover minimum wages and overtime compensation for hundreds of workers at American Express Travel call centers across the country.

"No matter how long we worked each day, they only paid us for our scheduled shift. I spent part of each week working for free," Mr. Amick said.

According to the Complaint, call center workers frequently had to work on their lunch hours to catch up on paper-work. If a call continues into a lunch period, they are required by to continue servicing the customer's telephone call. In addition, workers were not supposed to clock in before they had started a computer and reviewed the day's technical notices and often had to continue working after their shift ended.

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