A federal judge in Kansas has denied Bank of America's motion to dismiss a multidistrict litigation class action brought by branch and call-center employees accusing the bank of deliberately failing to pay overtime wages in violation of state and federal laws. The class could include as many as 200,000 workers, according to co-lead plaintiffs counsel Brendan Donelon of Donelon P.C.

In a 26-page opinion (pdf), Kansas City federal district court Judge John Lungstrum held that the 12 named plaintiffs provided sufficient details of "numerous alleged ways in which the Bank routinely denied overtime compensation to its retail branch and call center employees and [the complaint] details the nature of the work that employees were allegedly required to perform off-the-clock."

The plaintiffs have alleged that they were forced to work without compensation before and after their shifts, as well as during meal breaks, due to understaffing. Call center employees, for example, were allegedly forced to perform various tasks off the clock, such as retrieving headsets, reviewing memoranda and e-mail, and shutting down and cleaning up the workstation.

Donelon said he was not surprised by the decision. "I don't think there's any legal authority that says just because it's an MDL, the pleading standard is even higher than what's required by Iqbal or Twombly," he said.

In a separate decision (pdf), Lungstrum handed the plaintiffs another victory by agreeing not to toll the statute of limitations until after all potential class members were notified. Citing the delays and logistical difficulties inherent to an MDL, the judge refused to adopt the bank's position that the clock be restarted immediately. Donelon said that without this ruling, a lot of potential class members might have already lost their right to join the class. (click on link to read full story)