Victoria's Secret has learnt a lesson about paying its employees and not messing with their time. The company has reached a 12 million dollar settlement for their use of call-in shifts.
A call-in or on-call shift is where a retail store will over schedule hours in case the store is busier than expected at a given time. Employees call in a few hours before the on-call time posted on their schedule, and they are told whether or not they are needed. If they are not needed, they are not compensated for their potential scheduled time.
In 2014, a Victoria's Secret employee named Mayra Casas decided this was unethical and unfair to employees, so he hired a lawyer and took on Victoria's Secret in a class action lawsuit. The employees involved in the suit declared that call-in shifts required them to mold their lives around the possibility that they might have the chance to work more hours.
The lawsuit originated in California. According to California labor law, employees must be paid for reporting time for on-call shifts, equating to payment of half the shift if they don't end up working, or equal to two hours if they are called in for less than one hour of work.
This ongoing lawsuit has affected the scheduling practices of several retailers in the US. Six retailers have agreed to stop using on-call scheduling following an inquiry by a coalition of nine attorney generals.
