EAST ST. LOUIS - A federal class action alleges Allied Universal Protection Services underpays employees by paying them based on scheduled hours rather than actual hours worked.
Halbert James, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois against Universal Protection Service LLC, doing business as Allied Universal Security Services.
"Allied Universal fails to compensate its hourly-paid employees for all time worked in two ways: by following a procedure and policy of paying employees based on scheduled start and end times rather than for all time worked; and by requiring and/or permitting its employees to perform pre-shift work and post-shift work off-the-clock and without pay," the suit states.
According to the complaint, James worked from approximately Spring 2021 to June 6, 2022, as an hourly employee at Solvay Flourides, a chemical company in Cahokia. Solvay Clourides is one of Allied Universal's clients.
Although employees are required to clock in and out of work, James alleges the company calculates wages based on the scheduled work hours rather than actual time worked.
"As a direct consequence of the Timekeeping Policy, defendant has been systematically underpaying its employees significant sums of wages," the suit states.
James claims the alleged violations "will be shown from, among other things, a comparison of the paystubs defendant issued to its employees and defendant's own time records for those same employees."
He seeks back wages, plus damages and attorney's fees. He is represented by James Bormes of the Law Office of James X. Bormes PC in Chicago.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois case number 22-cv-1668