Summary Judgment Ruling in Comcast FLSA Complaint Vacated
A U.S. District Court magistrate judge in Chicago threw out his 2015 summary judgment ruling in a lawsuit brought by cable line technicians against Comcast, granting part of the plaintiffs' motion to reconsider. The 2012 complaint alleged Fair Labor Standards…
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Act and Illinois Minimum Wage Law violations as Comcast would encourage its technicians to spend time before and after their shifts doing such tasks as loading or unloading their vehicles and that they were entitled to compensation for time they spent on call as they were “highly restricted” during such on-call shifts. The motion for reconsideration dealt with only the on-call claim. In an order issued Thursday, Judge Young Kim said the motion "shed a clearer light on the facts in the record" by highlighting testimony that supported the argument Comcast had a custom or practice of compensating employees for time spent on tasks but that individual managers began encouraging or instructing workers to work off the clock. "The plaintiffs are not simply changing strategy on this point or rehashing old arguments but rather drawing attention to the court's misapprehension of the facts presented," Kim said. Comcast didn't comment Friday.