Call Center Pay Plan Might Underpay Workers

Xerox Business Services LLC could owe about 10,000 call center workers back wages, according to a ruling by the Washington state supreme court.

That’s because the company, now known as Conduent Business Services LLC, has to pay workers at least minimum wage for every individual hour they work, rather than average their earnings across work hours, as it had done, the court held.

The company’s pay system compensated workers for the time they spent resolving a customer issue on an incoming call and some post-call work. It refers to this time as “production minutes” and considers it a piecework plan ...