Call Center Workers’ $1.4 Million Award Affirmed by 9th Circuit

A federal appellate court found a telecom company misclassified more than 1,300 call center employees as independent contractors and must pay them $1.4 million in back wages and damages, the U.S. Labor Department announced Tuesday.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s decision to affirm a lower court’s ruling came only nine days after oral argument were presented in San Francisco. The panel adhered to its longstanding six-factor economic realities test to find the call center workers at the Las Vegas company, Wellfleet Communications, are in fact employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act because they’re dependent on ...