Walmart Worker Advances Would-Be Class Suit Over Pre-Shift Wages

A worker employed at a Walmart Inc. food distribution center may proceed with proposed class action seeking wages for time spent retrieving work-related tools and putting on protective equipment before his shifts, a federal judge in Nevada ruled.

Walmart argued that plaintiff Christopher Nelson failed to plausibly allege Nevada minimum wage violations because he earned roughly $22.50 per hour and thus his average hourly earnings per week, including pre-shift work, exceeded the state’s floor of $8.75 an hour.

But nothing in Nevada law “permits averaging unpaid overtime with compensated regularly scheduled work to provide cover for employers who do not ...