Albertson's workers sue for backpay in Seattle court.

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 12, 1996--Brushing aside an 11th-hour company attempt to block employees from initiating lawsuits with assistance from their union, seven current and former Albertson's employees Wednesday filed a class action lawsuit seeking backpay for the grocery chain's alleged "pattern and practice" of not paying employees for all time worked.

The 1.4 million-member United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW), which represents some 31,000 of the chain's 85,000 employees, is financially supporting the suit. A similar action will be filed in California, and the union is investigating Albertson's practices in other states.

On Monday, Albertson's Inc. filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Boise, Idaho, seeking to bar union-represented employees from "filing or initiating" such actions without "first exhaust(ing) the grievance-arbitration" procedure in their union contracts.

In a letter to the union's Albertson's members, UFCW Executive Vice Presidents Carl C. Huber and David T. Barry noted that state and federal laws allow workers to recover wages going back years, whereas Albertson's seeks to limit recovery of back wages to weeks or months, and to avoid the damages for repeat and willful violations provided by law.

"Through its suit," the union leaders maintained, "Albertson's is seeking to deny these better remedies to its employees."

Union attorneys assert there is no legal basis for Albertson's to deny its employees these rights under state or federal law.

In the meantime, however, the UFCW filed charges Wednesday with the National Labor Relations Board asking that Albertson's "pre- emptive" lawsuit be declared an unfair labor practice for unlawfully interfering with protected employee rights.

"It is more than ironic that Albertson's, which has systematically sought to weaken and undermine the grievance procedure, now tries to tell employees that it is the only way to address claims for unpaid wages earned for working off the clock," Huber and Barry continued.

The employee lawsuit alleges "Albertson's has engaged in patterns and practices of unlawful conduct by 1) permitting employees to work 'off the clock' i.e. without recording all time worked and without pay, 2) threatening to discharge or otherwise discriminate against employees who complain that Albertson's has permitted them to work off the clock, and 3) failing to permit employees to take rest breaks prescribed by (state law) on the employer's time."

More than 1,500 Albertson's workers have given the law firm retained by the UFCW, Webster, Mrak and Blumberg of Seattle, "declarations under penalty of perjury attesting to work they have performed for Albertson's off the clock." In the company's lawsuit, Albertson's labels these off-the-clock work claims as "false allegations." Huber and Barry decried that Albertson's is "accusing its own employees of dishonesty."

Several years ago, a similar UFCW investigation of a non-union chain, Food Lion, which competes with Albertson's in Florida and Texas, raised 300 claims which prompted a U.S. Labor Department suit that was settled for $16.2 million in backpay and fines. The same Washington, D.C., law firm that advised Food Lion in its unsuccessful defense against the UFCW claims, Akin Gump, is also listed as counsel to Albertson's in its suit against the UFCW.

The union-assisted complaint claims "many other employees of Albertson's wish to give such declarations and make claims for wages owing for work they have performed off the clock, but Albertson's has threatened to retaliate against them if they do so and employees fear such retaliation."

While Albertson's has a stated policy prohibiting off-the-clock work, the complaint insists, "Albertson's threatens employees with reduced hours, demotion, discharge and other punishments if they fail to complete their work assignments within their scheduled hours."

For workers who record extra hours to complete assignments, the complaint continues, "Albertson's carries out its threats by cutting their scheduled work hours, reducing or eliminating their bonuses or those of their managers, cutting off career development opportunities (including opportunities for promotion to managerial positions), or terminating their employment.

"In order to obtain paychecks and avoid discipline or discharge, employees of Albertson's must certify from time to time that they have not worked off the clock," the lawsuit contends, enabling Albertson's to permit off-the-clock work to "occur unchecked so long as management believes it can claim ignorance" of it.

When employees report working off the clock, "Albertson's blames the employees for violating written company policy that subjects them "to disciplinary action which may include termination of both the employee working the hours and the person(s) responsible for letting it occur," the lawsuit states, quoting the company's Time-Clock Policy that is distributed to employees.

"Albertson's written policy is unlawful on its face," the employees maintain, "because it authorizes retaliation against employees who complain about Albertson's failure to record and pay for all time Albertson's permits them to work." The suit claims store directors, department managers, division directors and top corporate managers "have known or should have known" about the off-the-clock problem.

"Albertson's has a pattern and practice of attempting to shield itself from liability for unlawful employment practices by maintaining written policies that purport to forbid the unlawful practices, while at the same time maintaining conditions that foster the unlawful practices," the complaint adds. Such practices outlined in the suit include:

-- discouraging employees from reporting job-related injuries or illnesses or making worker's compensation claims, and encouraging them to either ignore the injuries or to make claims for other benefits that are "less advantageous to the employees and less costly for Albertson's than worker's compensation;"

-- discouraging employees from taking rest breaks as prescribed by Washington law;

-- assigning lower-paid workers to perform work in higher-paid job classifications, but "having store directors sign statements" they don't, while "at the same time" directing them to continue assigning "the work to lower-paid employees;"

-- permitting the alteration of employee time records to reduce the amount of time recorded "for example by entering times for lunch breaks through which employees have continued to work;" and

-- urging freight employees to "run with their loads so as to perform the assigned tasks more quickly."

The employee suit seeks backpay, compensatory damages and an injunction requiring Albertson's to pay employees for all time worked, keep accurate time records, "cease and desist" from threatening to discipline or discharge employees who make claims, and provide legally-required rest breaks.

The named plaintiffs are:

-- Jackie Choate, an eight-year bakery decorator in Albertson's Port Orchard store, whose store director threatened to fire her manager again, told him about all of the off-the-clock work going on and "routinely delayed providing accident report and claim forms to injured employees" to keep the managers' bonuses high;

-- Marilyn "Marty" Burkhardt, a seven-year meat cutter and meat manager in Bremerton, Port Orchard and Tacoma stores, given a written warning for injuring herself while hurrying to finish a task for which she was given insufficient time. Burkhardt also reported that when she asked the district manager, who observed her off-the-clock work, when Albertson's would give her department more hours to complete their tasks, he replied that "Albertson's had always been tight on labor and...was not going to let up...because he was opening up another 200 stores in the next two years and was paying 90 percent cash."

-- Ryan Hansen worked for four years as a helper clerk and freight clerk in a Tacoma store and was told he'd be "history" if he recorded the overtime he worked;

-- Rick Henry, an eight-year clerk in the Bremerton and Poulsbo stores, who was forced to work late on school nights and had his hours cut when he could not "devote as much time to work off the clock" because of a sick child;

-- Lisa Hole, an 11-year former employee who earlier this year left her position as a price checker in Albertson's division office in Bellevue, who claims to have told a company attorney, Bill Carter, about working off the clock;

-- Bob Markholt, a "floating" meatcutter who worked in 10 stores untill he left in 1994, and says he was regularly given more work than could be finished in his assigned hours; and

-- Eric Von Eschen worked in Kent and Federal Way stores until 1995, and suffers from hypoglycemia but was denied rest breaks and the opportunity to eat to maintain his blood sugar levels.

In their letter to union members, Huber and Barry note that Albertson's suit alleges the UFCW's motivation is "to force Albertson's to recognize the Union as the bargaining representative for all employees in certain non-union stores."

Huber and Barry dismiss Albertson's allegation as "patently absurd," since there is "no legal way" for the union to represent employees without a demonstration of majority support by the employees. "Albertson's knows this, so its allegation is patently absurd," they conclude, and simply an effort to avoid paying millions of dollars in back wages. -0-

NOTE: For copies of the employees' suit contact Joe Peterson, UFCW, at the offices of Webster, Mrak and Blumberg, 206-223-0344, ext. 243.

CONTACT: United Food and Commercial Workers International Union

Greg Denier or Al Zack, 202/223-3111

Joe Peterson, 206/223-0344, ext. 243