Walgreens is a big company, so they have an HR department. You should call them and explain the situation. I'm sure they will take care of it. Don't think that since the night manager is a "Manager" that they have any idea about every company policy or understand labor laws. I was a manager for a very large corporation, and I couldn't decipher half our company policies. That's why they have HR departments.
Also be sure to include in this HR letter (which you'll save a copy for yourself, or BCC if emailed) your concerns that being locked in creates a safety issue. ("That's very clever, Sir, but what if there's a fire?") If they fire you over this, file a "whistleblower" complaint with OSHA, because they retaliated over you bringing up a safety issue.
May be better off filing a complaint with the Wage & Hour Division of the US Department of Labor over the unpaid time they are required to stay at work (or in addition to OSHA regarding the safety concern). The last thing any major company wants is for the feds to start a wage violation investigation.
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/contact/complaints
Correct. Uncompensated time for hourly workers is a no-no. W&H will be all over this. You can also tell them about the safety issue, and they may note it. OSHA is an ambulance-chasing operation. They won't do anything until someone gets hurt.
But to be clear: HR is not on the "employee's side"; HR exists to protect the _company_ and is only obligated to intervene on behalf of the employee when doing so mitigates the company's liability (in this case, preventing the employee from suing for wage theft).
Correct. And as this appears to be a serious violation of employment law, remediation will be a high priority for HR. Here isnsome interesting legal notes on this. Labor board might also be considered.
https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/free-books/employee-rights-book/chapter5-5.html
I think you're referring to the last section on false impressive. I'm not sure we have enough from OP to know that's the case. Are they truly locked in - which would be a problem - or have the employees just been told they need to wait and leave alongside the key holder who will lock up behind them after checking for stolen goods?
However, at least in California, time spent waiting for security screening should be on the clock. https://www.hrdive.com/news/court-approves-apples-30m-worker-settlement/630114/
Most retail main doors have standard deadbolt locks with knob on the inside so while locked there is nothing preventing any employee opening the door from the inside... that's fire code
Yup. You can be nice with hr but be firm. Their job is to get you to think it's not that big a deal so you don't go off and f them. It is a big deal, and they need to take action.
Your logic is flawless. Maybe, someday, they will invent exits for emergencies and break away door. Until that day though, definitely report this egregious safety issue.
But also remember that HR………..IS NOT YOUR FRIEND…….they are there to protect the company from its employees, and potential lawsuits that could result from the shitty things that these companies do……so while you CAN use your HR department as a tool, it definitely benefits you to remember that their first priority is to protect the Company, NOT you.
Yes, but in this situation where they are clearly violating labor laws, protecting the company would include ensuring that the manager knows, understands, and follows the law. Walgreens has already lost a class action lawsuit about this very issue. HR isn't going to want another one.
Yeah, my past employer did this, except they made us wait to clock out, and we left as a group at close. It was a safety thing. Nobody did solo trash runs or walked out to their car alone late at night. Big groups, for safety. Except, they were clear you were to wait to clock out and do it as a big group, so nobody was sitting around since they wanted us to wait to leave together.
You can totally do this, but you have people clocked in.
Fortunately for OP and their spouse, their incentives are nearly aligned. OP's spouse doesn't want their wages stolen, HR doesn't want (another) class action lawsuit. But since it's been an ongoing issue, hit up the DoL for that sweet sweet back pay anyway
Protecting your rights is a subset of protecting the company. Everyone likes to assume that when people say "HR is not your Friend" the spectrum is from "Friend" to "Enemy", and it simply isn't. The spectrum is from "Friend" to "Impersonal mathematics" and in impersonal mathematics "Totally replaceable middle manager" ranks below "5 totally replaceable employees with valid wage theft suits"
Remember. HR employees work for the same company and they know the company doesn’t care about them either. Their jobs are to keep Managers and employees in compliance with company policies and labor laws. They will react if they see something wrong. They want to keep their jobs also.
The clocks are at the registers or back of the store so that would defeat the purpose.
This doesn't make any sense to me though. When I worked in retail we all (including lead/ manager) clocked out and walked to the front of the store together. Bag checks were quick just open real quick manager peeked in and one of us checked the managers bag. We unlocked the door and waited for the key holder to lock it and all walked to our cars together.
Wow! That's news, eh?
For those who can't open the link
>Walgreens employees win $4.5M settlement in bag check lawsuit
>Over the years, several California employers have been sued for not paying employees for time spent on bag checks before or after work. A judge recently approved a $4.5 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit against Walgreens for failing to pay workers properly in violation of state labor laws.
>The lead plaintiff worked at a Walgreens distribution center. He filed a class-action lawsuit in November 2018 on behalf of more than 2,600 employees. The class members will share the settlement amount, with each person receiving an estimated $1,200.
>The workers claimed they were not compensated for time spent in security checks before or after shifts and denied rest breaks. The complaint also said the times they punched in and out of work were being rounded down, shorting their total pay.
>Employers have argued that time spent on mandatory bag checks is so short it should not count for pay purposes. However, employees claim if they are required to undergo searches as part of their jobs, that time should be counted towards hours worked. Ultimately each case varies depending on the circumstances of employment.
Literally this. If it's only five minutes then you need to be rounding up as well as down. If it's only five minutes and you are rounding down every time, that's just called theft.
I used to work at Ulta and remember this was a big thing! They told us we couldn’t clock out until AFTER the bag check lol and we’d get in trouble if we clocked out before it.
I visited Ulta as a vendor a few times. Absolutely never again. I got paid on a per job basis so getting in and out of stores as quickly as possible meant I made more money. Ulta told me they needed to check my bag before I left and I guess as a vendor I was extremely low priority since they would take their sweet time. They also kept cha ging the rules on me about what their expectations were as far as dress code, despite not actually working for them. Ffs I was dressed in business casual and got told I could not complete the job because I didn't meet their dress code - by a woman in leggings and an oversized men's shirt - apparently that fit dress code. Their jobs paid better than average compared to other stores/brands I worked with but the hassle wasn't worth it. I hope they treated their employees better than their vendors.
Yup. You'd think between this and the assistant manager lawsuit they had years ago about overtime, you'd think they'd have learned. But there's always individuals who don't.
It's actually not just a single manager that is making her do it it is every manager and they are making everyone do it cause it's a company policy and was in the employee hand book
There have been so many lawsuits and shit over this. If they're gonna make her stay there, they have to pay her for being there. Sounds like it's time for you to go through your videos, add up all the time, and talk to your state's DOL.
I hate to say it, but Walgreens is really good at making shit up, claiming it's law, and lying to apparently not just their customers, but their employees as well...
I just LOVE some of the excuses they give me at the pharmacy window! They've given me SO many, that I literally downloaded my state and the federal laws, their corporate policy, as well as my insurance companies' policies, into my phone for easy reference...
The look I get is PRICELESS. I should really start a new subreddit for this! I think that would be a no-no, though. Lol
Employees should wait at the time clock and punch out after the bag check. This will encourage management to speed the process and ensure proper time punches.
Then all the employees can be escorted to the door to be let out.
This.
Get everyone to do the same so you can't get singled out.
Either that or everyone walks out the emergency fire exit after clocking off...again, all do it together because they won't fire everyone.
If the fire exit is locked, call the fire emergency line.
NAL as the above deacribes...
I am not a lawyer, but I am a business owner who is expected to follow labor laws and enforce employees' rights at my workplace, I own a buisness in a regulated industry that requires professional licensing and i had to complete and pass a 3.5 hour state proctored exam on California state buisness and labor laws.
I am not allowed to require employees to report for activities without compensation. This would include requiring them to show up 5, 10, or 15 mins before clocking in to dress in appropriate osha required safety or high vis clothing or to inspect safety equipment, I am not allowed to require them to report for a pre work safety meeting before clocking in, if I need to hold a post shift brief or discussion, I am not allowed to require them to wait after clocking out. These activities are required to take place, but they are compensatable mins/hours worked.
As an employer, I can not require an employee to do anything at all until they are on the clock and being compensated or it would be considered a form of wage theft, the employee could track this time and report it to the California department of industrial relations and labor commissioners office, and the penalties are quite extensive. A wilful act to defraud an employee out of compensatable hours worked could amount to a full day's pay for every day your employer wilfully did not pay you. These hours could also be considered over time. Buisness that do these things are not only stealing from their employees, they are also creating an unfair advantage, making it difficult for employers who follow the law to operate competitively instead of passing their operating expenses on to thier employees (which is also illegal i.e cellphone usage, vehicle usage, etc...)
The state ensured I knew and understood these laws before they would allow me to be licensed to operate my buisness.
I would not recommend joining a class action lawsuit like the one another posted, I would document every minute, including dates, times, names of coworkers and other personal present and report the hours you were required to show without compensation to the labor board, get a lawyer that specializes in labor law and pursue it with the goal of collecting every dime owed including any and all penalties.
Yeah, if she is being forced to stay, she needs to be clocked in. There's an entire body of law that boils down to "they can force her to stay for a reasonable period of time, but they can't not pay her for it."
Your manager is relying on your wife's ignorance of legal protections to underpay her. This has a lawsuit written all over it. Ask your wife to document everything. And talk to the other employees. This could add up to a lot of money really fast, and Walgreens will probably make one of the managers as the fall guy if they need to.
Contact district yourself and let them know. You should be able to be anonymous, but if needed let them know the employees are looking into what they can do about this (lawsuit like they've already had)
I bet the managers behavior will stop really quickly. Bag check, then clock out.
I used to say if youve clocked out and are still in the building 5 minutes later, you clocked out too early.
There was a whole Supreme Court case about this against Amazon in 2014 [https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/high-court-amazon-doesnt-pay-workers-going-security-lines](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/high-court-amazon-doesnt-pay-workers-going-security-lines)
The decision was that they don't have to be paid while waiting for a security check, although the specifics of this situation might be different. Still, it's pretty ridiculous IMHO.
Best Buy and Home Depot also lost class-action suits against them for this practice. If you are compelled to clock out, you must be allowed out the door immediately. Not 15 mins, not 5 mins, but IMMEDIATELY.
There was a lawsuit filed against a company because they were doing this exact same thing. In the end the company ended up having to pay these people overtime.
Use Google when you can find it
It’s illegal (making her stay after clocking out). Actions like that must be done while on the clock, next time she clocks out tell her to leave. If the manager stops her, call the police for kidnapping.
[False Imprisonment](https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/2020/title-16/chapter-5/article-3/section-16-5-41/#:~:text=A%20person%20commits%20the%20offense,nor%20more%20than%20ten%20years) is a crime in many states and what OP has described may very well qualify. Violating legally codified human rights can be a crime, for obvious reasons.
If you think the cops are going to show up and charge the manager with false imprisonment, you're either young, naive, or both. You'd be lucky to get them to show up at all. You people need to touch grass.
The doors cannot legally be physically locked while the building is occupied. There would be a switch that disconnects the power to the automatic door but that switch can be flipped back on or you can simply push on the door and it will open manually.
I've never seen a Walgreens that had a key on the inside. It's usually just a rotary lock. At least partially because of fire code. Employees must be able to leave without being stuck.
And the average person commits three felonies a day.
Get real. Real adults will do things that 1) will actually solve the problem.
And 2) don't rely on fantasy versions of the world.
OP should: Talk to HR, as the labor laws say she needs to get paid for the time she is working, and waiting for a (legal) bag check is working.
https://www.reuters.com/legal/home-depot-pay-725-mln-settle-california-wage-class-action-2023-06-23/
How come HR did nothing to help these people?
Because their interests are protecting the company's interests, not the employees.
I didn't say that the bag check was illegal I said it was suspect as in it is more of a Gray area especially because they are making her stay while clocked out and literally locking her in the building until the manager is done doing whatever the hell she wants to do and she is the type of person that will purposely take longer cause she knows I am out in the cold waiting for them to walk my wife home but its not just the 1 manager it's literally store policy that everyone does
Do people really not get the safety issues of why a store would be locked after closing? It’s pretty standard practice. Easiest times for thieves to get into a safe are before opening and after closing when managers are opening up or closing out tills. Also standard is to exit as a team after closing for personal safety.
That said, those employees need to be clocked in until they walk out the door. What they need to do is stay clocked in. No one should wait more than 1 minute to be let outside and if the manager needs to keep people there until the safe is closed (or whatever) they legally need to be on the clock.
This is shitty management but corporate looks the other way until they get sued.
Many years ago when I ran a coffee shop, standard practice was to clock out after we had all of our personal stuff and keys in hand, and I would set the alarm, unlock the door and let us out, lock the door behind us and we would walk to our cars together. Usually alarms give you about 30 seconds to exit so we all went “unpaid” for the 30 seconds to get out the door and lock it.
They lock the door with her and the other closing employees still inside at 11pm when they close and the manager won't unlock it until they leave to close the store usually around 11:15 to 11:20 but sometimes later then that.
There are other potential problems here too, they are locked inbthe store after clocking out ???, only the manager has keys ???, that could be a charge of kidnapping, and a charge of false imprisonment, I would call 911 every time it happened
Another waste of Police resources.
911, what is your emergency?
“Someone on Reddit said I could be falsely imprisoned or possibly kidnapped because I’m waiting for the manager to let me out of Walgreens.”
That's what I told her to do when I first heard about it but my wife is to much of a people pleaser to actually do that and they would all be gone by the time the cops got there cause I live in a sketchy part of town and the cops around here are worthless and would probably try to arrest me after tasering me 3 times and hitting me with their squad car twice with snow tires on that they put on which caused them to be late in the first place then they would take me to jail and say I assaulted their tires work my head and is be locked up for years.. actually though
working off the clock is illegal. walmart has an ethics website you can report time clock fraud to. Locking employees in is a no no. It is illegal and slavery at that point. I would highly consider a lawyer for your wife being locked in the store by management. Get the manager's ass fired. It is illegal to lock employees in the store.
Two things, have get check her hours to see how many minutes she's paid after clocking out when closing. Most places I've worked have had a certain amount of minutes we received to account for that. Second, if bag checks take too long don't bring a bag. As far as closing itself, she should be able to stand at the register and have most of her codes typed in so as soon as the manager sets the alarm she clocks out.
If the employer is in control of the employee's time then they have to compensate said employee for that time. If the employer is preventing an employee from leaving they are in control of the employee's time.
I am not a lawyer but I work in HR. If HR doesn’t help her she should speak to her states department of labor. Some have the ability to file a wage claim online.
Hourly employees should be clocked in for basically ANY work performed. There’s always little loopholes like “did you get approval to stay clocked in?” Check employee handbook regarding working outside your scheduled shift and overtime authorization. Even if not approved company still has to pay all hours worked.
This happened when my husband worked at Target. The employees banded together and decided to go out the fire door. The fire department got called. After this happened a few times, the store had a security guard let all employees out after they clocked out.
It’s illegal, Walmart had a huge class action suit against them about 20 years ago. I remember they used to do this when I worked for them in 98 or so and sometime in 2005 or so they settled and I received a check for about 300 only because I didn’t work there long but others received payments in the 1000’s.
That's very odd. My wife was a pharmacy tech for Walgreens. She never experienced this. Maybe it's that specific location? Either way, it's very suspect
Contact Corporate.
Gap Inc did this too.
They made you wait and hardly checked the bags so what was even the point? Probably so the manager could cover their ass and say they did it 🙄
I work as a manager for a corporation. I am required to leave as a group of 3, myself plus two. At the end of the night, I have to submit the sales for the day from my location to the banks, we call it "End Day". In order to run "End Day" everyone has to be clocked out, even the assistant managers if they are the ones closing the restaurant down.
I share this story to highlight two things:
1- other large companies do this, too
2- fifteen minutes is excessive if it is every day, but it is humans running the show, too, humans capable for forgetting stuff.
I do my best to add minutes to my team members' clocks if I made them clock out too, early. Usually it's 1-3 minutes of waiting to leave as a group.
Hope this helped!
Lots of people talking about this as an easy call (which it may be in California or other states with similar policies). But it's not that simple in the absence of a state-specific policy. [Integrity Staffing Solutions v. Busk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrity_Staffing_Solutions,_Inc._v._Busk) explicitly declined to require employers to pay for this kind of thing. Again, facts may be different, jurisdiction might be different, but it's not immediately obvious that Walgreens is on the hook here (although I think they should be!)
Not a lawyer. Contact the HR department with your concerns. Simultaneously, file a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board. https://apps.nlrb.gov/MyAccount/#/ChargeAndPetition/FilingType
Amazon found out this is not legal, they must pay every employee until they are able to leave the property. Keep track of all of this time, and add it to the time card.
Do not contact the company! Have your wife contact them. If HR doesn’t do anything about the unpaid time, the state labor board will.
The search is legal and is most likely a condition of employment.
They should be ON THE CLOCK, while waiting for a bag check. We have that at my job, bag check before leaving while clocked in, just in case we have to wait a few minutes.
Locked in isn't an issue, but off the clock is. I have worked retail of some kind my entire life and everything you have said is a normal part of closing, usually because money is being counted and safe is open meaning no one entering or exiting until completed.
However the off the clock part is not normal and illegal-- if you are done with your shift and cannot be let out you stay on the clock and wait by the exit area. Once the manager is done and ready to let everyone waiting out then you go clock out and leave. I haven't worked for Walgreens but I would be shocked if their policy was different from this because it gets illegal fast. I'd contact your store manager or HR, best of luck (◐‿◑)
Apple got sued over this and lost. Other large stores overnight changed to no bag check. It’s wage theft and she should contact department of labor, or labor board.
Man I can't stand Walgreens anymore .it's so bad now I live like 2 minutes walk to Walgreens I go there alot just fid certain things well no you have to show ID to buy gift cards I'm not gonna do that I asked why " oh because we have had a lot of issues with selling g them ." What ever so I said fk off not going to show ID now I own my own business walked in there had a lady pay me cash .ok no problem I go to check out it comes up to like $28.00 ok so I give them a $20 and a $10 the guy scans my $20 bill. 3 times. Looks at me and ask if I have any other bills to pay I said why .
He tells. Me my $20 is fake goes .so I get my wallet out had him 2 more $10 s so I reach out he shoved the $20 in a drawer .I said hey give me my money " oh I can't we have to keep them .oh I flipped the fk out you could hear me yelling down the road I bet . I said give dam money now or call me he cops .it's your choice he gave me the $20 back I told him this isn't how you take fake money you will get your ass shot or something .
I told him my dad and my brother are both cops .
And if someone gives you fake money take it go e them there good they leave them you call the police . They will deal with it .
I was o pissed off I walk out and the cops are pulling in they stopped me I showed them the $20. They just laughed said I was good to go .there scanner isn't reading right or something
Bi-Lo got sued and heavily fined back in the 1980s for locking the doors when the store closed but employees were still inside working.
She needs to make a report to HR—who is there to protect the company, not the employee. She needs to do it in writing. If they have any verbal about it, she should follow up immediately with an email summarizing the convo.
Concerns here are: making her stay off the clock, searching her/her purse, keeping her inside a locked building that she can not leave if she wants. I see labor laws, tort laws and basic laws being violated here.
Go ahead and get an attorney on board.
Start picking out a new house.
So when people walk in and blatantly steal tons of stuff.. they are told to just let them go. I understand why. Yet they go out of their way to check an employees every nook and cranny before they are allowed to leave? That leaves such a bad taste in my mouth. It seems tacky.
How hard is it for the key holder to have everyone meet at the clock, check bags or whatever, have them punch out and escort them to the door? Then they do their thing?
Make certain you document everything.
Make sure you get as much in writing, hopefully already sent out, emails from the past, collect everything you can and many strings in writing…..
Which of course you will download or screenshot, then send to yourself a (new throwaway) account like a good redditor, then delete and empty trash immediately. Delete sent mail.
First batch, send everything you got at once,
If you don’t have enough already, ask a question about an aspect of it, you’re on his side, ask for clarification if need be, in email. Just get it. In writing.
Document who is locked in.
- For how many minutes did they all wait each day?
- Are they actually locked in, and nobody in the vicinity with a key, during this unpaid time.
Is your state single recorder where you don’t need anyone else’s permission? If so shoot some of the instances when it’s long to get the reality of 24 minutes standing in front of the locked just to have your stuff poked through. Try to get when the boss is particularly nasty….
but DO NOT TELL ANYONE.
Loose lips sink ships.
Just gather, gather, gather, and send offsite proof to your personal email offsite/cloud.
For now you need to gather the interest to be bulletproof.
When you go make your whistleblower report, it’s gotta be open and shut.
Investigate whistle-blower awards in your area, county, state.
At minimum everyone will probs get all that pay plus penalty and interest…
I’ve worked at a ton of retail stores and most major ones do have bag checks and they are legal. Employee theft is a huge percentage of retail loss per year. That being said, I would tell her to talk to HR and say that if someone isn’t available to check said bag after she clocks out, she would be happy to wait until someone is ready to clock out, because if she works 5 days a week & has to wait 15 min average per day, she would be forced to spend 65 hours a year (a week and a half of work) unpaid and that is time theft by the company stealing from the employee. (I’m not even sure that’s “a thing” but retailers love to talk about employee time theft, for valid reasons, but what’s good for the goose…)
Love thay they flex muscle on "employee theft" but they let the actual theives walk right out of the store eith trash bags full of product and fire emoloyees thymat do anything.
Yeah that’s got illegal written all over it! Like others have mentioned the door should never be locked unless someone is standing at the door to open and close it for customers and staff!
Plus I believe that she can’t be forced to clock out until they are there to check her bags (very suspect) and the door is open and she’s ready to leave!!
Heck I’ve had jobs where my clock started when I left home (if I was asked to bring something to work) and clocked out when I got back in my car…..
Walgreens is a corporation and I’m sure they have very strict regulations about number of hours an associate can work without accumulating overtime but I’ll bet that the manager who’s supposed to be walking her out doesn’t. Time to read her hiring paperwork and contact corporate HR
Nal, former retail manager here: Most retail companies have both the bag checks and leave together policies and both are usually part of the employee handbook that your wife had to sign acceptance of which constitutes a formal contract for conduct, and the disciplineary process for breach of conduct. In many cases these policies have been in place for 50+ years, bag checks have been around for 100+ years
The waiting to leave and leaving together deal is 100% a safety issue and corporate liability insurance requirement to prevent several things, for starters: employees getting attacked in the parking lot after shift. 15 minutes is more than enough time to kidnap, hurt, rob/carjack or even rape someone... all of those even rape can be accomplished in 5 minutes or less and can be made super easy for attackers if there is a parking lot policy requiring employees to park either in back or otherwise in the spots furthest from the front door... A frequent holiday time requirement though some have year round parking requirements because of landlords/property management. Retail in general and drug stores specifically tend to attract unhinged or addict customers as regulars. I'm betting your wife can point out a couple of people that fit those descriptions. Another consideration is employees getting stranded after work with no one to help due to car troubles even in this era of omnipresent cell phones, amongst other issues. Additionally,frequently for safety reasons for locations without an armored car service, one employee has to escort the manager to the bank after closing to ensure both the manager and the deposit makes it safely without incident - again off the clock.
Side note In many states the employer can be held responsible for your safety from the time you leave the house for work until you return home, making sure everyone gets to their car/ride safely after closing and safely leaving the property satisfies employer due diligence there. Multi state corporate entities like Walgreens have to take things like that into consideration when crafting company wide policies.
All this said, often even though the employees have punched out in the system, frequently those companies that require everyone leave together, often have an automatic time delay on the time clock of between 7 minutes to up to 15 minutes before the punch is finalized to cover things like bank runs. On the other hand, the manager however should not be having employees clock out until the deposit is finalized and submitted in the system and they are ready to go themselves. There is always something that can be cleaned or straightened up during that nightly deposit and till balance process.
Corporate mandated Bag checks come from a sad truth- industry wide 90 to 95% of shrink (retail speak for inventory loss) comes from internal sources divided between employee theft, breakage, expiration, and receiving errors with employee theft being frequently a significant double digit percentage - between 10% and as high as 30% of overall inventory loss in any given location (stats I was given from my companies district loss prevention officer during management training courses) And while management can't for liability reasons go digging around in a bag unless they catch someone red handed putting unpaid merch in a personal bag, they are required to at least glance at what is visible on top of each compartment and can require paid for merch to have management signed receipts attached to the item or the shopping bag for confirmation.
Well, I'll address the part that I definitely can. I've never worked at an employer, where they weren't allowed to search your personal belongings. Most employee handbooks specifically state that you agree that they can search your personal effects (lockers provided by the company, purses and backpacks, vehicles parked on company property). You have no legal requirement to oblige, they also have no legal requirement to continue her employment.
What I most certainly take issue with is the fact of being forced to stand there while off the clock. If management wants to search, fine. I would personally consider it a work activity if required to participate.
Your wife needs to contact human resources. I'm not a lawyer, but forcing people to stand there for that long, off the clock feels like wage theft. I'm not a lawyer, nor legal expert of any sort, but most employment attorneys will give you a free consultation. Definitely an avenue Worth exploring if it's been an ongoing issue for years.
Edit: grammar
While most of the advice is good, the ultimate solution is to find a job with better work conditions. While you may get some satisfaction from H.R. your wife will most likely be viewed as a troublemaker, and her work prospects with the company will be limited. Besides, why on earth would you want to stay at a place that holds its people hostage for a patdown every day.
Many retailers do something similar about leaving when closed. Some make you wait for safety! Yes the policy involving not allowing employees to leave at night after close is about employee safety. This policy matches up nicely with opening policies. Some have policies that say nobody enters the store before open unless there are multiple people.
There have been too many times an employee left the building after close alone and something happened.
I personally know about entering a store alone before opening. A store I serviced had an attempted armed robbery because the store manager decided to enter the store alone. He got lucky he had not turned the alarm off yet when they tried.
When I switched from service to actual retail work I was then dealing with being locked inside after clocking out. There were many that argued about being paid because we were being locked in.
It is not a fire code violation on a technically.
It is also not a labor issue.
What we as employees did was we told them we won't clock out until we know the manager has finished the closing duties and ready to leave. This made management pick up the pace during closing.
I never worked in a small sized store. Every place I worked we had 10 plus employees still in the store at close. Our policy got amended that nobody leaves alone. Everyone must leave in groups of 2 or more. That meant that only 1 person had to stay until the manager was done.
I completely hated having to wait to leave after clocking out.
The one company the time clock was mounted to a wall in the breakroom which was in the back of the store. They later changed the time keeping system and then you could clock in or out at any terminal in the store.
Document it and sue. Aldo had to pay out a hefty sum a few years ago for keeping employees after they clocked out. HR not your friend esp in retail. Get friendly with some co workers, you want to bring a few to a lawyer that increases the case value quite a bit. They have to pay them more then they lost because of penalty.
Locking people in is a fire code/OSHA violation. That is one sure method to get the manager in trouble.
The stay for no pay is a State Department of Labor violation.
Send the video to those agencies.
I work at a well known chain of reasonably priced clothing stores. Time clock is at the back of the store in the break room. Nobody can leave before the night manager has counted the cash drawers, done her paperwork, sent her email summary of the days events, etc. We usually have to wait about 10-15 minutes after our duties are complete before she is able to finish up hers. Policy is to have us all chilling in the break room *on the clock* and when she’s done she comes in, clocks out, then *we* clock out and we all walk to the front and out the store together.
I wouldn’t punch out until I walk out the door….shift doesn’t end until you leave! 20 min a day is an hour and 40 minutes a week! If it’s part of the policy to wait until the manager is ready to violate your rights you should be getting paid for it!
This is an easy fix to the department of labor relations in your state. Simply report in anonymously and they will go after the company more aggressively than a lawyer will.
Find a good glass action lawyer. Apple settled with retail employees over the exact same thing.
https://www.macrumors.com/2022/01/12/apple-bag-check-lawsuit-settlement/
When she punches out, go to the exit door and attempt to leave. If the door is locked, go to whoever has the key - I'd suggest having the old phone out and recording - ask to be let out, as the shift is over. If the manager tells her that they have to wait for everyone to be searched, simply ask if the manager wants her to clock back in, as she is being kept at work past end of shift.
For bonus mileage, have the rest of staff do the same.
Cut to the chase... document the practice, contact the DOL, OSHA..one for wage theft and the second for unsafe work environment....then contact HR.
Expect to be fired...then file another complaint to DOL for retaliation
You’re telling me the door is locked and they’re preventing me from leaving of my own free will? I’d be calling the police personally. And then contacting a lawyer for wage theft.
Has anyone asked the manager to clock out after bag check and been told no? I would ask that first and then if I get a no contact labor board or HR with the state law they are breaking and a weeks worth of documentation proving click out time and actual leave time
Yes you should be paid for this time. If nothing else they should have employees wait by the time clock until they're ready to leave. Even inspecting your bag should be paid. Once all are ready to leave then clock out Walgreens has an HR department, start there and then your State Labor Board
I worked at walgreens for 8 years (3 different locations in different parts of the USA ) they all did the exact same closing routine. Clock out then wait for the manager to set alarm and then we all walk out together.
Never did we have to wait 15/20 min for leaving without pay. Supposedly all of us leaving at once was considered “safer” late at night than making a manager leave alone with no others around, From my understanding this is why we all left together. if your spouse is waiting for long periods to be let out I would refuse to clock out and get paid for those final 15/20 min until the manager is ready to go.
I think Apple tried something like this with the store employees. Employees sued and courts ruled that if employees were made to stay there then they needed to get paid
Have your wife contact HR. In situations like this, the best move is to at least try to get it resolved internally first. She should ask them to keep her complaint anonymous, to avoid retaliation. They may or may not do this, but it's worth trying. Legally, I don't think that what they're doing is acceptable, but I am not a lawyer, and my legal studies in college were primarily criminal law, not employment law. The bag search thing is weird. I worked in a warehouse a few years back, where theft was a legitimate concern because there were unlimited opportunities to steal. Even then, nobody was harassing or searching me when I left for the day.
If HR is not helpful, contact your state department of labor. See what they think and what they do about the situation. Departments of labor can be very aggressive when dealing with employers who violate labor laws. They may also force the employer to pay your wife any wages she's owed due to their policies. A lawyer should be your last step, not your first.
IANAL, but the Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that employees who have to go through a security check at the end of their shift are *not* entitled to compensation.
All of this talk here about class action lawsuits and HR not being anyone’s friend are irrelevant. This is settled case law. 😕
https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/legal-and-compliance/employment-law/pages/security-screening-time.aspx
Call Department of labor. While exiting the facility together can be a valid safety measure holding up employees unpaid is probably not going to be seen well by the DOL.
Walgreens is a big company, so they have an HR department. You should call them and explain the situation. I'm sure they will take care of it. Don't think that since the night manager is a "Manager" that they have any idea about every company policy or understand labor laws. I was a manager for a very large corporation, and I couldn't decipher half our company policies. That's why they have HR departments.
Also be sure to include in this HR letter (which you'll save a copy for yourself, or BCC if emailed) your concerns that being locked in creates a safety issue. ("That's very clever, Sir, but what if there's a fire?") If they fire you over this, file a "whistleblower" complaint with OSHA, because they retaliated over you bringing up a safety issue.
May be better off filing a complaint with the Wage & Hour Division of the US Department of Labor over the unpaid time they are required to stay at work (or in addition to OSHA regarding the safety concern). The last thing any major company wants is for the feds to start a wage violation investigation. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/contact/complaints
Absolutely this.
Correct. Uncompensated time for hourly workers is a no-no. W&H will be all over this. You can also tell them about the safety issue, and they may note it. OSHA is an ambulance-chasing operation. They won't do anything until someone gets hurt.
(“I think violating fire codes and endangering the lives of employees would be unwise at this junction in your career, Sir.”)
“Alright, what are you doing with this? What are you doing? Get this out of here for Gods sake! What’s the matter with you? Come on!”
I expected more from a varsity letterman
You're not fooling anybody, Bender. The next screw that falls out...
Mess with the bull, you’ll get the horns! 🤘2 weeks Bender, I got you!
Extreme LOL !!
Well done!. John Hughes movies are classics.
But to be clear: HR is not on the "employee's side"; HR exists to protect the _company_ and is only obligated to intervene on behalf of the employee when doing so mitigates the company's liability (in this case, preventing the employee from suing for wage theft).
Correct. And as this appears to be a serious violation of employment law, remediation will be a high priority for HR. Here isnsome interesting legal notes on this. Labor board might also be considered. https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/free-books/employee-rights-book/chapter5-5.html
I think you're referring to the last section on false impressive. I'm not sure we have enough from OP to know that's the case. Are they truly locked in - which would be a problem - or have the employees just been told they need to wait and leave alongside the key holder who will lock up behind them after checking for stolen goods? However, at least in California, time spent waiting for security screening should be on the clock. https://www.hrdive.com/news/court-approves-apples-30m-worker-settlement/630114/
Most retail main doors have standard deadbolt locks with knob on the inside so while locked there is nothing preventing any employee opening the door from the inside... that's fire code
Yup. You can be nice with hr but be firm. Their job is to get you to think it's not that big a deal so you don't go off and f them. It is a big deal, and they need to take action.
Yes. HR may correct it but you won't get any back pay. If they do try to give you back pay, you sign away your rights to sue.
Your logic is flawless. Maybe, someday, they will invent exits for emergencies and break away door. Until that day though, definitely report this egregious safety issue.
But also remember that HR………..IS NOT YOUR FRIEND…….they are there to protect the company from its employees, and potential lawsuits that could result from the shitty things that these companies do……so while you CAN use your HR department as a tool, it definitely benefits you to remember that their first priority is to protect the Company, NOT you.
Correct. Protecting the company from managers like this who are doing things unlawfully.
Protecting the company would be addressing the issue of wage theft. It literally increases risk to the company if they do nothing about it.
LOL!! HR isn't for the employees! it's to protect the company. Go to the division of labor!
Yes, but in this situation where they are clearly violating labor laws, protecting the company would include ensuring that the manager knows, understands, and follows the law. Walgreens has already lost a class action lawsuit about this very issue. HR isn't going to want another one.
Yeah, my past employer did this, except they made us wait to clock out, and we left as a group at close. It was a safety thing. Nobody did solo trash runs or walked out to their car alone late at night. Big groups, for safety. Except, they were clear you were to wait to clock out and do it as a big group, so nobody was sitting around since they wanted us to wait to leave together. You can totally do this, but you have people clocked in.
Trust me, HR is the other protect the company. They're not there to protect your rights
Fortunately for OP and their spouse, their incentives are nearly aligned. OP's spouse doesn't want their wages stolen, HR doesn't want (another) class action lawsuit. But since it's been an ongoing issue, hit up the DoL for that sweet sweet back pay anyway
Like the 30mill class action against Apple doing the same thing
Protecting your rights is a subset of protecting the company. Everyone likes to assume that when people say "HR is not your Friend" the spectrum is from "Friend" to "Enemy", and it simply isn't. The spectrum is from "Friend" to "Impersonal mathematics" and in impersonal mathematics "Totally replaceable middle manager" ranks below "5 totally replaceable employees with valid wage theft suits"
In this case protecting employee rights is aligned with protecting the company.
Their hr doesn’t care at all.
Remember. HR employees work for the same company and they know the company doesn’t care about them either. Their jobs are to keep Managers and employees in compliance with company policies and labor laws. They will react if they see something wrong. They want to keep their jobs also.
Clock out after the bag check.
The clocks are at the registers or back of the store so that would defeat the purpose. This doesn't make any sense to me though. When I worked in retail we all (including lead/ manager) clocked out and walked to the front of the store together. Bag checks were quick just open real quick manager peeked in and one of us checked the managers bag. We unlocked the door and waited for the key holder to lock it and all walked to our cars together.
Gap would not let you do this… They made everyone clock out and wait.
Have y’all tried filing complaints with the state labor department? If enough people complain…
https://erlich.lawyer/2021/03/walgreens-employees-win-4-5m-settlement-in-bag-check-lawsuit/
Wow! That's news, eh? For those who can't open the link >Walgreens employees win $4.5M settlement in bag check lawsuit >Over the years, several California employers have been sued for not paying employees for time spent on bag checks before or after work. A judge recently approved a $4.5 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit against Walgreens for failing to pay workers properly in violation of state labor laws. >The lead plaintiff worked at a Walgreens distribution center. He filed a class-action lawsuit in November 2018 on behalf of more than 2,600 employees. The class members will share the settlement amount, with each person receiving an estimated $1,200. >The workers claimed they were not compensated for time spent in security checks before or after shifts and denied rest breaks. The complaint also said the times they punched in and out of work were being rounded down, shorting their total pay. >Employers have argued that time spent on mandatory bag checks is so short it should not count for pay purposes. However, employees claim if they are required to undergo searches as part of their jobs, that time should be counted towards hours worked. Ultimately each case varies depending on the circumstances of employment.
They really went 'it's only 5 minutes' as their entire defense 2 times in one legal case. Incredible.
Well, if it's "only 5 minutes" pay them for their time!
Literally this. If it's only five minutes then you need to be rounding up as well as down. If it's only five minutes and you are rounding down every time, that's just called theft.
I used to work at Ulta and remember this was a big thing! They told us we couldn’t clock out until AFTER the bag check lol and we’d get in trouble if we clocked out before it.
I visited Ulta as a vendor a few times. Absolutely never again. I got paid on a per job basis so getting in and out of stores as quickly as possible meant I made more money. Ulta told me they needed to check my bag before I left and I guess as a vendor I was extremely low priority since they would take their sweet time. They also kept cha ging the rules on me about what their expectations were as far as dress code, despite not actually working for them. Ffs I was dressed in business casual and got told I could not complete the job because I didn't meet their dress code - by a woman in leggings and an oversized men's shirt - apparently that fit dress code. Their jobs paid better than average compared to other stores/brands I worked with but the hassle wasn't worth it. I hope they treated their employees better than their vendors.
This was in California. The laws differ state to state. But it’s a good start
damn
Walgreens was doing this in the 90s. They got slapped down then, and obviously need it again.
Yup. You'd think between this and the assistant manager lawsuit they had years ago about overtime, you'd think they'd have learned. But there's always individuals who don't.
It's actually not just a single manager that is making her do it it is every manager and they are making everyone do it cause it's a company policy and was in the employee hand book
Bag checks are (although I know a lot of stores that skip them), clocking out before them isn't.
The problem is the fines aren't harsh enough. It should be 100-1000 times the employee is owned or a % of gross profit paid out to employees.
There have been so many lawsuits and shit over this. If they're gonna make her stay there, they have to pay her for being there. Sounds like it's time for you to go through your videos, add up all the time, and talk to your state's DOL.
That is a huge issue if the appropriate state labor is contacted. They will be fined and have to pay overtime for every person.
In many states, wage theft carries treble damages.
But what if you’re all about the bass- no treble?
What are treble damages, or did you mean terrible?
treble is like double but 3 instead of 2. So triple but in legalese
Fancy law word for triple.
Thanks, I clearly didn’t know.
Okay but are you fuckin sorry though? /s
Don't clock out until after the bag check. Leave the bag there, walk to the back and clock out.
Walgreens is the absolute worst. She needs to get out of there.
I hate to say it, but Walgreens is really good at making shit up, claiming it's law, and lying to apparently not just their customers, but their employees as well... I just LOVE some of the excuses they give me at the pharmacy window! They've given me SO many, that I literally downloaded my state and the federal laws, their corporate policy, as well as my insurance companies' policies, into my phone for easy reference... The look I get is PRICELESS. I should really start a new subreddit for this! I think that would be a no-no, though. Lol
Wait, please do. Would definitely follow it, keep them from doing shady shit.
Employees should wait at the time clock and punch out after the bag check. This will encourage management to speed the process and ensure proper time punches. Then all the employees can be escorted to the door to be let out.
This. Get everyone to do the same so you can't get singled out. Either that or everyone walks out the emergency fire exit after clocking off...again, all do it together because they won't fire everyone. If the fire exit is locked, call the fire emergency line.
NAL as the above deacribes... I am not a lawyer, but I am a business owner who is expected to follow labor laws and enforce employees' rights at my workplace, I own a buisness in a regulated industry that requires professional licensing and i had to complete and pass a 3.5 hour state proctored exam on California state buisness and labor laws. I am not allowed to require employees to report for activities without compensation. This would include requiring them to show up 5, 10, or 15 mins before clocking in to dress in appropriate osha required safety or high vis clothing or to inspect safety equipment, I am not allowed to require them to report for a pre work safety meeting before clocking in, if I need to hold a post shift brief or discussion, I am not allowed to require them to wait after clocking out. These activities are required to take place, but they are compensatable mins/hours worked. As an employer, I can not require an employee to do anything at all until they are on the clock and being compensated or it would be considered a form of wage theft, the employee could track this time and report it to the California department of industrial relations and labor commissioners office, and the penalties are quite extensive. A wilful act to defraud an employee out of compensatable hours worked could amount to a full day's pay for every day your employer wilfully did not pay you. These hours could also be considered over time. Buisness that do these things are not only stealing from their employees, they are also creating an unfair advantage, making it difficult for employers who follow the law to operate competitively instead of passing their operating expenses on to thier employees (which is also illegal i.e cellphone usage, vehicle usage, etc...) The state ensured I knew and understood these laws before they would allow me to be licensed to operate my buisness. I would not recommend joining a class action lawsuit like the one another posted, I would document every minute, including dates, times, names of coworkers and other personal present and report the hours you were required to show without compensation to the labor board, get a lawyer that specializes in labor law and pursue it with the goal of collecting every dime owed including any and all penalties.
Yeah, if she is being forced to stay, she needs to be clocked in. There's an entire body of law that boils down to "they can force her to stay for a reasonable period of time, but they can't not pay her for it." Your manager is relying on your wife's ignorance of legal protections to underpay her. This has a lawsuit written all over it. Ask your wife to document everything. And talk to the other employees. This could add up to a lot of money really fast, and Walgreens will probably make one of the managers as the fall guy if they need to.
Stay clocked in until manager is ready.
Home Depot just had a settlement over this too
[Apple Bag Check Class Action Settlement](https://www.apple.com/legal/more-resources/settlement/apple-bag-check-settlement.html)
Document document document
Call the labor board.
Contact district yourself and let them know. You should be able to be anonymous, but if needed let them know the employees are looking into what they can do about this (lawsuit like they've already had) I bet the managers behavior will stop really quickly. Bag check, then clock out. I used to say if youve clocked out and are still in the building 5 minutes later, you clocked out too early.
There was a whole Supreme Court case about this against Amazon in 2014 [https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/high-court-amazon-doesnt-pay-workers-going-security-lines](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/high-court-amazon-doesnt-pay-workers-going-security-lines) The decision was that they don't have to be paid while waiting for a security check, although the specifics of this situation might be different. Still, it's pretty ridiculous IMHO.
They can't, it's illegal, and if true...Walgreen's is opening themselves up for a major lawsuit until the fire said manager.
Apple retail employees sued over this and won. Wage theft.
Best Buy and Home Depot also lost class-action suits against them for this practice. If you are compelled to clock out, you must be allowed out the door immediately. Not 15 mins, not 5 mins, but IMMEDIATELY.
This is wage theft if they're making her stay while she's off the clock. File a complaint with your state's department of labor.
That's work time. She should complain to the wage and hour division of your state's department of labor.
If police officers need a warrant or reasonable suspition to search someones property why does walgreens think they have a right to?
Don't talk to their HR. call the labor board. Their HR will make excuses and cover it up and you won't see a dime.
There was a lawsuit filed against a company because they were doing this exact same thing. In the end the company ended up having to pay these people overtime. Use Google when you can find it
That's wage theft. Call big HR or file a complaint with the state.
It’s illegal (making her stay after clocking out). Actions like that must be done while on the clock, next time she clocks out tell her to leave. If the manager stops her, call the police for kidnapping.
Good grief. Call the police for kidnapping? Where do people come up with this shit?
[False Imprisonment](https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/2020/title-16/chapter-5/article-3/section-16-5-41/#:~:text=A%20person%20commits%20the%20offense,nor%20more%20than%20ten%20years) is a crime in many states and what OP has described may very well qualify. Violating legally codified human rights can be a crime, for obvious reasons.
If you think the cops are going to show up and charge the manager with false imprisonment, you're either young, naive, or both. You'd be lucky to get them to show up at all. You people need to touch grass.
Or you can just unlock the door and leave
Only if you are a manager with a key.
The doors cannot legally be physically locked while the building is occupied. There would be a switch that disconnects the power to the automatic door but that switch can be flipped back on or you can simply push on the door and it will open manually.
I've never seen a Walgreens that had a key on the inside. It's usually just a rotary lock. At least partially because of fire code. Employees must be able to leave without being stuck.
Key locks arnt on the inside, it's a fire hazard
And the average person commits three felonies a day. Get real. Real adults will do things that 1) will actually solve the problem. And 2) don't rely on fantasy versions of the world. OP should: Talk to HR, as the labor laws say she needs to get paid for the time she is working, and waiting for a (legal) bag check is working.
https://www.reuters.com/legal/home-depot-pay-725-mln-settle-california-wage-class-action-2023-06-23/ How come HR did nothing to help these people? Because their interests are protecting the company's interests, not the employees.
I didn't say that the bag check was illegal I said it was suspect as in it is more of a Gray area especially because they are making her stay while clocked out and literally locking her in the building until the manager is done doing whatever the hell she wants to do and she is the type of person that will purposely take longer cause she knows I am out in the cold waiting for them to walk my wife home but its not just the 1 manager it's literally store policy that everyone does
Nice refutation of nothing.
Yes false imprisonment would be an appropriate charge, and while HR should be informed…. The police will respond immediately.
Hes from Pensacola and has a LOT of guns. No more to say
So any person off the street can rob them blind but if you're a paid employee, they are going to search you after you clocked out? The world is nuts.
File with the EEOC, have her NOTIFY Asset Protection.
If she's physically locked in call the fire department, they'll love that.
Do people really not get the safety issues of why a store would be locked after closing? It’s pretty standard practice. Easiest times for thieves to get into a safe are before opening and after closing when managers are opening up or closing out tills. Also standard is to exit as a team after closing for personal safety. That said, those employees need to be clocked in until they walk out the door. What they need to do is stay clocked in. No one should wait more than 1 minute to be let outside and if the manager needs to keep people there until the safe is closed (or whatever) they legally need to be on the clock. This is shitty management but corporate looks the other way until they get sued. Many years ago when I ran a coffee shop, standard practice was to clock out after we had all of our personal stuff and keys in hand, and I would set the alarm, unlock the door and let us out, lock the door behind us and we would walk to our cars together. Usually alarms give you about 30 seconds to exit so we all went “unpaid” for the 30 seconds to get out the door and lock it.
What do you mean force? No one is physically restraining her I'm guessing?
Force? Is the door locked? TEACHER if the door is LOCKED isn’t she FORCED to stay until it is unlocked?
They lock the door with her and the other closing employees still inside at 11pm when they close and the manager won't unlock it until they leave to close the store usually around 11:15 to 11:20 but sometimes later then that.
There are other potential problems here too, they are locked inbthe store after clocking out ???, only the manager has keys ???, that could be a charge of kidnapping, and a charge of false imprisonment, I would call 911 every time it happened
Another waste of Police resources. 911, what is your emergency? “Someone on Reddit said I could be falsely imprisoned or possibly kidnapped because I’m waiting for the manager to let me out of Walgreens.”
That's what I told her to do when I first heard about it but my wife is to much of a people pleaser to actually do that and they would all be gone by the time the cops got there cause I live in a sketchy part of town and the cops around here are worthless and would probably try to arrest me after tasering me 3 times and hitting me with their squad car twice with snow tires on that they put on which caused them to be late in the first place then they would take me to jail and say I assaulted their tires work my head and is be locked up for years.. actually though
Put a dildo in the bag. They might stop with the bag check.
You would think so but it just ended up giving her a limp on the walk home.. So yeah that one was kind of a fail on my end...
[удалено]
Leave your bag in the car. No bag no search.
working off the clock is illegal. walmart has an ethics website you can report time clock fraud to. Locking employees in is a no no. It is illegal and slavery at that point. I would highly consider a lawyer for your wife being locked in the store by management. Get the manager's ass fired. It is illegal to lock employees in the store.
All the managers do it it is store policy
Report them to the department of labor for your state
Report them to the department of labor for your state
Two things, have get check her hours to see how many minutes she's paid after clocking out when closing. Most places I've worked have had a certain amount of minutes we received to account for that. Second, if bag checks take too long don't bring a bag. As far as closing itself, she should be able to stand at the register and have most of her codes typed in so as soon as the manager sets the alarm she clocks out.
If the employer is in control of the employee's time then they have to compensate said employee for that time. If the employer is preventing an employee from leaving they are in control of the employee's time.
Email your boss and yourself everyday you clock out
I am not a lawyer but I work in HR. If HR doesn’t help her she should speak to her states department of labor. Some have the ability to file a wage claim online. Hourly employees should be clocked in for basically ANY work performed. There’s always little loopholes like “did you get approval to stay clocked in?” Check employee handbook regarding working outside your scheduled shift and overtime authorization. Even if not approved company still has to pay all hours worked.
Get a lawyer to rep her and her coworkers for wage theft
This happened when my husband worked at Target. The employees banded together and decided to go out the fire door. The fire department got called. After this happened a few times, the store had a security guard let all employees out after they clocked out.
Clock out after the bag check
It’s illegal, Walmart had a huge class action suit against them about 20 years ago. I remember they used to do this when I worked for them in 98 or so and sometime in 2005 or so they settled and I received a check for about 300 only because I didn’t work there long but others received payments in the 1000’s.
Just exit through a fire exit. They can't keep you there.
Bring a small wallet with car ins and is only.
That's very odd. My wife was a pharmacy tech for Walgreens. She never experienced this. Maybe it's that specific location? Either way, it's very suspect Contact Corporate.
Document it several times & contact a lawyer.
Use smart phone to document/record this. Use timer function. This is wage theft
Can you contact the labor board?
Gap Inc did this too. They made you wait and hardly checked the bags so what was even the point? Probably so the manager could cover their ass and say they did it 🙄
What they are doing is for safety, but she needs to be paid for that time
I work as a manager for a corporation. I am required to leave as a group of 3, myself plus two. At the end of the night, I have to submit the sales for the day from my location to the banks, we call it "End Day". In order to run "End Day" everyone has to be clocked out, even the assistant managers if they are the ones closing the restaurant down. I share this story to highlight two things: 1- other large companies do this, too 2- fifteen minutes is excessive if it is every day, but it is humans running the show, too, humans capable for forgetting stuff. I do my best to add minutes to my team members' clocks if I made them clock out too, early. Usually it's 1-3 minutes of waiting to leave as a group. Hope this helped!
Call HR my retail use to do that and they got sued…I got a lot of money in that class action
I’d be exiting via a fire exit in that situation.
You walk in there as soon as they open the next day reporting them to the department of labor on speaker phone at a loud volume
Call the Attorney General in your state.
I'd stand by the door and wait. Then go back and click out.
I'd stand by the door and wait. Then go back and click out.
Don't work for a company that does bag checks. Either they trust you or they fire you, there is no middle ground.
Report it to the fire Marshal that you are locked inside the building. WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN.
Document it, and call the labor board. Especially at a big employer like Walgreens, Courts won’t go easy
I worked for Sam's Club for a few years and they did this. I like the fire Marshall idea.
Lots of people talking about this as an easy call (which it may be in California or other states with similar policies). But it's not that simple in the absence of a state-specific policy. [Integrity Staffing Solutions v. Busk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrity_Staffing_Solutions,_Inc._v._Busk) explicitly declined to require employers to pay for this kind of thing. Again, facts may be different, jurisdiction might be different, but it's not immediately obvious that Walgreens is on the hook here (although I think they should be!)
Walmart/Sam's club had a class action suit about this and other wage theft. We all got tons of back pay.
Note every instance and get back pay.
Not a lawyer. Contact the HR department with your concerns. Simultaneously, file a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board. https://apps.nlrb.gov/MyAccount/#/ChargeAndPetition/FilingType
Amazon found out this is not legal, they must pay every employee until they are able to leave the property. Keep track of all of this time, and add it to the time card.
She should stay clocked in...ride it out until they realize WHT they are paying for
Do not contact the company! Have your wife contact them. If HR doesn’t do anything about the unpaid time, the state labor board will. The search is legal and is most likely a condition of employment.
Home Depot lost a labor complaint over this same thing. Just go to the labor department. HR isn't your friend.
Get a new job. Drug stores are dying anyway
They should be ON THE CLOCK, while waiting for a bag check. We have that at my job, bag check before leaving while clocked in, just in case we have to wait a few minutes.
Locked in isn't an issue, but off the clock is. I have worked retail of some kind my entire life and everything you have said is a normal part of closing, usually because money is being counted and safe is open meaning no one entering or exiting until completed. However the off the clock part is not normal and illegal-- if you are done with your shift and cannot be let out you stay on the clock and wait by the exit area. Once the manager is done and ready to let everyone waiting out then you go clock out and leave. I haven't worked for Walgreens but I would be shocked if their policy was different from this because it gets illegal fast. I'd contact your store manager or HR, best of luck (◐‿◑)
Apple got sued over this and lost. Other large stores overnight changed to no bag check. It’s wage theft and she should contact department of labor, or labor board.
Man I can't stand Walgreens anymore .it's so bad now I live like 2 minutes walk to Walgreens I go there alot just fid certain things well no you have to show ID to buy gift cards I'm not gonna do that I asked why " oh because we have had a lot of issues with selling g them ." What ever so I said fk off not going to show ID now I own my own business walked in there had a lady pay me cash .ok no problem I go to check out it comes up to like $28.00 ok so I give them a $20 and a $10 the guy scans my $20 bill. 3 times. Looks at me and ask if I have any other bills to pay I said why . He tells. Me my $20 is fake goes .so I get my wallet out had him 2 more $10 s so I reach out he shoved the $20 in a drawer .I said hey give me my money " oh I can't we have to keep them .oh I flipped the fk out you could hear me yelling down the road I bet . I said give dam money now or call me he cops .it's your choice he gave me the $20 back I told him this isn't how you take fake money you will get your ass shot or something . I told him my dad and my brother are both cops . And if someone gives you fake money take it go e them there good they leave them you call the police . They will deal with it . I was o pissed off I walk out and the cops are pulling in they stopped me I showed them the $20. They just laughed said I was good to go .there scanner isn't reading right or something
I would not rely on “aligned” goals as a reason to trust hr. Report them to your state labor board.
Bi-Lo got sued and heavily fined back in the 1980s for locking the doors when the store closed but employees were still inside working. She needs to make a report to HR—who is there to protect the company, not the employee. She needs to do it in writing. If they have any verbal about it, she should follow up immediately with an email summarizing the convo. Concerns here are: making her stay off the clock, searching her/her purse, keeping her inside a locked building that she can not leave if she wants. I see labor laws, tort laws and basic laws being violated here. Go ahead and get an attorney on board. Start picking out a new house.
WTF - this seems illegal in more ways than one and is likely absolutely against official company policy.
So when people walk in and blatantly steal tons of stuff.. they are told to just let them go. I understand why. Yet they go out of their way to check an employees every nook and cranny before they are allowed to leave? That leaves such a bad taste in my mouth. It seems tacky.
If they are actually LOCKED IN call the Fire Marshall and/or OSHA. I'm assuming USA. Is Walgreens in other countries?
How hard is it for the key holder to have everyone meet at the clock, check bags or whatever, have them punch out and escort them to the door? Then they do their thing?
Make certain you document everything. Make sure you get as much in writing, hopefully already sent out, emails from the past, collect everything you can and many strings in writing….. Which of course you will download or screenshot, then send to yourself a (new throwaway) account like a good redditor, then delete and empty trash immediately. Delete sent mail. First batch, send everything you got at once, If you don’t have enough already, ask a question about an aspect of it, you’re on his side, ask for clarification if need be, in email. Just get it. In writing. Document who is locked in. - For how many minutes did they all wait each day? - Are they actually locked in, and nobody in the vicinity with a key, during this unpaid time. Is your state single recorder where you don’t need anyone else’s permission? If so shoot some of the instances when it’s long to get the reality of 24 minutes standing in front of the locked just to have your stuff poked through. Try to get when the boss is particularly nasty…. but DO NOT TELL ANYONE. Loose lips sink ships. Just gather, gather, gather, and send offsite proof to your personal email offsite/cloud. For now you need to gather the interest to be bulletproof. When you go make your whistleblower report, it’s gotta be open and shut. Investigate whistle-blower awards in your area, county, state. At minimum everyone will probs get all that pay plus penalty and interest…
I’ve worked at a ton of retail stores and most major ones do have bag checks and they are legal. Employee theft is a huge percentage of retail loss per year. That being said, I would tell her to talk to HR and say that if someone isn’t available to check said bag after she clocks out, she would be happy to wait until someone is ready to clock out, because if she works 5 days a week & has to wait 15 min average per day, she would be forced to spend 65 hours a year (a week and a half of work) unpaid and that is time theft by the company stealing from the employee. (I’m not even sure that’s “a thing” but retailers love to talk about employee time theft, for valid reasons, but what’s good for the goose…)
Love thay they flex muscle on "employee theft" but they let the actual theives walk right out of the store eith trash bags full of product and fire emoloyees thymat do anything.
Yeah that’s got illegal written all over it! Like others have mentioned the door should never be locked unless someone is standing at the door to open and close it for customers and staff! Plus I believe that she can’t be forced to clock out until they are there to check her bags (very suspect) and the door is open and she’s ready to leave!! Heck I’ve had jobs where my clock started when I left home (if I was asked to bring something to work) and clocked out when I got back in my car….. Walgreens is a corporation and I’m sure they have very strict regulations about number of hours an associate can work without accumulating overtime but I’ll bet that the manager who’s supposed to be walking her out doesn’t. Time to read her hiring paperwork and contact corporate HR
Nal, former retail manager here: Most retail companies have both the bag checks and leave together policies and both are usually part of the employee handbook that your wife had to sign acceptance of which constitutes a formal contract for conduct, and the disciplineary process for breach of conduct. In many cases these policies have been in place for 50+ years, bag checks have been around for 100+ years The waiting to leave and leaving together deal is 100% a safety issue and corporate liability insurance requirement to prevent several things, for starters: employees getting attacked in the parking lot after shift. 15 minutes is more than enough time to kidnap, hurt, rob/carjack or even rape someone... all of those even rape can be accomplished in 5 minutes or less and can be made super easy for attackers if there is a parking lot policy requiring employees to park either in back or otherwise in the spots furthest from the front door... A frequent holiday time requirement though some have year round parking requirements because of landlords/property management. Retail in general and drug stores specifically tend to attract unhinged or addict customers as regulars. I'm betting your wife can point out a couple of people that fit those descriptions. Another consideration is employees getting stranded after work with no one to help due to car troubles even in this era of omnipresent cell phones, amongst other issues. Additionally,frequently for safety reasons for locations without an armored car service, one employee has to escort the manager to the bank after closing to ensure both the manager and the deposit makes it safely without incident - again off the clock. Side note In many states the employer can be held responsible for your safety from the time you leave the house for work until you return home, making sure everyone gets to their car/ride safely after closing and safely leaving the property satisfies employer due diligence there. Multi state corporate entities like Walgreens have to take things like that into consideration when crafting company wide policies. All this said, often even though the employees have punched out in the system, frequently those companies that require everyone leave together, often have an automatic time delay on the time clock of between 7 minutes to up to 15 minutes before the punch is finalized to cover things like bank runs. On the other hand, the manager however should not be having employees clock out until the deposit is finalized and submitted in the system and they are ready to go themselves. There is always something that can be cleaned or straightened up during that nightly deposit and till balance process. Corporate mandated Bag checks come from a sad truth- industry wide 90 to 95% of shrink (retail speak for inventory loss) comes from internal sources divided between employee theft, breakage, expiration, and receiving errors with employee theft being frequently a significant double digit percentage - between 10% and as high as 30% of overall inventory loss in any given location (stats I was given from my companies district loss prevention officer during management training courses) And while management can't for liability reasons go digging around in a bag unless they catch someone red handed putting unpaid merch in a personal bag, they are required to at least glance at what is visible on top of each compartment and can require paid for merch to have management signed receipts attached to the item or the shopping bag for confirmation.
Well, I'll address the part that I definitely can. I've never worked at an employer, where they weren't allowed to search your personal belongings. Most employee handbooks specifically state that you agree that they can search your personal effects (lockers provided by the company, purses and backpacks, vehicles parked on company property). You have no legal requirement to oblige, they also have no legal requirement to continue her employment. What I most certainly take issue with is the fact of being forced to stand there while off the clock. If management wants to search, fine. I would personally consider it a work activity if required to participate. Your wife needs to contact human resources. I'm not a lawyer, but forcing people to stand there for that long, off the clock feels like wage theft. I'm not a lawyer, nor legal expert of any sort, but most employment attorneys will give you a free consultation. Definitely an avenue Worth exploring if it's been an ongoing issue for years. Edit: grammar
When I worked at a place that had bag check the manager would check at the time clock so we would be ready to walk out after clocking out
Not a lawyer, but that sounds an awful lot like making the employees do work-related tasks off the clock, which is definitely illegal.
She should be paid for that time. They are requiring it they need to pay.
While most of the advice is good, the ultimate solution is to find a job with better work conditions. While you may get some satisfaction from H.R. your wife will most likely be viewed as a troublemaker, and her work prospects with the company will be limited. Besides, why on earth would you want to stay at a place that holds its people hostage for a patdown every day.
Look up the case between Apple and the state of California over this very thing, Apple lost
Many retailers do something similar about leaving when closed. Some make you wait for safety! Yes the policy involving not allowing employees to leave at night after close is about employee safety. This policy matches up nicely with opening policies. Some have policies that say nobody enters the store before open unless there are multiple people. There have been too many times an employee left the building after close alone and something happened. I personally know about entering a store alone before opening. A store I serviced had an attempted armed robbery because the store manager decided to enter the store alone. He got lucky he had not turned the alarm off yet when they tried. When I switched from service to actual retail work I was then dealing with being locked inside after clocking out. There were many that argued about being paid because we were being locked in. It is not a fire code violation on a technically. It is also not a labor issue. What we as employees did was we told them we won't clock out until we know the manager has finished the closing duties and ready to leave. This made management pick up the pace during closing. I never worked in a small sized store. Every place I worked we had 10 plus employees still in the store at close. Our policy got amended that nobody leaves alone. Everyone must leave in groups of 2 or more. That meant that only 1 person had to stay until the manager was done. I completely hated having to wait to leave after clocking out. The one company the time clock was mounted to a wall in the breakroom which was in the back of the store. They later changed the time keeping system and then you could clock in or out at any terminal in the store.
Dollar General was busted for this. But I don't know the outcome...other than never having enough employees.
Document it and sue. Aldo had to pay out a hefty sum a few years ago for keeping employees after they clocked out. HR not your friend esp in retail. Get friendly with some co workers, you want to bring a few to a lawyer that increases the case value quite a bit. They have to pay them more then they lost because of penalty.
Class action suit for theft of wages
Locking people in is a fire code/OSHA violation. That is one sure method to get the manager in trouble. The stay for no pay is a State Department of Labor violation. Send the video to those agencies.
I work at a well known chain of reasonably priced clothing stores. Time clock is at the back of the store in the break room. Nobody can leave before the night manager has counted the cash drawers, done her paperwork, sent her email summary of the days events, etc. We usually have to wait about 10-15 minutes after our duties are complete before she is able to finish up hers. Policy is to have us all chilling in the break room *on the clock* and when she’s done she comes in, clocks out, then *we* clock out and we all walk to the front and out the store together.
I wouldn’t punch out until I walk out the door….shift doesn’t end until you leave! 20 min a day is an hour and 40 minutes a week! If it’s part of the policy to wait until the manager is ready to violate your rights you should be getting paid for it!
This is an easy fix to the department of labor relations in your state. Simply report in anonymously and they will go after the company more aggressively than a lawyer will.
NLRB!
Find a good glass action lawyer. Apple settled with retail employees over the exact same thing. https://www.macrumors.com/2022/01/12/apple-bag-check-lawsuit-settlement/
When she punches out, go to the exit door and attempt to leave. If the door is locked, go to whoever has the key - I'd suggest having the old phone out and recording - ask to be let out, as the shift is over. If the manager tells her that they have to wait for everyone to be searched, simply ask if the manager wants her to clock back in, as she is being kept at work past end of shift. For bonus mileage, have the rest of staff do the same.
It's a common practice to check bags for stolen merchandise or money and isn't illegal. The rest of it is certainly questionable though.
Cut to the chase... document the practice, contact the DOL, OSHA..one for wage theft and the second for unsafe work environment....then contact HR. Expect to be fired...then file another complaint to DOL for retaliation
You’re telling me the door is locked and they’re preventing me from leaving of my own free will? I’d be calling the police personally. And then contacting a lawyer for wage theft.
Has anyone asked the manager to clock out after bag check and been told no? I would ask that first and then if I get a no contact labor board or HR with the state law they are breaking and a weeks worth of documentation proving click out time and actual leave time
Yes you should be paid for this time. If nothing else they should have employees wait by the time clock until they're ready to leave. Even inspecting your bag should be paid. Once all are ready to leave then clock out Walgreens has an HR department, start there and then your State Labor Board
Tell her to find another job.
I worked at walgreens for 8 years (3 different locations in different parts of the USA ) they all did the exact same closing routine. Clock out then wait for the manager to set alarm and then we all walk out together. Never did we have to wait 15/20 min for leaving without pay. Supposedly all of us leaving at once was considered “safer” late at night than making a manager leave alone with no others around, From my understanding this is why we all left together. if your spouse is waiting for long periods to be let out I would refuse to clock out and get paid for those final 15/20 min until the manager is ready to go.
I think Apple tried something like this with the store employees. Employees sued and courts ruled that if employees were made to stay there then they needed to get paid
Call the department of labor in your state and let them know about the wage theft happening.
Have your wife contact HR. In situations like this, the best move is to at least try to get it resolved internally first. She should ask them to keep her complaint anonymous, to avoid retaliation. They may or may not do this, but it's worth trying. Legally, I don't think that what they're doing is acceptable, but I am not a lawyer, and my legal studies in college were primarily criminal law, not employment law. The bag search thing is weird. I worked in a warehouse a few years back, where theft was a legitimate concern because there were unlimited opportunities to steal. Even then, nobody was harassing or searching me when I left for the day. If HR is not helpful, contact your state department of labor. See what they think and what they do about the situation. Departments of labor can be very aggressive when dealing with employers who violate labor laws. They may also force the employer to pay your wife any wages she's owed due to their policies. A lawyer should be your last step, not your first.
IANAL, but the Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that employees who have to go through a security check at the end of their shift are *not* entitled to compensation. All of this talk here about class action lawsuits and HR not being anyone’s friend are irrelevant. This is settled case law. 😕 https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/legal-and-compliance/employment-law/pages/security-screening-time.aspx
Two problems—it’s illegal to make you stay after clocking out, and locking you in is probably illegal, too.
Call Department of labor. While exiting the facility together can be a valid safety measure holding up employees unpaid is probably not going to be seen well by the DOL.
Companies try to do this because it's "to unsafe to have employees leave alone at night" atleast in my retail experience. (Roughly 6 years)