A statewide collective action has been filed in West Virginia against credit card customer service giant, Applied Card Systems, Inc. The action is brought on behalf of all West Virginia employees of Applied who were not paid proper overtime compensation for all hours worked beyond 40 per week and who were terminated suddenly on April 23, 2003, when Applied closed its West Virginia operations without prior notice to employees. The action is brought under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and West Virginia labor laws and seeks back pay, statutory and liquidated damages as well as injunctive and declaratory relief. As a collective action, all potential claimants must voluntarily "opt-in" to the action in order to be considered a member of the class. The employees have requested that the court issue notice to all potential claimants.

According to employees, Applied Card Systems has engaged in a willful, intentional and systematic practice of violating the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and West Virginia Law. The employees, the majority of which are telephone customer service representatives, claim that they are called upon to work beyond 40 hours a week on a regular basis, but are not compensated for the majority of these hours. According to employees, they are required to arrive early at work daily to attend meetings prior to their shift beginning. The employees claim that these meetings are off of the clock and that they were not compensated for time spent in these pre-shift meetings. Additionally, the employees allege that they are required to stay after their shift if they are in the midst of assisting a customer. The employees claim that time spent completing these calls is off the clock as well. Furthermore, The employees allege that they are further required to stay late because they must shut down their work stations after a day's work, this shutting down is another activity that is allegedly not on the clock.

Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, and West Virginia law, all "non-exempt" hourly employees are entitled to a minimum of time and a half for all hours worked beyond 40 per week. "Non-exempt" employees are generally those that work on an hourly basis and do not perform managerial or executive tasks. All potential claimants in this action assert that they were "non-exempt" and are entitled to overtime compensation. They further claim that because Applied's actions were willful, they are entitled to liquidated damages under federal and state law. Applied Credit Systems employed over 500 people at its West Virginia facility and the employees claim that all hourly employees of this facility are potentially part of this action. Additionally, the employees claim that the West Virginia facility had a high rate of turnover, creating an equally as large, if not larger, class of employees that resigned or were terminated prior to the closing.