Costco is target of labor suit
A lawsuit filed in San Diego County Superior Court on Friday accuses Costco Wholesale Corp. of breaking California labor law by routinely keeping employees from going home each night for 15 minutes as managers remove jewelry from cases and check registers.
The policy, the suit says, amounts to false imprisonment.
The lawsuit, which seeks at least $50 million in punitive damages, was filed on behalf of Mary Pytelewski, a clerk at the Costco warehouse club in San Marcos in northern San Diego County. Attorneys for Pytelewski are seeking class-action status for the suit.
Spokesmen for Costco, based in Issaquah, Wash., did not return calls for comment.
The suit claims that employees are kept from leaving even though they are not being paid.
“Costco is building its business and its competitive advantage at my expense and at the expense of all of its other hourly workers,” Pytelewski said in a written statement.
The lawsuit also alleges that Costco retaliated against Pytelewski with a negative job evaluation after she complained. The company posted a supervisor as a guard at her cash register, said Steven L. Wittels of the firm Sanford Wittels & Heisler, which filed the lawsuit.
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