ATLANTA – In what may be the largest misclassification case in its history, the U.S. Department of Labor has asked a federal court to force a Florida-based customer service provider for major national brands, including Barnes & Noble, Comcast, Disney and Walgreens, to pay back wages and liquidated damages to more than 22,000 workers after investigators found the employer misclassified employees as independent contractors and denied them their legally required minimum wage and overtime pay.

Today’s filing in the Southern District of Florida in Fort Lauderdale follows an investigation of Miramar-based Arise Virtual Solutions Inc. by the department’s Wage and Hour Division.

The division found the employer often recruited workers with promises they would “be their own bosses” and that they could generate income by providing customer support services to Fortune 500 clients. In fact, investigators determined customer support workers had no real autonomy, were subject to the company’s stringent work scheduling policy, and had to buy their equipment before providing Arise’s clients with service and generating income.

“Our filing seeks to recover back wages and liquidated damages for more than 22,000 employees of Arise Virtual Solutions Inc. based on our finding that the company misclassified these workers as independent contractors,” explained Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda. “Misclassification is a serious concern that harms many U.S. workers who are denied their full rights,...

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