Bank of America Settles Digital Off-the-Clock Work Lawsuit

Charlotte, NC A federal judge has approved a settlement resolving a wage-and-hour lawsuit accusing Bank of America of failing to pay employees for time spent booting up computers and preparing digital workstations before and after their shifts.

Bank of America Settles Digital Off-the-Clock Work Lawsuit The lawsuit, Martin v. Bank of America, alleged that hourly employees spent between 15 and 30 minutes each day performing startup and shutdown procedures– including duties necessary to access the bank’s systems. The lawsuit claimed those activities occurred before employees officially clocked in and, in some cases, after they had clocked out. Plaintiff Tava Martin, who worked as a business analyst remotely and at the bank’s Jacksonville, Florida, facility, said the Bank required her and fellow hourly workers to:

turn on their computers and wait for Windows to load
from their cell phones, request a security token for the company’s VPN
wait for that token to arrive
log into multiple security systems
open required web applications with separate passwords
download the Excel files needed for the day.

All before clocking in, reported Law360. These steps were necessary to become “phone ready”, meaning employees were required to handle calls from customers the moment their scheduled shifts began. If they weren’t ready, employees risked disciplinary action, including termination.

The complaint further alleged that unpaid work extended beyond the beginning of shifts. During meal breaks, some systems allegedly disconnected automatically, requiring employees to repeat portions of the startup process before returning to work.

Digital off-the-clock

This case addresses a growing workplace issue often described as “digital off-the-clock work,” with workers alleging that mandatory startup procedures—including logging into multiple systems, connecting to secure networks and launching required applications—constituted compensable work under federal labor law.

The case also highlights the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the federal law governing minimum wage and overtime requirements. It focused on a recurring question in wage-and-hour disputes: when does the workday actually begin?

The lawsuit leaned on longstanding guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor regarding compensable work activities in technology-dependent workplaces. In a 2008 opinion letter, the agency addressed whether startup activities involving computers could qualify as paid work time if they were considered integral and indispensable to an employee’s principal job duties. Specifically, the DOL stated that “booting and preparing workstations” may be considered part of a worker’s first principal activity if those tasks are necessary to perform the job.

Plaintiffs argued that was precisely the situation at issue in the Bank of America case. According to the complaint, launching the bank’s digital systems was not merely optional preparation or personal convenience; it was a required prerequisite for performing the analyst role itself.

Under federal wage law, activities that are integral and indispensable to employees’ principal duties often qualify as compensable work time. Courts evaluating these disputes typically examine whether the activity primarily benefits the employer and whether workers can realistically perform their core responsibilities without completing those tasks first.

The issue has become increasingly prominent as workplaces, from banking and customer service to healthcare and technology, increasingly rely on multiple layers of digital infrastructure.

Cases involving computer startup procedures have produced mixed results in courts across the country. Some judges have concluded that startup activities may qualify as compensable work where employees cannot perform their jobs without completing those tasks. Other courts have determined that certain login procedures may not rise to the level of principal work activities.