Cingular Employees to Receive Back Wages
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In a settlement with the Labor Department, Cingular Wireless LLC will pay $5.1 million in back wages to almost 26,000 customer service workers for alleged overtime pay violations.
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(InfoWorld) - Washington State's highest court on Thursday let a class-action lawsuit alleging overcharging by Cingular Wireless go forward. The state Supreme Court said a clause in Cingular's contract that prevented subscribers from starting class-action suits was unfair and sent the case back to the trial court in King County where it began. The suit was filed in 2004 on behalf of a small number of Washington customers of Cingular Wireless, now part of AT&T Inc. It said the carrier advertised free roaming in areas covered by AT&T Wireless, which was then a separate company, but hit the customers with roaming charges anyway. It also said customers were improperly charged for long distance on some calls, said Douglas Dunham, an attorney representing the plaintiffs. They alleged Cingular had overcharged customers between $1 and $40 per month. The plaintiffs' attempt to start a class-action suit was blocked by a clause in the Cingular customer contract, which said disgruntled subscribers couldn't form or join classes to sue the carrier. As a result, they didn't even get to the stage of finding out how many customers in Washington or nationally may have been affected, Dunham said. Now that they have won on appeal, the plaintiffs will pursue a class action, he said. AT&T is studying the ruling, spokesman Walt Sharp said. The carrier could appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, according to F. Paul Bland, staff attorney at Public Justice, a public-interest law firm in Washington, D.C., that helped argue the plaintiffs' case. In cases involving small amounts of money, consumers need to be able to pursue class actions, Bland said. "Cingular was trying to write a contract term that would make it impossible for their customers to vindicate their legal rights ... if Cingular cheated them out of small sums of money," Bland said. "Even though Cingular broke its contract and engaged in a bait-and-switch that netted it millions of dollars, almost no individuals would ever be able to take their claims forward and get justice." The decision will make it harder for other companies, such as credit card issuers, to introduce similar bans on class-action suits in Washington, Dunham predicted. In the Cingular case, it will probably take several months to get the class of plaintiffs certified and to gauge damages, he said. The case might not go to trial for two years, he added.
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Workers could be offered pay settlements lasting up to three years
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Cingular Wireless, the largest U.S. wireless phone company, said Wednesday it expects to report a profit and positive cash flow in 2005, one year earlier than planned, following its $41 billion purchase of AT&#38;T Wireless Services Inc.
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Cingular Wireless plans to cut about 10 percent of its work force next year as the company adjusts to complete its recent merger with Redmond-based AT&amp;T Wireless Services inc.
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Boston Communications Group Inc.  , which sells billing systems to mobile phone  companies, said on Thursday it would restate certain past  financial results to reflect charges for stock-based  compensation costs.
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Cingular Wireless LLC, the nation&#39;s largest cell phone company, will cut about 10 percent of its 68,000 jobs over the next 12 to 18 months as it combines operations with the recently acquired AT&amp;T Wireless, Cingular&#39;s chief executive said Tuesday.
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Verizon Wireless has agreed to pay a fine and reimburse users who were disconnected for "excessive" use of a cellular broadband service that was marketed as allowing "unlimited" use, New York's state attorney general announced Tuesday.
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Cingular Wireless, the nation&#39;s largest mobile-telephone operator, said that it would sell some airwave rights and customers to the Alltel Corporation for $170 million to satisfy government conditions on its purchase of AT&amp;T Wireless Services.
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Long-distance telephone customers   can receive refunds of between $30 and $60 on their 2006 taxes   to reimburse them for a now defunct telephone tax, the U.S.   Internal Revenue Service said on Thursday.
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The California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday upheld a &#36;12.1 million fine against Cingular Wireless, related to a two-year investigation into the cellular telephone company's business practices.
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Cingular Wireless will cut close to 10% of its 68,000 jobs over the next 12 to 18 months as it combines operations with the recently acquired AT&amp;T Wireless, the chief executive of the nation&#39;s largest cell phone company said Tuesday in an
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Boston Communications Group Inc.   BCGI.O, which sells billing systems to mobile phone   companies, said on Thursday it would restate certain past   financial results to reflect charges for stock-based   compensation costs.
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Verizon Wireless has agreed to pay a penalty and reimburse users who were disconnected for "excessive" use of a cellular broadband service that was marketed as allowing "unlimited" use, New York's state attorney general announced Tuesday.
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SAN FRANCISCO Cingular Wireless will have to pay millions of dollars in fines because of the steep fees it charged its customers who wanted to end their contracts early.
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Cingular Wireless, the nation's largest cellular phone company, plans to cut about 10 percent of its work force as a result of its purchase of AT&T Wireless.
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Confounding doubters on Wall Street, Atlanta-based Cingular Wireless said it expects to post a profit and positive cash flow next year.