A federal lawsuit filed last week in Alabama alleges that the nation's fourth-largest bank failed to pay call center employees for the time required each shift to log on to their computers and related software before taking calls.

Carrie Williams, an employee of Wachovia Corp.'s call center in Birmingham, Ala., filed the lawsuit March 21 in a U.S. District Court. She has asked a federal judge to allow all current and former Wachovia call center workers to participate in the case.

Wachovia operates 14 call centers nationwide, including one in Roanoke, to handle customer service calls. The Roanoke call center employs about 900 people at its facility on Plantation Road, according to spokeswoman Christine Shaw.

Shaw said the company would not comment about pending litigation.

Harold McLeod, Wachovia Bank's Roanoke president, was on vacation Friday and could not be reached for comment.

If a class-action suit proceeds and Williams and others prevail, the Charlotte-based company could be required to pay millions of dollars to compensate call center employees for back pay and overtime.

Specifically, Williams' suit alleges that Wachovia violated terms of the Fair Labor Standards Act by not paying for the time required at the beginning of an employee's shift to prepare to receive customer service calls.

The FLSA establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping and child labor standards affecting workers in the private sector and in federal, state and local governments.

According to court records, Williams' complaint estimates that log-in procedures take about five and a half to seven minutes and alleges that employees' clock-in time for the shift does not activate until the procedures are complete.

It alleges also that Wachovia requires call center workers to arrive at work prior to the beginning of each shift to complete this "preparatory" process.

Similar legal action in recent years against other defendants has resulted in payments to call center employees.

In November 2006, in a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor, T-Mobile USA agreed to pay $4.7 million in back wages and overtime pay to more than 20,500 workers. A labor department investigation had determined that T-Mobile USA call center employees had not been paid for preparatory work performed prior to the start of their shifts.

In February 2006, a similar DOL investigation of Convergys Corp. required the company to pay more than $350,000 in back wages to employees of a Tucson, Ariz., call center.

Tom Campbell, an attorney representing Williams, said his client has been a Wachovia call center employee for 12 years.

Campbell said Wachovia has not responded to Williams' lawsuit. He said he doubts the corporation's alleged violation of federal labor standards was unintentional.

"So many banks have been sued over the same issue it is hard for me to believe Wachovia did not know you have to pay people for the work they do under the federal law," Campbell said in an e-mail.

News researcher Belinda Harris contributed to this report.