On April 18, 2012, a California Assembly panel advanced a bill that would exclude overtime hours from the fixed salary of a nonexempt employee, notwithstanding an “explicit mutual wage agreement” to the contrary.
Overtime
Court of Appeal Rejects “Trial by Formula,” Reverses Multimillion Dollar Verdict and Orders Class Decertified
By Hal Brody on
Duran v. U.S. Bank Nat’l Ass’n, No. A125557, 2012 WL 366590 (Feb. 6, 2012)
In a decision destined to have significant statewide ramifications, the California Court of Appeal for the First District reversed a trial court’s certification of a wage-hour class and determination of liability, concluding that the trial court had failed to follow “established statistical procedures” in adopting the trial management plan under which class-wide liability was determined by the testimony of only a relative handful of the class members.
Four current and former U.S. Bank Business Banking Officers (BBO) filed suit on behalf of themselves and all current and former BBOs within the relevant period, alleging that they had been misclassified as exempt outside sales people and therefore illegally deprived of overtime pay. After certifying the class, the trial court, over U.S. Bank’s strenuous objections, adopted a trial management plan in which a random sample of 20 (out of 260) class members would testify as representatives of the class, and the court would use this testimony to determine class-wide liability. After bench trials, the court awarded the class members $15 million in unpaid overtime and prejudgment interest, as well as $18 million in attorney’s fees.
California Law Should Have Been Applied To Determine If Drivers Were Employees Or Independent Contractors
By Tony Oncidi on
Ruiz v. Affinity Logistics Corp., 667 F.3d 1318 (9th Cir. 2012)
Fernando Ruiz and similarly situated drivers filed a class action against Affinity alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and California law for failure to pay overtime, failure to pay wages, improper charges for workers’ compensation insurance and unfair business practices. To work for Affinity, the drivers had to enter into an…
Employer Was Deprived Of Due Process By Trial Court’s Erroneous Use Of Representative Sampling
By Tony Oncidi on
Duran v. U.S. Bank Nat’l Ass’n, 203 Cal. App. 4th 212 (2012)
U.S. Bank (“USB”) appealed a $15 million judgment that was entered against it following a bifurcated bench trial. The plaintiffs are 260 current and former business banking officers who claimed they were misclassified by USB as outside sales personnel exempt from overtime pay. The Court of Appeal agreed with USB that the…
California Overtime Requirements Apply To Work Performed By Non-Resident Employees
By Tony Oncidi on
Sullivan v. Oracle Corp., 662 F.3d 1265 (2011)
Three Oracle instructors (all non-residents of California) filed this class action to recover allegedly unpaid overtime under California law for work they performed while in California. Two of the instructors were residents of Colorado and one was a resident of Arizona; all of them worked in their home states and, from time to time, in California.…
Insurance Claims Adjusters May Be Exempt Administrative Employees
By Tony Oncidi on
Harris v. Superior Court, 53 Cal.4th 170 (2011)
Plaintiffs in this case are claims adjusters employed by two insurance companies. They filed four putative class actions, claiming they had been erroneously classified as exempt administrative employees and seeking damages based upon unpaid overtime. The court of appeal held as a matter of law that plaintiffs were non-exempt employees who were entitled to overtime pay.…
Social Workers May Not Be “Learned Professionals” Who Are Exempt From The FLSA
By Tony Oncidi on
Solis v. State of Washington, 656 F.3d 1079 (9th Cir. 2011)
The U.S. Secretary of Labor filed a complaint against the State of Washington’s Department of Social and Health Services (“DSHS”), alleging a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (“FLSA”) based upon the DSHS’s classification of its social workers as “learned professionals” exempt from the FLSA’s overtime pay requirements. The district…
Offer of Judgment for Full Amount of Class Rep’s Claim Did Not Moot Class Action
By Tony Oncidi on
Pitts v. Terrible Herbst, Inc., 653 F.3d 1081 (2011)
Gareth Pitts filed a class action against his employer, Terrible Herbst, Inc., alleging a collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act for failure to pay overtime and minimum wages, a class action for violations of Nevada labor laws and a class action for breach of contract. Although Pitts claimed only $88 in damages for…
Prevailing Employer Should Have Been Permitted To Recover Its Costs from Employee
By Tony Oncidi on
Plancich v. UPS, Inc., 198 Cal. App. 4th 308 (2011)
Larry Plancich sued UPS for failure to pay overtime, meal and rest breaks; failure to keep, maintain and furnish accurate wage statements, and unfair competition, among other claims. The trial court ruled in favor of UPS on the unfair competition claim and a jury found in favor of UPS on the remaining claims. The…
California Overtime Rules Apply To Out-of-State Residents Who Work In The State
By Tony Oncidi on
Sullivan v. Oracle Corp., 51 Cal. 4th 1191 (2011)
In this case, the California Supreme Court answered three questions certified to it by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit as follows: (1) California’s overtime law applies to work performed in California for a California employer by nonresident workers; (2) the Unfair Competition Law (“UCL”) applies to violations of the overtime…