Wage and Hour

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Pamela Silva brought a wage-and-hour class action against her former employer, See’s Candy Shops, Inc., alleging, in part, that See’s failed to pay her wages for all hours worked because the See’s timekeeping system rounded employee time entries to the nearest tenth of an hour/nearest six minutes.  In response to the complaint, See’s alleged that its use of rounding was consistent with state and federal …

The California Court of Appeal in Aleman v. AirTouch Cellular has addressed for the first time; (1) whether reporting time pay applies to training meetings which are scheduled in advance; (2) whether Split-shift premium pay should be paid if an employee earns more than the minimum wage for all hours worked plus one additional hour of pay in a workday; and, (3) whether employers may …

Harris v. Superior Court, 207 Cal. App. 4th 1225 (2012)

Plaintiffs in this case are insurance claims adjusters who claim they were misclassified as exempt from overtime under the administrative exemption. The Court of Appeal held that because the adjusters’ primary work duties are the day-to-day tasks of adjusting individual claims and are not directly related to management policies or general business operations, the…

Bell v. H.F. Cox, Inc., 2012 WL 3846827 (Cal. Ct. App. 2012)

Oscar Bell and other truck drivers filed a putative class action against Cox, alleging wage and hour violations. Among other things, the drivers alleged that Cox had failed to pay promised vacation benefits to current employees (it paid them a flat rate of $500 of vacation pay per week, which was later…

Hernandez v. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc., 2012 WL 3579567 (Cal. Ct. App. 2012)

Rogelio Hernandez appealed from the order denying his motion for class certification and granting Chipotle’s motion to deny class certification as to his claims that Chipotle denied non-exempt employees their meal and rest breaks. Chipotle moved to deny class certification on the ground that it had met its responsibility under California…

The plaintiff in Iskanian v. CLS Transp. Los Angeles, LLC, brought a putative class action and a representative action under California’s Private Attorney General Act (PAGA) for various wage and hour violations. During his employment, Iskanian agreed that he would not assert class action or representative action claims against his employer and, instead, agreed to submit any legal claims he had to binding arbitration.

The California Court of Appeal for the Second District held that the employee was bound by his agreement. Relying on the United States Supreme Court’s 2011 decision in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, the Court held that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) preempts any state law prohibiting class action waivers in arbitration agreements. The Court also found that Concepcion overruled Gentry v. Superior Court – a California Supreme Court decision which held that class action waivers in arbitration agreements are unenforceable if class arbitration would be more efficient than individual litigation. Rejecting this notion, the Court stated, “a rule like Gentry – requiring Courts to determine whether to impose class arbitration on parties who contractually rejected it – cannot be considered consistent with the objective of enforcing arbitration agreements according to their terms.”

Cash v. Winn, 205 Cal. App. 4th 1285 (2012) 

Joy Cash, who is not a licensed or trained nurse, cared for Iola Winn, who is in her 90’s, in Winn’s home. After she left her employment, Cash sued Winn for failure to pay her overtime wages. Winn claimed that Cash was a personal attendant within the meaning of Wage Order No. 15 and thus…

The California Supreme Court issued its decision yesterday in Kirby v. Immoos Fire Protection, Inc., S185827, 2012 Cal. LEXIS 3981 (April 30, 2012), holding that attorney’s fees may not be awarded under Cal. Lab. Code § 218.5 to a party that prevails on a claim for meal and rest break violations. Section 218.5 provides that attorney’s fees are to be awarded to the prevailing…

Sciborski v. Pacific Bell Directory, 205 Cal. App. 4th 1152 (2012)

Annie Sciborski sued her former employer, Pacific Bell Directory, after it deducted approximately $19,000 from her wages to recover a $36,000 sales commission that had been paid to her. After a three-day trial, the jury found Pacific Bell’s wage deductions violated the Labor Code and resulted in Sciborski’s constructive discharge in violation of…

Aleksick v. 7-Eleven, Inc., 205 Cal. App. 4th 1176 (2012)

Kimberly Aleksick, who worked as a clerk at a 7-Eleven store, sued 7-Eleven (the franchisor of the store where Aleksick was employed) for violation of the Unfair Competition Law (“UCL”). Aleksick alleged that 7-Eleven, which provides payroll services to its franchisees, violated the UCL by converting any partial hour worked in a pay period…