Wage and Hour

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It’s that time of the year. School is out. The weather is warm. And high school and college students all over the country are descending on the workforce in search of temporary summer employment. That means it’s also time for businesses who take on temporary summer workers to familiarize themselves with the federal and state regulations governing the wages and hours of "interns."

The California Supreme Court unanimously held that businesses cannot be liable under state wage and hour laws for the failure of an independent contractor to properly pay wages to its employees and confirmed the bar on personal liability for officers, directors and agents of a business for violations of state wage and hour laws.
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Rosas v. The Corporation of the Catholic Archbishop of Seattle, 598 F.3d 668 (9th Cir. 2010)

Cesar Rosas and Jesus Alcazar were Catholic seminarians who sued the Corporation of the Catholic Archbishop for, among other things, failure to pay them overtime wages under Washington state law. Based on the ministerial exception, the district court dismissed the case on the pleadings. The Ninth Circuit affirmed,…

Arenas v. El Torito Restaurants, Inc., 183 Cal. App. 4th 723 (2010)

The plaintiffs in this case are salaried managers at El Torito, El Torito Grill and Guadala Harry’s restaurants in California from May 2002 to the present. Plaintiffs alleged they were misclassified as employees exempt from overtime because they routinely spent more than half of their working hours performing duties delegated to non-exempt…

Gutierrez v. G&M Oil Co., 184 Cal.App.4th 551 (2010)

Maria Gutierrez filed a wage-and-hour class action lawsuit against G&M Oil Company, an operator of a chain of gas stations throughout California. Michael Gray was G&M’s vice president and general counsel and its registered agent for service of process Gray agreed to accept service of the complaint from Gutierrez’s attorney and decided to handle the…

Cumbie v. Woody Woo, Inc., 596 F.3d 577 (2010)

Misty Cumbie worked as a waitress at the Vita Café (owned and operated by Woody Woo, Inc.). Woo required its servers to contribute their tips to a “tip pool” that was redistributed to all restaurant employees, including the kitchen staff (dishwashers and cooks). Cumbie filed this putative collective and class action against Woo, alleging that…

Narouz v. Charter Communications, LLC, 591 F.3d 1261 (9th Cir. 2010)

Hani Narouz filed a complaint against Charter Communications in which he alleged causes of action for wrongful termination in violation of public policy, as well as statutory violations of the California Labor Code for failure to pay wages, provide meal periods, maintain accurate itemized wage statements, and unfair competition under Business & Professions…

D’Este v. Bayer Corp., 565 F.3d 1119 (9th Cir. 2009)

The Ninth Circuit has certified two questions of law to be answered by the California Supreme Court pursuant to Cal. Rule of Court 8.548: (1) Does a pharmaceutical sales representative (“PSR”) qualify as an “outside salesperson” under Industrial Welfare Commission Wage Orders 1-2001 and 4-2001 if the PSR spends more than half the working…

Martorana v. Marlin & Saltzman, 2009 WL 1875681 (Cal. Ct. App. 2009)

Ron Martorana was a class member in a wage and hour class action that had been filed against his former employer, Allstate Insurance Company. The Los Angeles Superior Court approved a settlement of the class action, but Martorana did not recover any portion of the settlement because he had failed to timely…