class-actions

Class Actions

OUR FIRM HANDLES EMPLOYMENT CLASS ACTIONS

A class action is a lawsuit brought on behalf of numerous individuals/parties when it is not practical for a single or many individuals to pursue the matter independently. This is normally when a claim is too small to be worth filing and litigating it on its own. A class action makes it practical to remedy small, but nonetheless improper or unlawful, violations on behalf of hundreds or thousands of individuals.

IN BRIEF:

  1. Wage Ordinance Violations
  2. Unpaid Wages at the Time of Termination
  3. Rounding of Working Hours
  4. Non-Payment of Wages Between Jobs
  5. Failure to Pay Wages When Employee’s Shift is Cut Short
  6. Failure to Pay Wages During Working Down Times
  7. Overtime Pay – Miscalculation and Failure to Pay
  8. Delayed/Withholding of Payment of Wages
  9. Non-Payment of Premium Wages
  10. Miscalculation of Wages in Disregard for Mandatory Bonus Pay
  11. Meal Period Violations
  12. Rest Break Violations
  13. Vacation Benefits – Miscalculation and Failure to Pay/Confer
  14. Sick Leave Benefits– Miscalculation and Failure to Pay/Confer
  15. Other Benefits– Miscalculation and Failure to Pay/Confer
  16. Bonuses– Indiscriminate Application/Miscalculation and Failure to Pay
  17. Holiday Pay– Miscalculation and Failure to Pay/Confer
  18. Non-Reimbursement of Expenses
  19. Misclassification of Employee
  20. Misclassification of Working Hours

IN PARTICULAR:

  • Common Class Wide Labor and Employment Law Causes of Action:
  • Unpaid Time Violations Under California Law –Employees must be paid at least minimum wage for all hours worked, regardless of the method of payment – whether hourly, piece rate, per session, flat rate or commission based. Ordinarily, barring applicable exemptions (executive, administrative, inside sales, computer professionals, etc.), this class includes all members who were not paid their minimum/actual wages, including the time unlawfully considered by Defendants as off-the-clock, as well as overtime wages for hours worked more than eight per day or forty per week.
  • Meal Period Violations Under California Law – The members of this class are individuals who were not provided an unpaid, uninterrupted, thirty (30) minute meal period, free to leave the premises, with shifts of over five (5) hours; and, who were not provided compensation of one hour’s pay at the employee’s regular rate for each day that a meal was not provided. A second meal period class may include those employees who work more than ten (10) hours per shift. Notable exceptions are meal break waivers if applicable.
  • Rest Break Violations Under California Law – The members of this class are individuals who worked periods of four (4) hours or major fraction thereof without a duty-free rest period of at least 10-minutes; and, who were not compensated one hour’s pay at the employee’s regular rate for each day that a rest period was not permitted. These mandatory rest breaks must be offered at the rate of 10 minutes for every four hours worked, or “major fraction” thereof. Anything over two hours is considered by the courts to be a “major fraction” of four. As a general rule, and insofar as practicable, the rest period must be in the middle of the four-hour work period. Though this is the general rule, there is no absolute obligation to permit a rest period before a meal period.
  • Waiting Time Violations Under California Law – This class is comprised of employees who did not receive all their wages due to them upon termination or resignation.
  • Wage Statement Violations Under California Law – This class is comprised of employees to whom Defendants improperly failed to provide accurate itemized wage statements.
  • Other Violations – Other class wide violations may include, but are not limited to, illegal wage deductions, expense reimbursements, unpaid commissions, salary misclassification, miscalculation of overtime rates, paying different hourly rates for identical work, failure to pay for unrecorded hours, failure to pay hourly wages for travel time, vacation and paid time off policies, sick leave violations, and unfair business practices.

 

California law, given the appropriate facts and circumstances, allows one or more individuals to act as class representative(s) in a class action against an entity.

  • Notably, California Code of Civil Procedure § 382 and applicable decisional law, require, in pertinent part, filing of a class action in the instance when:
  • There is a well-defined common interest by and among Plaintiff and the putative class members; and it is impractical to bring all those individuals before the court under a separate, different and repetitive actions.
    • Numerosity – The potential members of the Class and Subclasses as applicable should be so numerous that the individual joinder of all of them as named plaintiffs is impracticable.
    • Typicality – The claims of Plaintiff should be typical of the claims of all members of the Class and Subclasses, who sustained similar damages arising out of Defendants’ common course of conduct in violation of law.
    • Ascertainable Class – The proposed Class and Subclasses should be ascertainable as the members can readily be identified and located based on the Defendant’s payroll, personnel or other records.
    • Adequacy – Plaintiff should be an adequate representative of the Class and Subclasses. In that, Plaintiff should fairly protect the interests of the members, should possess no adverse interest to the members, and should vigorously pursue the lawsuit on behalf of all the members of the Class and Subclasses.
    • Competency – Plaintiff’s attorneys should be competent, skilled and experienced in litigating large employment law class actions.
    • Superiority – Class action treatment will allow a large number of similarly situated persons to prosecute their common claims in a single forum simultaneously, efficiently, and without the unnecessary duplication of effort and expense that numerous individual actions would require.
    • Common Questions of Law and Fact – There should be common questions of law and fact as to the members of the Class and Subclasses which are superior to questions affecting only individual members of the Class and Subclasses.

 

ACTIONS UNDER PRIVATE ATTORNEY GENERAL ACT (PAGA)

Under the Private Attorney General Act (PAGA), the California Labor Code also authorizes the aggrieved employees to file lawsuits to recover civil penalties on behalf of themselves, other employees, and the State of California for Labor Code violations.

Those who intend to pursue PAGA cases must follow, inter alia, the requirements specified in Labor Code Sections 2698 – 2699.5.

 

CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS:

If you have experienced or observed wage theft or other widespread labor law violations affecting a group of workers, you may also file a report with California Department of Industrial Relations for:

Non-payment of/failure to provide/violations of: Minimum wage; Overtime; Business expenses; Rest and/or meal periods; Itemized wage statements; Workers’ compensation insurance; Child labor; Farm labor contractors; Garment manufacturing; and Unlicensed contractors.

You may refer to the Department of Industrial Relations Website for a list of the offices of the Department of Industrial Relations.

FEDERAL COURTS:

In the alternative, if the matter may properly be litigated in the Federal Courts, a class action may be maintained and furthered under Rule 23 of The Federal Rules Of Civil Procedure.