Costa mesa wage and hour lawsuit

Spratt v. DirecTV – Cable Company Accused of Wage-and-Hour Abuses

March 31, 2015 | by Nassiri Law

A California lawsuit accuses a large cable company of forcing hourly workers in California to toil through designated brake times, among other wage-and-hour violations, according to the latest lawsuit filed against the firm.

In Spratt v. DirecTV Enterprises LLC, filed within the Los Angeles Superior Court, a former maintenance worker alleges the company improperly imposed an “alternative” work week schedule that consisted of four, 10-hour days. It also allegedly failed to pay overtime and other required pay to more than 100 workers employed with the firm in California, starting in early 2011.

Plaintiff worked for more than a decade, starting in 2002.

Augustus v. ABM Sec. Servs., Inc. – Requiring Guards to Remain On-Call No Violation of Rest Break Law

February 9, 2015 | by Nassiri Law

The California Court of Appeal reversed a $90 million class action judgment in a case of alleged rest period violations under state law, finding the requirement of security guards to remain on-call during rest breaks was not improper.

In weighing Augustus v. ABM Sec. Servs., Inc., the appellate court for the second appellate district, division one, held the requirement to remain on-call did not constitute as “performing work” under California Labor Code 226.7. The law states no employer shall require any worker to work during any meal or rest break. Employers who fail to provide a rest period or meal break to workers in accordance with the Industrial Welfare Commission’s order have to pay the worker an additional hour of pay at the worker’s regular rate for each rest period or meal break not provided.

The ruling is a disappointing one for California workers, but it does help us to better define the kinds of cases worth pursuing.

Wage and Hour Lawsuits in California, Elsewhere, on the Rise: Report

November 18, 2013 | by Nassiri Law

Wage and hour lawsuits are reportedly outpacing many other types of employment litigation in California and throughout the country, according to a new report by the Institute for Legal Reform.

According to the report, wage and hour litigation has expanded significantly in recent years – and shows few signs of stopping.

Between 2007 and 2012, there was reportedly a total of $2.7 billion paid out in wage-and-hour lawsuits. Of that, approximately $470 million was paid out in 2012 alone, the report indicated. An average of $4.8 million was paid out per case.

California Internship Lawsuits: Blaming the Victim

October 28, 2013 | by Nassiri Law

A number of recent articles have boldly proclaimed that recent unpaid internship lawsuits have resulted in vast reductions of job opportunities and that the “era of internships is over,” urging companies to simply steer clear of interns altogether.

Our Costa Mesa wage and hour attorneys find this approach unfortunate, as in the long run, it does little to benefit the interns, the individual companies or the industry in which they hope to break into.

Regardless of whether these writers realize it, what they are doing is engaging in a classic form of victim blaming. Laws regarding how interns should be treated and what all parties should hope to receive from the arrangement have always been quite clear. However, it wasn’t until fairly recently that companies began to be called out on their blatant ignoring of these laws, which was ultimately leading to the exploitation of interns as a form of free labor.

Employment Lawsuit Issues To Take Center Stage in New U.S. Supreme Court Term

October 18, 2013 | by Nassiri Law

As the U.S. Supreme Court begins another session this month following its summer recess, there are a number of pending cases that could have a significant impact on labor and employment law.

While our Costa Mesa wage and hour lawyers want to be hopeful about the outcome of these cases, the reality is that the court did not hand out many decisions that favored workers during the last term.

The 2012-2013 term resulted six-out-of-six “wins” for employers. These decisions aided employers in a number of ways. In general, those included making it easier to win cases against them, discouraging such cases from being filed in the first place, making it tougher to obtain class action status and clearing the way for more cases to be decided via arbitration, which is generally considered more favorable to the business than the worker.

California Wage and Hour Lawsuits May be Prompted by New Minimum Wage Law

October 12, 2013 | by Nassiri Law

California has always been a trailblazer.

The latest new territory involves being the first state to raise hourly minimum wage rates to double digits – $10-an-hour by 2016, per a bill that recently received Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature. In the interim, the rate will graduate to $9 hourly by next summer.

While this is good news, we fully anticipate this change will coincide with a rise in California wage and hour lawsuits.

Wage and Hour Lawsuit Filed Against Outback Restaurant Chain

October 10, 2013 | by Nassiri Law

Historically, large restaurant chains have been one of the top violators of federal and state wage and hour laws in the U.S.

This may have to do with the fact that the restaurant industry is unique in the way it is permitted to structure its pay (on the basis of tips). The hours are usually not the typical 9-to-5, and it is typically lower-level staff (servers, bussers, line-cooks and hosts) who are exploited.

Outback Steakhouse is no exception. Our Costa Mesa wage and hour lawyers have learned the latest claim against the chain is a class action that stems from a group of Nevada employees. They allege the company failed to provide them with breaks to which they were legally entitled, mandated they begin working prior to the start of their shifts and discriminated against nursing mothers by not providing enough break time or private settings for them to pump milk.