Applebee’s Worker Files Wage and Hour Class Action in CA

An employee of the largest California Applebee’s franchise has filed a wage and hour lawsuit against her employer, alleging she and other employees were required to work through unpaid break time.

Plaintiff Taelyn L. says she worked at an Applebee’s restaurant run by Apple American Group LLC. Her wage and hour class action lawsuit claims employees were entitled to a ten-minute break for every four hours on the clock, plus a thirty-minute meal break for every five hours of work.

However, Taelyn alleges she and her co-workers were sometimes required to waive their meal breaks at the beginning of their shifts. She says these employees were not compensated in lieu of receiving those breaks.

In addition to the alleged failure to provide breaks and pay overtime wages, Taelyn says Apple American Group did not provide its employees with accurate and itemized wage statements. She also alleges Apple American Group did not allow employees to leave the premises during break time.

Taelyn says she complained about these circumstances to Apple American Group and also reported them to the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency. The LWDA declined to investigate her claims, she says. Nevertheless, Taelyn says Apple American Group is continuing to violate California employment laws.

Rather than file a claim solely on her own behalf, Taelyn is filing this claim as a wage and hour class action lawsuit. She’s proposing to represent a class consisting of all nonexempt employees of Apple American Group who worked anytime within one year before the date Taelyn first reported her complaints to the LWDA.

Taelyn is seeking as much as three years’ worth of back wages. She also seeks civil penalties of $50 for the first violation of California employment laws and $100 for each violation after that.

According to their corporate website, Apple American Group is the largest franchisee of Applebee’s. It owns and operates about 479 Applebee’s restaurants in 23 states and employs over 31,000 people. Since its start in 1998, the company’s annual sales have consistently increased, peaking at nearly $1.2 billion in 2014.

This Applebees California Wage and Hour Class Action Lawsuit is Case No. BC590908 in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

California Employment Law:  Meal and Rest Breaks

Under California employment law (and with some exceptions), employers must provide employees with a minimum thirty-minute meal period for any work period of more than five hours. If the employer does not relieve the employee of all duties during the meal period or does not allow the employee to leave the premises, then the meal period is considered “on duty” and the employee must be paid for that period.

These “on-duty” meal periods are allowable only where the nature of the work prevents the employee from being relieved of all duty and where the employer and employee have made a written agreement to use on-duty meal periods.

Employers covered by the Industrial Welfare Commission Wage Orders must also provide employees with one paid ten-minute rest period for every four hours worked or every major fraction of four hours. Employers can require employees to remain on the premises during that rest period, however, since the rest period is paid time.

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