Abercrombie Reaches Wage and Hour Class Action Settlement

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. reached a proposed wage and hour class action lawsuit settlement over allegations that the clothing retailer failed to provide employee rest breaks and violated other California labor laws.

This settlement comes at the same time another California judge certified class of 62,000 Abercrombie employees seeks to intervene and add allegations to the wage and hour lawsuit before its preliminary approval.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kenneth R. Freeman denied the attempt to intervene in the Abercrombie class action settlement stating that the proposed added allegations that the company also requires employees to buy the Abercrombie-brand clothing would broaden the wage and hour class action lawsuit beyond what was originally filed by lead plaintiff Jessica Aparicio.

Aparicio’s wage theft lawsuit would financially compensate Class Members who worked shifts of 3.5 hours or more, including nearly 4,000 employees who worked 4-6 hour shifts.

The Abercrombie wage and hour class action lawsuit filed by Aparicio took years of discovery and negotiations to finally reach a settlement. According to the plaintiff’s attorney, the attempt to intervene by plaintiffs Alexander Brown and Arik Silva would block the reached settlement and Aparicio opposes their attempts to do so.

The wage and hour class action lawsuit has a scheduled hearing on Oct. 13 on a motion for preliminary approval of the settlement. Plaintiff Aparicio states that if the class that Brown seeks to represent does not agree with the Abercrombie settlement they can protect their rights by opting out of the settlement or objecting to it at the final approval hearing.

Abercrombie Wage and Hour Allegations Overview

In addition to the California violations about employee breaks alleged by plaintiff Aparicio, the certified class represented by Brown is seeking reimbursement for work clothes.

According to the 62,000 Abercrombie & Fitch employees, the retailer illegally requires workers to buy their clothing in order to work at retail stores. Plaintiff Brown also claims that Abercrombie has adopted “secret” rest break policies only privy to Abercrombie managers. 

The proposed Abercrombie & Fitch class action lawsuit was filed nine months after Aparico’s and the plaintiffs attempted to intervene when a settlement for Aparico’s wage and hour class action lawsuit was nearly certain.

The attorney for plaintiff Brown states that their class thinks the proposed settlement reached by Aparico is unfair and they would like more discovery before it gets final approval.

Meanwhile, Abercrombie has denied allegations that they require employees to buy their clothing in order to work at their stores stating that their dress code called the “Look Policy” specifically notes that employees are not required to purchase Abercrombie-brand clothes.

California Wage and Hour Laws

California break laws are strictly enforced as a way to protect employees from harsh working conditions. According to California labor law, employees must be given a 10 minute rest break for every four hours of work. If a rest break is missed, an employer must compensate its worker for one hour of pay at the regular hourly rate within a paycheck cycle.

California wage and hour laws also mandate that employees are given a 30 minute, duty free lunch break after five hours of work. If this is not possible, the employer and employee must have a written agreement that this is acceptable and the employee must receive one-hour of pay at the regular hourly rate for each missed meal break.

Other California labor law violations include tip pooling, unpaid wages, unpaid overtime, off the clock work, less than minimum wage, and employee misclassification.

If in the last three years you have reason to believe your employer violated one of the many California labor laws you may have legal claim.

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If you were forced to work off the clock or without overtime pay in California within the past 2 to 3 years, you have rights – and you don’t have to take on the company alone.

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