Kraft Wage and Hour Class Action Settled for $1.75M

Kraft Foods Group recently agreed to a $1.75 million class action settlement to resolve allegations that the company broke California overtime laws by failing to adequately compensate employees for missed breaks.

Plaintiff Jose Rodriguez alleges that Kraft didn’t provide its hourly employees with meal and rest breaks and failed to compensate them for that time.

Some of the settlement money will go towards administrative costs and attorneys’ fees, leaving approximately $1.13 million for the Class Members. The Class Members will each see almost $1,000 from the wage and hour class action lawsuit, given that the settlement must be divided amongst all 1,239 of them.

The class members involved in this wage and hour lawsuit were employed at some point after June 5, 2010.

The wage and hour class action lawsuit has been in the works since July 2014, when Rodriguez initially alleged that the company was breaking California overtime law. The initial lawsuit claimed that Kraft employees missed their 30 minute break periods without compensation.

The complaint also stated that Kraft failed to pay the required extra pay expected for work done during meal and break time.

Rodriguez, the class representative, worked as a Kraft hourly employee until August 2013. Rodriguez alleges that Kraft also failed to pay wages in a timely manner once employees left the company, as well as failed to provide accurate itemized wage statements.

The initial unpaid wages complaint alleged that the company failed to pay owed wages to their employees on a reliable and regular pay schedule, which also violates California wage and hour laws.

The unpaid wages class action lawsuit claims that Kraft’s failure to uphold these wage and hour laws was not only neglectful, but willful.

California Break Laws

California wage and hour laws require that nonexempt employees be entitled to at least a thirty minute meal break within the first five hours of work. Nonexempt employees must also receive at least one ten-minute rest break for each four hours of work.

In California, there are penalties for failure to meet wage and hour laws, such those governing as underpayment or unpaid wages, paying wages with insufficient funds, failure to provide meal or rest breaks, failure to provide one day’s rest in seven, and failure to pay wages timely upon termination.

California law also requires penalties for unlawful deductions from wages.

If you or someone you know has worked in California for an employer that failed to obey California labor laws such as overtime labor, you may be able to file an individual California overtime lawsuit, or may be eligible to join a wage and hour class action lawsuit.

Join a Free California Overtime, Wage & Hour Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

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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