$4.2M Settlement Resolves Travel Time Pay Class Action Lawsuit

A food service company based in California has agreed to pay over $4 million to resolve class action allegations they did not properly pay their employees for travel time.

California-based ITW Food Equipment Group faced class action allegations that their employees were not paid correct travel time pay for transporting important equipment they needed to complete their job-related duties at the beginning and end of the work day.

This Class, led by lead plaintiff Joseluis A., consists of over 200 repair technicians that used tools, parts and equipment to repair food service equipment at different client locations. This class action lawsuit claims that they were not given travel time pay for the time they spent transporting these items. Instead, alleged the plaintiff, “normal commute times” were deducted from their time spent working for which they were eligible for pay.

Joseluis, who worked for Hobart Service, an equipment service provider, for twenty years, alleges that ITW Food Equipment Group did not pay him and other repair technicians before the first client of the day and after the last one for the time spent transferring items to and from their homes.

According to Law360, service technicians provide customers with on-site maintenance of their equipment. The work allegedly requires technicians to transport tools and equipment to customer locations. The class action lawsuit makes the claim that the deduction of the commute time is in direct violation of California labor laws and that these technicians should have been provided travel time pay.

The motion for preliminary approval of the $4.2 million settlement notes, “This is particularly so given defendants will also engage in remediation measures through the clarification of its vehicle usage agreement to address the commuting options available to service technicians with respect to their service vehicles.”

The travel time pay class action lawsuit demanded not only that the food service company compensate workers for past travel time pay they they have lost, but also that they change their policies so that there is better communication between technicians and the company in order to prevent travel time pay violations in the future.

This original lawsuit was filed seven years ago in 2011. The initial result was that the district court ruled on the side of the company for travel time pay. That court even refused to give it class certification the following year in 2012.

However, in an appeal to the Ninth Court, the plaintiffs eventually saw the lower court’s ruling overturned. It wasn’t until 2016 that the class certification for the travel time pay group was granted and a trial date was scheduled for 2018.

Discovery for the case included 30 depositions and over 142,000 documents. But an agreement was reached nine days before the February 20th trial date. When and if this agreement is approved, attorneys will take $1.39 million and additional costs will be subtracted from the $4.2 million total travel time pay settlement.

The remainder will be divided among the Class, which is defined by those service tech workers who, since 2007, have worked for ITW Food Equipment Group.

The Travel Time Pay Lawsuit is Case No. 5:11-cv-01600, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

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