Calif. Wage and Hour Claim Settles for $1.5M

A $1.5 million settlement has been reached in a California wage and hour case in which workers claimed they were denied breaks, overtime and accurate wage statements.

Plaintiffs claimed that the defendant, CEVA Logistics, routinely denied workers paid rest and meal periods as required under the state’s labor laws. They claimed that the company failed to pay overtime wages, and that the wage statements they received were inaccurate.

Background and Allegations

The wage and hour class action lawsuit was filed in November 2018. It raised allegations of failure to provide all paid rest and second meal breaks, failure to pay all seventh-day overtime wages and failure to provide “accurate itemized wage statements.”

In addition, the lead plaintiff accused the defendant of unfair business practices and violations of California labor laws. The provisions referred to in the complaint are Section 203, which requires that workers be paid all wages due when they are terminated or within 72 hours of resigning, and Section 2699, the so-called “bounty hunter” law, that allows employees to bring legal action against employers who violate state labor codes.

Lead plaintiff Clarence B. claimed that he and other employees were not allowed to leave the workplace premises during their rest breaks, meaning that defendant CEVA Logistics “…failed to reliquish all control” over how employees spent their free time. He also claimed that the defendant did not furnish a second meal break to employees who worked 10 or more hours in a single shift as required by law.

Finally, wage and hour statements allegedly did not include “beginning and ending of each work period, meal periods, rest periods, total daily hours worked, total hours worked per pay period, meal and rest period premium payments and applicable rates of pay.”

Overtime Under California Wage and Hour Law

According to the California Labor Code Section 510(a), the “first eight hours worked on the seventh day of work in any one workweek … shall be paid at the rate of no less than one and one-half times the regular rate of pay for any employee. .. In addition, any work in excess of eight hours on any seventh day of a workweek shall be compensated at the rate of no less than twice the regular rate of pay of an employee.”

Reaching a Compromise

The motion for preliminary approval of the current settlement was filed on Dec. 2, after the parties after mediation with a retired Los Angeles County Superior Court judge. The plaintiff agreed to the settlement after considering the possibility that litigation could continue for years – not including the appeal that defendant CEVA may have pursued.

Under the settlement terms, Clarence will receive $5,000 for his role as lead plaintiff; approximately 1,000 additional class members will receive an average of $1,080 each, or about $13.30 for every week they were employed between Nov. 15, 2014, and the date the court grants the settlement preliminary approval, or by the end of January 2020, at the latest.

The CEVA Logistics Wage and Hour Class Action Lawsuit is Case No. 5:19-cv-00352, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

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