California Employee Break Laws: Tesoro to Pay $15 Million to Settle Lawsuit

Tesoro Refining and Marketing LLC  has reportedly agreed to pay $15.25 million to settle alleged violations of California employee break laws.

According to Law360, these violations were alleged in a proposed class action California wage and hour lawsuit, which was filed by employees alleging the oil refinery operator failed to provide them state mandated rest periods by keeping them on call.

The proposed Class reportedly consisted of 1,400 unionized operators at the Martinex and Wilmington, Calif. oil refinery and chemical plants, with the claim alleging they were never given proper rest periods because they were constantly required to be on call.

Lead plaintiff Eileen F. filed the class action in 2017 in California federal court in 2017 alleging Tesoro had required operators to work 12 hour shifts on a continuous basis and required them to keep their radios on during rest periods.

The plaintiff alleged that these requirements violated California employee break laws, which state that workers cannot be “on call” during rest periods.

According to Eileen’s claim, workers could not take an uninterrupted break because they had to constantly check tank and oil levels, equipment temperatures, along with any potential problems with dangerous substances.

Eileen’s proposed class action lawsuit was consolidated with a similar claim in 2017 filed by operator Jinetra B. in Wilmington, which reportedly alleged similar grievances of no rest periods and also alleged the company failed to provide meal breaks.

Overview of California Labor Laws

California is one of the most progressive states in the country in employee protection laws, with its current minimum wage rate of $12 per hour for companies with 26 or more employees and $11 per hour with 25 or fewer employees. The minimum wage rate is reportedly set to be increased incrementally until 2023.

California employee break laws mandate that companies provide 10 minute rest periods to workers after four hours of work, consistent with employment laws at the federal level.

Like the federal minimum wage requirements, California employers are required to pay one-and-one-half times their worker’s hourly rate after the employee works 40 hours a week or over 12 hours in a single day.

Employees are also entitled to a 30 minute meal break every five hours, in which the employee must be allowed to leave their work premises and not perform any occupational duties. This also applies to 10 minute rest periods, in which the employee must take their time to recuperate from their shift.

Employees who are forced to work through either their meal break or rest period must be compensated an extra hour of pay on their paychecks. Tesoro allegedly failed to do this by requiring their employees to keep their radios on throughout the course of their 12 hour shifts.

Tesoro reportedly attempted to dismiss the claim in 2017, arguing the plaintiffs’ claims were barred by the Taft-Hartley Act. More specifically, Tesoro argued that the proposed class reportedly failed to exhaust all other legal remedies before filing the proposed class action California wage and hour lawsuit.

However, the judge ultimately ruled the claim could go forward because the allegations were not contractually ambiguous, but were “independently rooted in state law.”

Under the terms of the settlement, each worker is reportedly projected to receive an average of $8,012 from the settlement with $3.8 million of the amount going to attorney’s fees.

The Tesoro California Wage and Hour Lawsuit is Case No. 3:17-cv00123, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

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