Terranea Resort Agrees to Settle for $2.1M for Allegedly Violating California Wage and Hour Law

The Terranea Resort of Rancho Palos Verdes has recently settled a lawsuit filed by workers for over $2 million, which alleged the resort had violated California wage and hour law by not paying employees for all hours worked.

As reported in the LA Times, the lawsuit alleged workers were forced to wait before starting their shifts to receive their uniforms, and were forced to take a ride to work through an offsite shuttle.

The class action California wage and hour lawsuit was filed by former cook Galen L. and back server Marvin A., who alleged the resort company refused to let them take meal breaks and rest periods and had allegedly ordered them to alter their time cards as if they had.

According to Law360, Galen and Marvin alleged Terranea violated California wage and hour law by failing to compensate workers for overtime and off the clock work, as well as failing to provide accurate wage statements.

The lawsuit was filed in 2017 in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The plaintiffs alleged hotel management forced employees to show up as early as 30 minute before their shifts to a remote parking lot to take a company shuttle to work, without any compensation.

On top of that, workers allegedly had to show up an additional 15 minutes before their shifts to get changed into their informs. The plaintiffs also alleged the resort failed to provide meal breaks and rest periods that are required under California wage and hour law.

The class action California wage and hour lawsuit also alleged that the company had inserted “fake breaks” into their time records in an alleged attempt to fake being up to California labor standards. More specifically, managers allegedly inserted meal breaks into time cards when employees never took them and were never compensated for.

Overview of California Labor Laws

Under California labor laws, non exempt employees are entitled to a minimum hourly wage of $11 if the company has over 26 people working for it.

The Department of Industrial Relations states that if an employee works over 40 hours in a single work week or eight hours in a single workday, they are entitled to 1.5 times their hourly rate. In addition, state labor provisions require companies to give employees a 30 minute meal break every five hours, in which they cannot perform any occupational duties.

Employees must also be provided a 10 minute rest period every four hours, with companies required to compensate an extra hour of work on their paychecks if employees have to work through either one of them.

Furthermore, California and federal labor laws also require companies to keep accurate work records, as well as compensate employees for any off the clock duties required of them like being forced to take a shuttle from an offsite parking garage.

Terranea Resort and the plaintiff party agreed to a $2.1 million settlement fund, which will reportedly be split among 400 minimum wage resort employees and their attorneys. The lead plaintiffs will reportedly receive as much as $7,500 each in back pay. Furthermore, the lawsuit has reportedly “resulted in Terranea making significant changes to its unlawful wage-and-hour policies that benefit employees.”

While the Terranea resort agreed to the settlement, representatives of the company maintain they did nothing wrong and reportedly agreed to the settlement only to end the expensive litigation process.

This Class Action California Wage and Hour Lawsuit is Case No. BC680486, in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles.

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