Judge Preliminarily Approves $2.5M California Unpaid Wages Settlement

A California judge has recently issued preliminary approval of a $2.5 million California unpaid wages settlement benefitting retail and restaurant employees.

The settlement would resolve claims of 8,500 employees at a variety of franchise locations including Sizzler, Jack-in-the-Box, Taco Bell and Sears Home Appliance. It arises out of a class action lawsuit initially filed in August 2016 against investment company MarLu Restaurant Group Inc. and other defendants in California state court.

Lead plaintiff Richard Barajas alleged that MarLu shorted the managers at various franchises on their wages and neglected to provide employees meal breaks. The lawsuit also stated that Jack-in-the-Box franchise locations unfairly implemented a mandatory payroll card program.

Another wage and hour lawsuit, brought in May 2016 by plaintiff Joe Ortiz, raised similar claims and was later consolidated with Barajas’s action.

Class Members included in the California unpaid wages settlement also include workers paid hourly wages at Arby’s, Little Caesars Pizza and Church’s Chicken. The other 8,500 employees who were nonexempt hourly workers included a group of managers, overnight shift employees and general team members.

Up to one-third of the amount of the settlement, or $833,333, is earmarked to cover attorneys’ fees. An additional $50,000 is designated to cover costs.

While Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge William F. Highberger issued preliminary approval to the total settlement amount, he did question the large number of lead plaintiffs associated with the California unpaid wages settlement. A total of 10 plaintiffs have requested an additional $70,000 for awards for serving as class representatives.

In response, an attorney for the plaintiffs stated that because multiple companies were named as defendants, there were plaintiffs dedicated to representing the concerns of each worker group individually.

Judge Highberger said that his concern did not lie with the $5,000 award for eight of the plaintiffs, but questioned the additional $20,000 set aside for Ortiz and another $10,000 set aside for plaintiff Becky Eads, who served as a manager at Jack-in-the-Box. In granting preliminary approval, Judge Highberger announced he would expect persuasive declarations from both Ortiz and Eads.

California Unpaid Wages Settlement Covers Multiple Businesses

Before this settlement was reached, over 100 interviews were conducted with witnesses, according to the motion for approval. Claims from a total of five different subclasses were covered in the settlement.

These classes included hourly employees of MarLu who alleged their employer neglected to provide employees seating and provided defective pay stubs; MarLu managers who shared the same allegations and to also said they missed meal breaks when no other supervisor was on duty.

Other subclasses covered overnight shift workers who were not allowed to leave the premises and thus missed meal breaks; and general managers who stated they had unpaid hours for working off the clock and were not reimbursed for personal phone expenses and Jack-in-the-Box workers who stated they were unfairly required to take part in the pay-card program.

The California Unpaid Wages Settlement is Richard Barajas et al., v. MarLu Investment Group et al., Case No. Bc630452, in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles.

UPDATE: The Marlu Restaurant Group Unpaid Wages Class Action Settlement is now open! Click here to file a claim.

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