Sysco Agrees to $2M Wage and Hour Class Action Settlement

Sysco Corp. has agreed to a wage and hour class action settlement, resolving allegations over missed rest periods and inaccurate wage statements for its truck drivers.

Named plaintiff Travon Jones, a former truck driver for Sysco, initiated this wage and hour class action lawsuit in July 2013. He alleged that Sysco had a policy of paying drivers by the mile and by the load, not by the hour. He argued that this policy prevented drivers from receiving their legally mandated rest breaks, or compensation in lieu of those rest breaks.

He claimed in the Sysco wage and hour class action lawsuit that the policy resulted in the company issuing false wage statements and failing to compensate Jones upon his termination for the full amount of wages he had earned.

Jones also alleged that Sysco failed to pay drivers premium pay for work days on which they did not get their rest periods, and that they failed to provide employees a way to document these payments. He also raised claims of unfair business practices.

The wage and hour class action settlement provides compensation for a class of 424 members. According to the settlement’s terms, Jones and the other named plaintiff, Michael Sistrunk, will receive up to $5,000 each as class representatives. Sistrunk had filed his own separate California wage and hour lawsuit in San Francisco in March 2014. The settlement covers that wage and hour lawsuit as well.

Sysco will pay up to $650,000 in attorney’s fees, $15,000 in court costs, and $17,000 to cover the costs of the settlement administration. An additional payment of $7,500 goes to the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency.

The total value of the class action settlement will reach as much as $1.95 million. It was approved by the court in March.

Sysco is a distributor of food and foodservice products. Based in Houston, Sysco has 194 operating locations in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Ireland. Its sales have steadily increased over the last five years, reaching $46.5 billion in fiscal 2014.

The California Sysco Wage and Hour Class Action Lawsuit is Travon Jones, et al. v. Sysco Corp., et al,  Case No. BC513368, in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

California Wage and Hour Laws

According to the California Department of Industrial Relations, employees that are subject to the Industrial Welfare Commission Wage Orders are entitled to a net 10-minute rest period on the clock for every four-hour period worked or “major fraction” of four hours.

According to the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, that means any period more than two hours. Rest periods are to be given as close to the middle of the four-hour work period as is practicable. The Wage Orders also says that for each workday the employer does not provide the required rest periods, the employee is entitled to one hour’s worth of pay at his or her regular rate.

The California Labor Code also requires employers to keep comprehensive records of payroll activity for each employee. Employees are entitled to a statement, either bimonthly or every time wages are paid, that gives them detailed information relative to the pay period such as the number of hours worked, the amount of wages earned, and any deductions.

When an employee is fired or laid off, all earned wages and accrued vacation become immediately due and payable at the time of termination.

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