California Wage and Hour Lawsuit Targets Nike

Nike, the sports retail company, has been under fire lately as it has been hit with a California wage and hour lawsuit from employees claiming state law violations regarding uniform purchasing and minimum wage.

This California wage and hour lawsuit was originally filed as a putative class complaint by a former employee, plaintiff Omram Hamid, who worked at a Nike store in San Clemente, California from October 2015 to January 2017.

Among Hamid’s complaint in his California wage and hour lawsuit is the claim that Nike failed to provide itemized wage statements and failed to tell employees their available paid sick leave time. He also claims that Nike did not inform employees about what the company would pay them in lieu of sick time pay.

However, the major issue in this California wage and hour lawsuit is the purchase of uniforms. Hamid alleges that employees were required to buy their own store uniforms from among the most current apparel in the season’s product line.

He notes that even though employees earn minimum wage, they were still required to buy up-to-date clothing to wear to work an average of four times a year. Because of this, adding these costs actually drops what employees earn to below minimum wage standards. These standards can vary in different states, but in California, because of added uniform costs, Hamid claims, many employees did not earn the equivalent of minimum wage.

According to an article in California Labor Law News, the complaint says: “Plaintiffs are manipulated to become walking advertisements of the store exemplifying the athlete image defendants want to portray to their customers at the expense of requiring plaintiffs to bear the cost of the uniforms.”

Even though this California wage and hour lawsuit has only recently been filed, it has already been amended to include 14 claims including allegations of illegal terms of employment and the unlawful collection or receipt of wages.

The proposed Class includes all current and former nonexempt employees who worked at California Nike retail stores over the last four years.

Just recently, Nike removed this California wage and hour lawsuit to federal court from its original standing in state superior court.

Nike claims that this California wage and hour lawsuit does not state a cause of action, that the plaintiff failed to comply with established procedures, that Hamid lacks standing, and that he failed to act reasonably to mitigate damages.

The California Wage and Hour Lawsuit is Omran Hamid v. Nike Retail Services Inc., Case No. 8:17-cv-00600, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

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