Agricultural Business Faces Wage and Hour Class Action

A well known California agricultural family is under scrutiny after former employees filed a wage and hour class action lawsuit.

Lead plaintiffs Cipriano Ponce and Carlos Faria have accused the Santa Maria Valley agricultural businesses owned by Abel Maldonado Sr., Abel Maldonado Jr., and Frank Maldonado of unfair working conditions including denied overtime and inappropriate meal and rest breaks.

Ponce and Faria claim that employees of Agro-Jal Farming Enterprises Inc., Agro-Jal Farms Inc., Paloma Packing Inc. were required to report to company offices before going to work but were not paid for that time. The plaintiffs also claim they worked 13 hours a day, six days a week and then six hours on the seventh day but were never given double-time, overtime or reimbursed for work related expenses including tools, equipment, gas and mileage.

The wage & hour lawsuit alleges the defendants violated multiple California labor laws and hundreds of employees, most of whom are field workers, suffered financially because of it.

The proposed class action lawsuit will initially go before the California Labor Workforce Agency for review and if it declines to pursue the legal complaint, the lead plaintiffs plan to continue the matter in court. Ponce and Faria believe a class action lawsuit would be relevant in this case because the allegations of labor law violations would be applicable to the entire class.

The Maldonado family is widely known for the political career of Abel Jr. who was Santa Maria’s city mayor before being elected to the California Assembly and the state Senate. In 2009, Abel Jr. was appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to be lieutenant governor.

California Labor Laws Explained

Wage & hour laws are enforced throughout the U.S. but CA labor laws are some of the strictest in the nation. California labor laws are enforced in an effort to protect employees from overwhelming, unfair workloads.

According to California break laws, employees must be given a 30-minute, work-free lunch break after five hours of labor. If this is not possible, the employer and employee must have a written agreement that this is acceptable and the employee must receive one-hour of pay at the regular hourly rate for each missed meal break. Employees have three years to claim back pay.

California wage & hour laws also mandate that companies give employees a 10 minute rest break for every four hours worked. If a rest break is missed, an employer must compensate its worker with one hour of pay at the regular hourly rate within a paycheck cycle.

Wage theft lawsuits are often filed by employees who believe their employer has violated one of many wage and hour laws. Other labor law violations include tip pooling, unpaid wages, unpaid overtime, off the clock work, less than minimum wage, and misclassification.

If in the last three years you have reason to believe your employer violated one of the many California labor laws you may be able to join a wage & hour class action lawsuit.

Join a Free California Overtime, Wage & Hour Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you were forced to work off the clock or without overtime pay in California within the past 2 to 3 years, you have rights – and you don’t have to take on the company alone.

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