Anheuser-Busch Workers Should Get Proper Breaks, Says Rest Break Lawsuit

In a new Anheuser-Busch class action lawsuit rest break lawsuit, California employees of Anheuser-Busch say they are not paid overtime and are not given proper rest breaks.

Anheuser-Busch is the largest beer producer in the world and is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. It owns and operates 12 breweries in the United States as well as several theme parks around the U.S.

Delivery workers and store merchandise workers have recently complained, however, that they were not paid for their overtime work and that the company has violated rest break laws.

This proposed California rest break class action lawsuit is headed by plaintiff Jose Hernandez. Hernandez was employed setting up retail displays as a temporary worker from August to October 2016 earning $10.50 per hour.

According to his rest break lawsuit, Hernandez realized that he was required to work through his break time that was mandated by state law. He also noticed that Anheuser-Busch did not pay him for the overtime he worked.

Hernandez says he noticed that the company did not label his wage statements with what he had been paid as a regular employee versus what he had been paid in overtime. He also noticed that his total pay did not take into account the overtime he’d worked.

Rest Break Lawsuit Says Company Acted Intentionally

His complaint that was recently filed said, “Defendants … have acted intentionally and with deliberate indifference and conscious disregard to the rights of all employees in defendants’ failure to pay premium pay for missed meal and rest periods, failure to pay overtime and double time, and failure to provide accurate itemized wage statements,” the complaint said.

Essentially, Hernandez accuses Anheuser-Busch of not allowing workers to take necessary meal breaks and of failing to pay them overtime. He also claims that they did this with intentionality and disregarded the rights of employees.

He wants to represent a Class of employees in this rest break lawsuit that includes delivery and merchandising employees for Anheuser-Busch’s business in California. This class includes those who received itemized wage statements, worked more than 3.5 hours without a break, or worked more than 8 hours in a day from January 2013 to the present.

This is not the first time the beer brewing company has been hit with labor law litigation. A few years ago, in 2014, drivers for the company launched a proposed class action lawsuit that had similar accusations. That action was dismissed voluntarily after a few months.

The Anheuser-Busch Employee Rest Break Lawsuit is Jose Hernandez v. Anheuser­-Busch LLC et al., Case No. BC646330, in the Superior Court for the State of California, County of Los Angeles.

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