Clearview Mental Health Clinics Allegedly Ignored California Meal and Rest Break Requirements

Counselors employed by Clearview Centers have filed a class action lawsuit accusing the company of failing to honor California meal and rest break requirements.

Plaintiffs Carla P. and Tanisha S. are the lead plaintiffs in the case against Clearview and its owner and founder.

Clearview operates treatment and rehabilitation programs from five different locations, four of which house Clearview patients. The fifth location is an outpatient mental health clinic for adults.

Both Carla and Tanisha were employed to supervise psychiatric clients.

According to the California meal and rest break requirements lawsuit, counselors were required to report to work 15 minutes prior to their scheduled shifts to complete what was called “van switch.”

Every day at 8 a.m., the morning shift counselors had to transport Clearview’s clients from one location to another, the plaintiffs say. At 6 p.m., the evening shift counselors shuttled clients back to their in-patient housing areas.

Clearview’s counselors were allegedly never paid for the extra 15 minutes of time, and the California meal and rest break requirements lawsuit allege the non-payment for that time was “a common policy.”

The plaintiffs claim that not only were the counselors denied this pre-shift pay, but also were denied post-shift work time. Five to 20 minutes after each shift’s end, the counselors would check and respond to emails, calls, and texts that they were unable to respond to during their paid work hours.

Clearview allegedly continued to violate California meal and rest break requirements when the company reprimanded Tanisha for taking a lunch break. Tanisha told her employer that California labor law states they are entitled to meal periods and to deny them of meal periods was illegal. Clearview subsequently added a half hour to both the a.m. and the p.m. shifts to allow for 30-minute meal breaks.

Unfortunately, the counselors “are often unable to take these newly scheduled meal periods due to Clearview’s policy and practice of understaffing and overworking its counselors, yet a.m. and p.m. shift counselors are compelled to record daily meal periods on their timesheets, even on days when they do not receive a 30-minute meal period.”

Clearview also allegedly failed to provide meal periods or one hour’s wages in lieu of a meal period to overnight shift workers who worked more than five hours.

California meal and rest break requirements also dictate that employees should be paid for 10 minutes of rest time for every four hours worked. Failure to provide a rest period means the employee should be paid one full hour of pay.

“These one-hour premiums constitute wages and are in addition to regular wages that are owed for any time worked, including any time worked during meal periods,” says the California meal and rest break requirements lawsuit.

The California Meal and Rest Break Requirements Lawsuit is Case No. 2:18-cv-01172-DDP-SS in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Western Division.

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