Hotel Employees’ Reach $1.4M Wage and Hour Class Action Settlement

A California wage and hour class action lawsuit has ended in a settlement that will compensate hotel employees who were allegedly shorted wages.

Interstate Hotels and Resorts Inc. and Today’s IV Inc. agreed to pay over $1.4 million into a settlement fund to resolve employee claims alleging various violations of California break laws. Interstate manages the Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites in Los Angeles on behalf of its owner Today’s.

Most of the fund will be distributed among 1,450 employees who worked at the Westin Bonaventure between November 14, 2010 and March 15, 2016. The class representative will receive no more than $10,000 as his incentive award, and about one-third of the settlement will pay costs and attorneys’ fees.

Wage and Hour Class Action Lawsuit

The class was represented by plaintiff Raymond U., who worked as a security officer at the Westin Bonaventure. Raymond claimed the hotel had violated California break laws by ordering him to work shifts in excess of five hours without letting him take a 30-minute break for a meal. He also claimed they failed to pay him one hour’s wages for each missed meal period, according to California break laws.

Raymond also argued that Interstate incorrectly calculated overtime wages for its non-exempt employees and failed to pay them all the overtime they were due. Employees who quit or were terminated were shorted wages, Raymond said. He also alleged those employees were not paid in full on time – within 72 hours for those who quit, and immediately for those who were fired.

His wage and hour class action lawsuit alleged Interstate worked an end-run around minimum wage laws by requiring or allowing employees to keep working through break periods when they were technically off the clock. Interstate was also accused of failing to reimburse employees for work-related expenses like costs for uniforms, car mileage and gas, and cell phone use.

The wage and hour class action lawsuit survived a challenge in March 2015 to produce adequate evidence to back up Raymond’s claims. Judge Stephen V. Wilson threatened to sanction Raymond for supposedly filing his claim without having enough evidence on hand to back it up.

Raymond successfully argued that court rules allow a plaintiff to initiate the lawsuit with minimal evidence, then build their case as the lawsuit proceeds. He said his attorneys have interviewed him and other employees at the Westin Bonaventure. Further investigation uncovered relevant evidence in the company’s handbook and in its filings with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.

Raymond initiated this wage and hour class action lawsuit under California’s Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act. This law allows private citizens to pursue their own actions for violations of state wage and hour law, rather than defer to the state’s Labor and Workforce Development Agency for enforcement.

Defendant Interstate Hotels and Resorts Inc. is a California hotel management company. It runs hotels throughout the state under the Westin, Hilton, Sheraton, Marriott, and Crowne Plaza brands.

The California Wage and Hour Class Action Lawsuit is filed under Case No. 2:14-CV-09809 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

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