Misclassified Employees were Denied Proper Breaks, Lawsuit Claims

A man has filed a misclassified employees class action lawsuit against ABC Legal Services, Inc.

Plaintiff Luis A. alleges ABC Legal Services, a Washington corporation doing business in California, violated the Labor Code and Business and Professions Code.

According to the misclassified employees lawsuit, Luis and the putative class were deemed independent contractors when they should have been in the non-exempt employees class.

Luis was a process server who was required to use his own vehicle to travel to a variety of court houses to file and retrieve documents, serve legal process and other such duties. ABC Legal controlled which assignments Luis received each day; he was not allowed to reject assignments in his service area.

Luis says he regularly worked more than eight hours a day, adding up to more than 40 hours per work week, but he was paid a fixed rate for each document he was assigned. The number of hours he worked did not matter to ABC Legal, he claims.

According to the misclassified employees lawsuit, as a result of being misclassified as an independent contractor, the time Luis spent doing his job was not accurately recorded by ABC Legal. As a result, Luis claims he was not paid for all hours work, and certainly did not receive proper overtime compensation.

Company Allegedly Takes Advantage of Misclassified Employees

Luis claims he and the Class Members were not provided with 30-minute meal periods for every five hours worked. They were also allegedly denied 10-minute rest periods for every four hours worked and were pressured to work off-the-clock, he claims.

The misclassified employees complaint alleges that ABC Legal was consistently understaffed and imposed so much work upon each employee that finishing work on time was highly unlikely.

In addition, there was “no formal written meal and rest period policy that encouraged employees to take their meal and rest periods.”

The misclassified employees lawsuit indicates that Luis had to use his own car to complete his responsibilities. He incurred expenses including gas, mileage and parking. He also paid various printing expenses as a result of fulfilling his job duties. He was never reimbursed for these expenses by ABC Legal.

The misclassified employees class action lawsuit includes the time period beginning four years prior to the filing of the action until the judgment is entered and consists of several sub-classes. The classes and sub-classes are as follows and the terms include “during the relevant time period” unless otherwise noted:

ABC Legal Services Class – all those employed by ABC Legal and/or a staffing agency and/or any other parties in non-exempt jobs in California

Meal Period Sub-class – ABC Legal Services Class members who worked a shift of more than five hours.

Rest Period Sub-Class – ABC Legal Services Class members who worked a shift consisting of a minimum of 3.5 hours

Wage Statement Penalties Sub-Class – ABC Legal Services Class members employed by ABC Legal in California during the period beginning one year before the action was filed and ending upon final judgment

Waiting Time Penalties Sub-Class – ABC Legal Services Class members “separated from their employment with Defendants during the period beginning three years before the filing of this action and ending when final judgment is entered”

Expense Reimbursement Class – All California employees who incurred business expenses

Sick Pay Class – All California employees who earned paid sick days

FLSA Class – All employees of ABC Legal and/or staffing agencies and/or other third parties in non-exempt positions in the U.S. in the last three years

UCL Class – All ABC Legal Services class members employed by ABC Legal in California

The Misclassified Employees Lawsuit is Case No. 3:18-cv-00073-EDL in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

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