IHOP, Applebee’s Owner Hit With Overtime, Race Discrimination Class Action

A proposed class action lawsuit was filed against the owner and operator of the Los Angeles area IHOP and Applebee’s restaurants by a former employee alleging violations of California wage and hour law and engaging in race discrimination by permitting a racially charged setting.

Plaintiff Jewel Gardner was a former employee of DineEquity Inc. who worked as a manager of franchise compliance. She alleged that the company misclassified her and other employees as overtime-exempt in an attempt to dodge paying overtime wages.

Gardner also accused DineEquity of “unlawfully, unfairly, and fraudulently engaging in race discrimination by various means” by deliberately using “one African-American female employee to denigrate Gardner, another African-American female employee, in a racially charged atmosphere for no other purpose than embarrassing and humiliating Gardner.”

The plaintiff told a California state judge that “The title of Manager and the classification of that title as an exempt position were purely the pretext of denying Gardner her wage and hour protections, including overtime pay and breaks.” Gardner said in her classification as a manager, she did not have the authority to hire, fire, perform supervisory tasks or be involved in any manner of personnel decision for the company.

“Despite the fancy title, Gardner remained a paralegal whose duties were to make certain that new and existing franchises complied with franchise law in the jurisdictions in which the company maintained franchise restaurants,” the claim states.

Gardner also accused the company of having an expectation of higher quality work from black employees in the company.

“African-American employees of DineEquity were held to a higher standard than non-African-American employees and were the subject of discrimination by those who resented having to correct the errors that were discovered by Gardner and the other African-American employees.”

Gardner was fired in February 2015 after working for more than 22 years for DinEquity and its predecessor IHOP following an incident where she claimed she spoke out against her treatment by a coworker. The complaint stated that Gardner’s superiors accused her of withholding information regarding a franchise deal and she was allowed to be reprimanded in front of other employees during an interdepartmental meeting.

The plaintiff claims when she challenged the assertion of withholding information and brought up her treatment in the meeting. Gardner says she was placed on leave and ultimately her employment with the company was terminated.

The class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of other employees of DineEquity, both past and present, who may have been misclassified as overtime-exempt.

The complaint’s violations of wage and hour law allegations include failure to maintain payroll records, prohibiting employees from discussing wages, failure to pay earned wages, failure to provide rest periods and failure to make payment of wages within required time.

Gardner is seeking damages for racial discrimination as well as for violations of California wage and labor laws.

The plaintiff is represented by Lorraine Grindstaff of Patten Faith & Sandford.

The IHOP and Applebee’s Wage and Hour Class Action Lawsuit is Jewel Gardner vs. DineEquity Inc., Case No. BC610815, in California Superior Court, County of Los Angeles, Central District.

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