Starwood Hotel Hit with Unpaid Overtime Class Action Lawsuit

Two employees allege in an unpaid overtime lawsuit that W Hollywood Hotel staff are not being paid in compliance with California wage and hour laws, and the hotel chain owes employees back pay of unpaid overtime and other damages.

The Starwood overtime class action lawsuit would include about 150 employees who worked at the W Hollywood Hotel in housekeeping, welcome, food and beverage, and similar positions. The two plaintiffs say that they regularly were not provided rest breaks or time for meals. They further allege in the employment lawsuit that “class members would routinely work eight to 10 hours a day and nine days straight without a day off” without receiving time-and-a-half.

Time sheets that exist during the period that they worked at the W Hollywood Hotel in California, operated by Starwood Hotels and Resorts Management, are also invalid, according to the class action lawsuit. The plaintiffs allege that managers required non-exempt employees to “work off the clock” both when donning and doffing work attire as well as assisting other members of the staff. The practices allegedly occurred for at least four years, according to the wage and hour lawsuit.

The employment class action seeks payment not just of time-and-a-half for any work days of eight hours or more or weeks of 40 hours or more. The employees are also seeking compensation for the time when they had to get dressed for work as well as for all the break time for which they should have been paid, according to the allegations in the wage and hour lawsuit.

Employment lawyers for the plaintiffs are seeking adjudication that would confirm that all of the employees in the putative class are non-exempt and whether or not managers had policies or a pattern of action that forced the employees to not properly mark their time especially for periods where they might be eligible for various breaks or overtime pay.

The Starwood Wage & Hour Class Action Lawsuit is Joseph Sylvester, et al. v. Starwood Hotels and Resorts Management Co. Inc., et al., Case No. BC536399, in the California Superior Court for the County of Los Angeles.

People in the service industry and other sectors who are paid by the hour may not realize that they have missed out on pay they deserve based on the Fair Labor Standards Act, IRS regulations and state statutes. If you think that you have missed out on breaks or deserved time-and-a-half for overtime, you may be able to take legal action. Learn more by visiting the Minimum Wage Lawsuits: Service Charge, Wage & Hour Class Action Lawsuit Investigation now. Filling out the short form there entitles you to a no-cost case eligibility review.