Manufacturing News
Farm Owners Required to Comply With Overtime Law
Sacramento, CA: When it comes to California compliance overtime laws might be among the laws that are most widely violated. Employers are accused of misclassifying employees as exempt from California overtime, or just full-out failing to pay non-exempt workers for overtime hours. In some cases, workers aren't even eligible for overtime pay, or have different standards for paying overtime. One group of workers - farmworkers - could soon see that change.
Wage and Hour Lawsuits Continue to Percolate in California
San Mateo, CA: Yet another California based health care facility has been hit with a California wage and hour lawsuit, alleging that hourly employees have not been paid their correct overtime wages, nor have they been provided with rest breaks and meal periods in accordance with California labor law.
The defendant in the case is Sutter West Bay Hospitals. The proposed class action accuses the defendant, on behalf of all qualifying class members, of denying their hourly employees access to meal breaks and rest periods. California law holds that rest periods are taken as required, and that an un-interrupted meal period of not less than thirty minutes be provided prior to the commencement of the fifth hour of work.
Not only is this requirement entrenched within California employment law, the fact remains that were a meal period not duly provided, it means the employee has worked through the meal period and thus should be paid overtime for the 30 minutes of additional work performed.
It is also alleged that hourly employees were provided with non-discretionary bonus pay based upon their job performance. And yet, it is alleged that this bonus pay was not included as part of the calculation of a non-exempt employee’s hourly rate for the purposes of determining the proper overtime rate.
Thus, it is alleged that non-exempt employees of Sutter West Bay Hospitals were not paid correct amounts of overtime, as required under California labor laws.
The wage and hour class action lawsuit is Case No. 2016-cv-538977 in San Mateo County Superior Court for the State of California.
Meanwhile, it has been reported that Ecolab Inc. remains embroiled in four California wage and hour lawsuits that remain pending: this, according to the defendant’s 10-Q filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the first quarter ending March 31st of this year. The report, filed in early May, noted that a fifth lawsuit (Cancilla v. Ecolab, Case No. CV 12-03001 US District Court, Northern District of California), has been settled.
The 10-Q filing noted that three of the lawsuits are pending as class actions and claim violations to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and / or similar violations to state labor laws.
Of the four remaining wage and hour lawsuits still pending, two are based in California: Ross (formerly Icard) v. Ecolab, Case No. C 13-05097 PJH, and Martino v. Ecolab, Case No. 5:14-cv-04358-PSG, both pending in US District Court for the Northern District of California.
Pulitzer Prize Winner Files Discrimination Lawsuit
Los Angeles, CA: The Los Angeles Times is used to reporting on lawsuits, but now it faces a California discrimination lawsuit of its own, filed by a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. Jeffrey Gottlieb filed the lawsuit, alleging age discrimination, harassment, and retaliation.
Gottlieb was hired in March 1997 as an assistant city editor and through his years at Los Angeles Times worked as a staff writer, assistant city editor, and senior writer. Court documents note that Gottlieb and his writing partner - Ruben Vives - co-wrote many stories, including work on corruption in the City of Bell that resulted in them winning Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, a George Polk Award, and a variety of other awards.
Although he won the George Polk award, Gottlieb argues his bosses didn't tell him or Vives about the award, with them finding out by accident, and despite receiving money for other awards, that award money was not fully distributed even two years after it was won. Gottlieb complained to the publisher about the money not being distributed, and complained about illegal activity in relation to the prize money not being disbursed, speaking about the incident in the Washington Post.
Despite winning the Pulitzer Prize, Gottlieb alleges he was not assigned any further investigative reporting duties and was instead sent to Orange County, where his career had initially started, while two other reporters were given the title of investigative reporter.
In August 2014, Gottlieb was told he would be the backup obituaries reporter and then given a choice of covering a variety of topics he considered decent for a new reporter, but not a veteran. In 2015, he had surgery for prostate cancer and was on disability leave for almost eight weeks. Upon his return from leave, he was told he could write obituaries, at which point Gottlieb quit his job.
"Plaintiff felt forced to resign due to his intolerable working conditions, effectively constructively terminating his employment with defendants," court documents state. Shortly after, however, the Times reportedly had a buyout and targeted older reporters with the buyout. Furthermore, Gottlieb alleges, the paper generally hired younger employees and gave better jobs and benefits to employees under the age of 40.
"During plaintiff's employment with defendants, defendants intentionally engaged in age discrimination by discharging employees over the age of 40 with greater frequency than other employees," the lawsuit states. Gottlieb's suit is filed against the Los Angeles Times and editor and publisher Davan Maharaj.
The newspaper has called the allegations "completely without merit."
The lawsuit is Gottlieb v. Los Angeles Times, et al. case number BC630018, in Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles.
Makers of Rooster Sauce Sues over California Harassment
Irwindale, CA: Harassment can take on many forms, and in this case it’s not so much an employee feeling harassed by an employer at the workplace, but the manufacturer of a hot sauce suing the City of Irwindale, for California harassment.
The product, Sriracha Hot Sauce with the distinctive depiction of a rooster on the bottle (known amongst fans and users as ‘Rooster Sauce’), is made by Huy Fong Foods. There is little doubt that Sriracha hot sauce, amongst hot sauce aficionados, is somewhat revered for its eye-watering heat.
However, hotness so robust it brings forth tears appears not to be limited to mere consumption of the product. It was alleged at one time that fumes originating with the Sriracha manufacturing facility have severely impacted residents of Irwindale.
According to a report carried by FOX News (07/25/16), the municipality filed a lawsuit against Huy Fong in 2013 over the fumes. Residents were complaining. However, health officials looked into the matter and found no health violations, so the City dropped its lawsuit against the manufacturer. Huy Fong, for its part, pledged to resolve the issue of robust fumes.
Then, earlier this year, a second lawsuit was filed against Huy Fong by the municipality - this time, for a tax issue. It was alleged that Huy Fong had been late filing its municipal taxes. The City sought $427,085 in damages.
Huy Fong responded with a California harassment lawsuit, countering the municipality’s legal challenge. In its harassment lawsuit, Huy Fong seeks a court order declaring any previous fees to be invalid. Failing that, the manufacturer seeks the consideration of alternative actions, including a ruling that would allow Huy Fong to recover not less than $750,000 in previous legal fees incurred while defending itself against previous and current legal action pursued by Irwindale.
“Huy Fong Foods has employed local residents and held job fairs for local workers for the past three years,” the California harassment countersuit states.
“The factory is a popular tourist destination and brings visitors and revenue into the city - so popular, in fact, that Huy Fong Foods added two trams to transport visitors around the plant and even opened a gift shop.”
The manufacturer notes that it employs dozens of Irwindale residents, hosts events for the community and provides free Rooster sauce and related merchandise to the community worth about $100,000.
As a result of the 2013 lawsuit, Huy Fong pledged to eradicate fumes escaping the plant as part of a written commitment. There was no mention in the municipality’s subsequent lawsuit with regard to the unsavory fumes continuing, or having been successfully eradicated.
Gretchen Carlson's Wrongful Termination Lawsuit Against Fox
Sacramento, CA: Women who have been victims of sexual harassment at work may have given a little cheer when Gretchen Carlson filed a wrongful termination lawsuit and sexual harassment lawsuit against Roger Ailes, Carlson's former boss at Fox News. And although the lawsuit was filed in New Jersey, the implications of the suit will likely be felt across the US, as the defendant argues the lawsuit should be dismissed and sent to arbitration. In the meantime, more women have come forward alleging a pattern of sexual harassment from Ailes.
Carlson was a long-time television host, including hosting an afternoon program called "The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson" on Fox News. She is a graduate of Stanford University, a best-selling author, an award-winning journalist, and a former Miss America.
According to court documents, Carlson's employment with Fox News was terminated on June 23, 2016, by Ailes in retaliation for Carlson refusing Ailes' sexual advances. Carlson alleges that when she met with Ailes to discuss his discriminatory treatment of her, Ailes commented that some problems are easier to solve through a sexual relationship. Carlson then rejected Ailes' demands for sex and within the year her employment at Fox News was ended.
"Notwithstanding her strong performance and tireless work ethic, however, Ailes denied Carlson fair compensation, desirable assignments and other career-enhancing opportunities in retaliation for her complaints of harassment and discrimination and because she rejected his sexual advances," the lawsuit alleges.
Carlson had previously complained about a hostile work environment created by Steve Doocy on the show Fox & Friends, in which Doocy, Carlson's co-host, mocked her, shunned her, belittled her, and treated her as a "blond female prop." Ailes' alleged response to Carlson's complaint was to tell her she needed to "get along with the boys."
Ailes has since left his position as CEO of Fox News, after more women came forward with allegations of sexual harassment. Included among those was Megyn Kelly, who said Ailes sexually harassed her around 10 years ago. So far, the lawsuit names only Ailes as a defendant, not Fox News or 21st Century Fox.
In response to the lawsuit, Ailes has filed a motion to dismiss, noting that Carlson agreed to arbitration when she signed her contract with the network. The contract requires Carlson to take any employment dispute with Fox News to a confidential arbitration panel, rather than to a court. Ailes' attorneys argue that just because Ailes is named in the lawsuit and Fox is not, does not negate the arbitration clause, according to the Los Angeles Times (7/8/16).
Yet Another Wage and Hour Lawsuit Claims Lack of Overtime From Uber
San Francisco, CA: A proposed class action wage and hour lawsuit by a former UberX driver is accusing the San Francisco-based company of failing to pay its drivers overtime. While plaintiff Jaswinder Singh hails from New Jersey, which is where the lawsuit was filed, the proposed class action becomes a California Wage and Hour lawsuit by default, by virtue of the California headquarters for Uber, and a proposed class action that could potentially benefit drivers from the Golden State.
The proposed wage and hour class action would include class members who drove for both Uber, and UberX, identified as the lower-cost division of Uber.
In his wage and hour lawsuit, Singh identifies himself as serving as a driver for UberX from August 18, 2014 through to September 21, 2015 - a period of just over a year. Singh identifies himself as an employee of Uber, not an independent contractor.
The plaintiff holds that for the 13 months he worked for UberX, he was required to bear most of the expenses involved including, but not limited to the costs for fuel, road tolls, his mobile phone (the lifeblood of an Uber driver), and other expenses for which Singh claims he should have been reimbursed.
Singh also holds that he worked, on a consistent basis, at least 60 hours each week, but received no overtime for any hours worked beyond 40 hours per week as required under state law.
At the heart of the wage and hour lawsuit is whether, or not Uber and UberX drivers are employees, or independent contractors. Previous wage and hour lawsuits filed in Massachusetts and California were recently settled for up to $300 million. Uber, following the settlement, noted that Uber drivers in California and Massachusetts would remain independent contractors. There were no references to Uber and UberX drivers in other states.
Uber has previously held that drivers are independent contractors and not employees, who sign on as Uber drivers and are connected to patrons and fares using the Uber app, ferrying their fares around in their own vehicles.
Plaintiffs, however, note that Uber controls much of the process and experience for the fare, with the Uber driver having little say in that process. The latter, say plaintiffs, detracts from the usual definition of an independent contractor which provides a service to a client based upon an agreed-to set of parameters for service, but with the contractor remaining completely autonomous in the delivery of that service.
Plaintiffs in California Wage and Hour lawsuits and those in other states hold that Uber and UberX drivers are, in actual fact non-exempt employees of Uber and thus, should qualify for overtime and other benefits as entrenched in state laws.
The proposed wage and hour class action lawsuit is Singh v. Uber Technologies, Inc. case No. 3:2016-cv-03044.
Florida Blue Agrees to Settle ERISA Lawsuit
Sacramento, CA: Florida Blue has agreed to settle an ERISA lawsuit, in a move that could have implications for a similar lawsuit filed in California. The lawsuit involves the insurer's refusal to cover Harvoni, a potentially life-saving drug that has been shown to successfully treat hepatitis C.
Proposed Bill Aims at Standards for Indoor Workers
Sacramento, CA: We should know in a little more than a year what Cal-OSHA, the Division of Occupational Safety and Health for the state of California, comes up with in terms of proposals to regulate indoor working conditions with an aim to setting standards for workers who toil indoors.
Such a standard for outdoor workers has been on the books since 2005 - and regularly revisited - in an effort to protect outdoor farm and construction workers from the often intense heat and high sun associated with toiling out in the fields or within a hot construction site. Meal breaks and rest periods, the availability of water and the provision for shaded areas have all been aimed at avoiding heat exhaustion - or worse - heat-related deaths.
Now, Senator Connie Leyva (D-Chino) wants the same kind of standards for indoor workers. Leyva claims that employers such as Amazon, which boasts a climate-controlled and managed environment within its fulfillment centers, are actually in the minority.
Sun exposure within the context of an indoor working environment is not an issue. But temperature can be - either too hot or too cold, with the potential for stale air in both situations. The San Bernardino Sun (5/7/16) reports that in a 2011 survey of workers by Warehouse Workers United, a majority of respondents claimed that excessive heat and cold were a problem, with indoor temperatures reaching as high as 125 degrees Farenheit on occasion.
Critics of the proposed bill claim that such efforts would inhibit growth in the inland logistics industry and hurt the economy. But Leyva isn’t advocating that employers install expensive climate-control systems in their facilities.
Rather, she seeks a set of standards akin to those currently protecting outside workers. The timing of rest periods - and the frequency thereof - would be governed by temperatures in the building. Access to cold water would be another requirement, together with the availability of a climate-controlled “retreat area” to which a worker could retire for a few minutes for relief from excessive heat or excessive cold.
Leyva told the San Bernardino Sun that benchmarks are needed for even so-called “good” employers who advocate for their employees, and play by the rules. “Even good employers don’t have a standard - what kind of access to water, what is the acceptable temperature?” Leyva said in comments published by the San Bernardino Sun.
“The (Division of Occupational Safety and Health) would come up with and propose a standard,” Leyva continued. “I don’t believe they would say, ‘Put in a multimillion-dollar system.’”
Leyva’s bill calls for Cal-OSHA to come up with a set of proposals by July 1 of next year.
California Warehouse Cited for OSHA Violations, Faces Class-Action Lawsuit
Wilmington, CA: A complaint by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) together with a California OSHA labor class-action lawsuit filed in late 2014 combine to allege both health and safety hazards, and retaliation against union activity undertaken by workers at the California Cartage Company and Orient Tally Company.
According to The Daily News of Los Angeles (3/30/16), the warehouse is located in Wilmington and is involved in the movement of goods for a number of retail giants including Lowe’s, Kmart and Amazon. Workers at the warehouse have been railing against what they have described as less-than-adequate working conditions at the site, and with the help of a non-profit entity advocating for non-unionized workers, have lodged complaints against three managers at the facility, accusing them of discouraging employee efforts to organize a union.
It is alleged that Hermann Rosenthal, Freddy Rivera and John Rodriguez threatened to fire any employee who participated in union-organizing activities. Those allegations have yet to be proven in a court of law.
The specific working conditions, about which employees are concerned, were not spelled out in the report. However, it was reported that the facility has been the recipient of various Cal/OSHA citations.
According to federal and state laws, employers are mandated to provide workplaces and working environments that are safe and free from unnecessary hazards.
It’s been just over a year that alleged conditions on various fronts at the facility achieved a sufficient level of angst for a class-action lawsuit to be filed in December of last year. That lawsuit alleged wage theft and various labor law violations.
In recent months, employees at the facility, who are tasked with driving forklifts and the loading and off-loading of large appliances and other goods from shipping containers, have been campaigning toward organizing. The Warehouse Worker Resource Center (WWRC) brought the lawsuit in December 2014. Celene Perez, the co-director of the non-profit advocacy group, noted that the more recent complaint by the NLRB outlines a number of alleged incidents from July through October of last year, including one incident where a worker was subjected to an interrogation about employees taking breaks while working in hot conditions.
Perez says the complaint, coming from the NLRB, is an important development. “It is a very big deal for us to have gotten this complaint because it means that the federal government has investigated and found merit,” Perez said in comments published in The Daily News of Los Angeles. She added that the case will go to trial in June unless a settlement is reached. “It sends a clear message and the workers feel validated.”
The WWRC filed various charges relating to alleged retaliatory conduct over the past six months. Those charges caught the attention of the feds, who investigated and filed their own complaint. Case information was not available.
Undocumented Workers Entitled to Job Protections
Sacramento, CA: While immigration is at the forefront of discussions during the presidential campaign, the plight of undocumented workers and their legal struggles are also an important talking point. And although states may attempt to skirt federal laws - and employers may attempt to ignore federal laws entirely - undocumented workers in California and other states are entitled to some protections, to ensure unethical employers do not take advantage of them.
In 2014, the California Supreme Court ruled in favor of Vicente Salas, who filed a lawsuit against his employer, alleging he was fired in retaliation for filing a workers’ compensation claim and did not have his disability accommodated after he was injured on the job. The Los Angeles Times (6/26/14) reports Salas was working for Sierra Chemical Co., and injured his back while working.
Salas, who was an undocumented worker, got his job by using someone else’s Social Security number. Initially, his lawsuit was dismissed but the state high court found that Salas could sue for back pay until the time his employer became aware he was working illegally.
Federal immigration law makes it illegal for an undocumented worker to use false documents to get a job, but does not prevent employers from paying employees for work done while the employer does not know about the worker’s immigration status, the court found.
According to the court, California state law protects all workers, and they are entitled to protections, regardless of their immigration status. Unfortunately, many undocumented workers are not aware of this protection, and become victim to unethical employers who use the situation to underpay and mistreat employees.
A 2014 report from the Pew Research Center (11/18/14) found that California is home to the most undocumented immigrants, with nearly 2.5 million living in that state. That means that undocumented immigrants make up just over six percent of California’s population. The same study suggests that almost one-tenth of California workers are undocumented.
Across the United States, there are around 11.2 million undocumented immigrants. A 2009 study called “Broken Laws, Unprotected Workers” (found online at nelp.org) found rampant violations of federal wage and hour laws - including minimum wage, overtime and rest break violations - among workers in low-wage industries.
Undocumented workers are entitled to wage and other employment protections. If their rights are violated, they may be eligible to file a lawsuit against their employer.
About . TOS . Privacy . Disclaimer . Contact . Advertise . Member Login
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License ©2026 Online Legal Media. All rights reserved.
Visit other Online Legal Media Websites:
