Plaintiffs in California Labor Law Class Action Take On Olive Garden

Los Angeles, CA In what appears to be a broken record in the symphony that is California and labor law, a major restaurant chain is having to face the music over alleged rest period and meal break transgressions, striking a sour note amongst thousands of would-be plaintiffs in a pending California labor law class action.

The defendant is the venerable Olive Garden franchise, which is operated by GMRI Inc. Earlier this month a federal judge granted a partial class certification in a California labor lawsuit brought against GMRI over the missed rest period issue.

The lawsuit is Antonio Romo, Jonathan Macias and Claudia Garcia v. GMRI Inc., doing business as Olive Garden, case number 5:12-cv-00715, in the US District Court for the Central District of California. According to court records, the plaintiffs had originally filed two complaints alleging California labor code violations in 2012 and 2103 respectively. The two lawsuits were consolidated when they were removed to California federal court, and originally involved a third subclass with regard to an alleged failure on the defendant’s part to reimburse employees for the purchase of nonslip shoes.

However, the plaintiffs subsequently withdrew their petition for certification in that subclass.

There were various reasons noted by Senior US District Judge Justin L. Quackenbush for denying certification for the meal break subclass. However, he did give a nod to the subclass with regard to missed or inadequate rest periods as required under California labor employment law.

Under the California labor code, an employee who works a shift lasting 7.5 hours is entitled to not one but two paid rest breaks. Plaintiffs allege that manager guidelines observed by Olive Garden managers reflect the provision for a single, 10-minute paid rest period to an employee working a shift of that length.

“GMRI has not presented such overwhelming evidence that GMRI in fact had a policy of providing second rest breaks to employees, sufficient to inject fatal uncertainty as to the question of commonality,” Judge Quackenbush wrote in his certification filed with the Court earlier this month, on August 12.

The rest period subclass that achieved certification includes all nonexempt, and/or all workers paid on an hourly basis, who were employees at Olive Garden restaurants operated by GMRI in the state of California from January 2011 until the date of certification.

Rest breaks and meal periods are entrenched in California employee labor law as a necessary right of employment for all employees meeting the criteria. When employers allegedly deny employees their breaks as mandated under California state labor laws, employees are not shy about pursuing their employment rights through the courts…