Plaintiffs Ring the Taco Bell in California Labor Lawsuit

Fresno, CA Sometimes it can take a while. But a California labor lawsuit that had humble beginnings in 2007, while still ongoing, has snowballed into a large class action that has the potential to benefit thousands of plaintiffs.

At issue in the California labor law dispute are meal breaks for employees of Taco Bell that are alleged to have been observed outside of legislated parameters mandated by the California labor code.

To wit, California labor employment law holds that non-exempt employees in the state are entitled to a meal break lasting no less than 30 minutes and taken without the need or requirement to perform any work, prior to the end of their fifth consecutive hour of work. However, the class action against defendant Taco Bell claims that plaintiffs are denied an opportunity for a meal break until they have worked five full hours.

According to court records, the California labor lawsuit has underpinnings in an action originally filed by two former employees of Taco Bell, Lisa Hardiman and Sandrika Medlock. The two plaintiffs claimed meal break and overtime violations in the original lawsuit in 2007. The lawsuit was consolidated with other cases in 2009, with plaintiffs starting to lobby for certification as a class action two years after that, in 2011.

That certification for the so-called late meal break class was achieved last year.

In one of the latest developments, the late meal break class petitioned US Magistrate Judge Stanley A. Boone last month to grant the class summary judgment with regard to the late meal break claims, citing alleged violations of the Private Attorney General Act for the State of California (PAGA).

“The court certified the meal period claims because Taco Bell implemented and enforced a common meal period policy/procedure that failed to provide class members with timely meal periods as required under the California Labor Code,” the motion said.

2014 marks the 10th anniversary since the PAGA was enacted in the state. In sum, the California labor employment law statute provides private citizens an avenue for pursuing civil penalties on behalf of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency. In so doing, private citizens have the opportunity to enforce California labor code.

The amended California labor lawsuit will represent all nonexempt hourly paid Taco Bell employees working in the state of California from September 7, 2003 to July 1, 2013. The criteria is that the employees would have worked more than six hours in a day, and who did not receive the required meal break after working more than five hours.

It has been reported that the class could involve 28,000 class members in the California labor lawsuit. The case is In re: Taco Bell Wage and Hour Actions, Case No. 1:07-cv-01314, in the US District Court for the Eastern District of California.