California Trucking Company Hit with California Labor Law Class Action

Santa Cruz, CAContrary to popular belief, a truck driver’s responsibilities are far more complex than sitting in the driver’s seat and pushing the gas pedal. There are responsibilities for the cargo, ensuring the continuing operational safety of the rig, and the challenges inherent with piloting an oversized vehicle safely in concert with smaller vehicles. When California labor code violations are alleged against a trucker’s employer, the insinuation of mistreatment against these unsung heroes serves to amplify the unfairness.

A class action California labor lawsuit has recently been launched against A & I Transport Inc., an employer based in the Golden State. Various allegations against the employer include, but are not limited to a failure to pay the required minimum wages for non-driving tasks. Those tasks include the inspection of cargo and vehicle prior to, and following the actual transport of goods, and simply waiting for loads to be ready for transport, or so it is alleged. Plaintiffs claim they should be on the clock and paid for time spent waiting for a load, and while conducting inspections.

Instead, drivers were paid on a piece-rate basis, or so it is alleged.

The California and labor law class action also alleges the defendant failed to properly record all hours worked, and thus plaintiffs were not paid their minimum wages in accordance to requirements entrenched in California labor employment law. It is also alleged that drivers were not provided their meal periods and rest breaks, as provided under the law.

The California labor code states that non-exempt, hourly workers are to be granted regular paid, uninterrupted rest periods and a 30-minute uninterrupted meal break commencing not later than the beginning of the fifth hour of work in a day. Plaintiffs allege such breaks were not provided, and compensation for the missed breaks was not forthcoming.

The California labor lawsuit is Arturo Samaniego v. A & I Transport, Inc. Case No. 16-cv-01894, filed July 26 of this year in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Santa Cruz.

The four-count lawsuit alleges unfair competition, failure to pay minimum wages, failure to provide accurate itemized statements, and failure to provide wages when due. Samaniego, who no longer works for the defendant, hopes to serve as the lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit that represents all class participants similarly affected.