Darden Restaurants Hit with California Wage and Hour Lawsuit

Los Angeles, CAOn September 23, Antonia Rodriguez filed a class action lawsuit against Darden Restaurants in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The lawsuit alleges that Darden, the parent company of California restaurants, including Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, Yard House, the Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze and Eddie V's, failed to pay overtime and did not provide hourly workers with full, uninterrupted meal and rest periods in violation of California labor law. A collection of derivative allegations follows, including failure to provide accurate wage statements and failure to pay all wages due on termination of employment.

Rodriguez seeks to represent a class of hourly nonexempt workers at Darden’s California restaurants as well as workers at its California-based corporate or regional offices.

California overtime law

California overtime law requires employers to pay employees for hours worked over 8 in a day or 40 in a week. Payment must be at the following rates: 

• Hours worked over 8–12 in a day: one and a half times the employee's regular rate of pay; 
• Hours worked over 12 in a day: twice the employee's regular rate of pay; and 
• Hours worked over 8 on the 7th consecutive day of work in a workweek: one and a half times the employee's regular rate of pay 

The regular rate of pay includes several different kinds of remuneration, such as hourly earnings, salary, shift differentials, piecework earnings, nondiscretionary bonuses, and commissions. In no case may the regular rate of pay be less than the applicable minimum wage. Effective January 1, 2024, the minimum wage in California is $16.00 per hour for all employers, not otherwise covered by a higher minimum wage specific to an industry or a locality. An employer may not ask, and a worker cannot agree to work for less than the minimum wage.

California law requires employers to compensate employees for any hours they work, even if the employee was required to do so. This includes incidental requests for a worker to do some work-related tasks while on a meal or rest break.
If an employer is not paying overtime as required, employees can:

• File a wage claim with the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement;
• File a lawsuit in California state court, as Rodriguez did; or
• File a report with the United States Department of Labor.

California rest and meal break law

As a general rule, California workers must receive the following breaks:

• An uninterrupted 30-minute unpaid meal break when working more than five hours in a day;
• An additional 30-minute unpaid meal break when working more than 12 hours in a day; and
• A paid 10-minute rest period for every four hours worked.

When working outdoors, workers have additional rights to prevent heat illness. Employers must allow outdoor workers to take a break whenever needed to cool off in the shade. Cal/OSHA has more information on cool down rest breaks in the shade and other heat illness prevention requirements.

If an employer fails to allow meal or rest breaks, it can be liable for one-hour’s wages for each day the break was not given. For example, if an employee works an eight-hour shift without meal and rest breaks the employee would be entitled to receive one hour for the missed meal period and one hour for the missed rest breaks. If an employer never provides meal or rest breaks, the law empowers employees to collect two-days’ worth of wages for every workday for the past 3 years.

If an employee does not receive the proper “recovery periods” or “cool down period afforded an employee to prevent heat illness,” the employer must pay to the employee one hour of pay as a penalty.

Late paycheck

If a worker’s final paycheck is late or it does not include all wages and vacation pay (and maybe overtime owed), the employee can also collect waiting time penalties. For every day an employer makes an employee wait, the worker is entitled to a full day of wages at the regular rate, up to a maximum of 30 days. For instance, if the worker earns $90 per day, and the employer is ten days late with the check, the employee can collect $900 in waiting time penalties.

Penalties are owed on a per employee basis

It is rarely true that only one worker employed by the same business has difficulty collecting overtime or meal and rest break pay or penalties. These penalties are due on a per employee basis. This is what makes these lawsuits, especially if brought on a class action basis, as Rodriguez has done, so daunting for employers.

It is important to know your rights, so that you can act to protect them, not only for yourself, but for your co-workers.