Los Angeles, CAThe California labor lawsuit in which fast food giant McDonald’s is embroiled is anything but fast, having been litigated since 2013 and showing no signs of a quick settlement. Nonetheless, a bench trial underway late last month to settle various legal issues ahead of what is expected to be a jury trial going forward, is trying to sort out if the corporate juggernaut with some 100 locations in the state of California violated California labor law.
At issue, according to court documents, is the defendant’s long-standing practice of assigning all hours in an overnight shift to the day in which the shift started, which translates to employees having worked an overnight shift followed by a daytime shift often worked more than eight hours in a 24-hour period but received no overtime pay, or so it has been alleged.
The California labor code lawsuit is in its fourth year, having been filed in 2013 by named plaintiff Maria Sanchez. A year later, in 2014 three additional plaintiffs joined the California labor code lawsuit. David Cruz, Ines Mendez Merino and Jonathan Valentin alleged that managers had adjusted time records to erase some employee hours worked, failed to provide overtime, disallowed meal breaks during busy periods, and required unpaid work before, and after shifts such as washing uniforms.
Last month a bench trial was initiated before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ann Jones in an effort to determine, amongst other legal issues what statutory penalties McDonald’s might be facing under the Private Attorney General Act (PAGA), a statute observe by the state of California.
Last August, Judge Jones had certified a class of over 6,500 workers employed at McDonald’s locations that were operated corporately (as opposed to franchises), limiting the class to the overnight shift claim.
Then, in April Judge Jones ruled that the long-held corporate policy employed by McDonald’s of assigning overnight hours to the day in which the shift started did, indeed expose the employee to the potential of working more than eight hours in a 24-hour period without overtime pay as required under California labor employment law and PAGA.
A representative of McDonald’s who took the stand during the bench trial on May 30 noted that McDonald’s found nothing wrong with the policy, and had heard no complaints about the long-observed overnight shift scheduling and pay protocol prior to the California labor lawsuit having been filed.
Kathryn Froehlich, identified as McDonald’s director of back-office operations since 1991, testified that her employer thought it was prudent to “keep the shift together, that it was the right thing to do when someone was working overnight, to ensure that they were paid for the full shift,” she said.
“I can say there have never been issues raised to us from our business partners or the field that we should look into making changes to the system, we believed what we were doing was right, so we did not look to make changes.”
The case is Maria Sanchez et al. v. McDonald’s Restaurants of California Inc. et al., Case No. BC499888, in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles.
If you or a loved one have suffered losses in this case, please click the link below and your complaint will be sent to an employment law lawyer who may evaluate your California Labor Law claim at no cost or obligation.