Carlton DiSante & Freudenberger LLP

Class Actions

One of the greatest business risks faced by California employers today is the wage and hour class action. Indeed, during the past several years, many high profile employers have been hit with class action lawsuits alleging they misclassified employees as exempt under California law. In these suits, the named plaintiffs generally bring causes of action for violation of the California Labor Code and seek to recover unpaid overtime, waiting time penalties, and attorneys' fees. Other popular claims raised in wage and hour class actions include claims for denial of meal and rest breaks, improper wage statements, improper compensation for travel time, and off-the-clock work.

The wage and hour class action is seen as an area of growing opportunity by many plaintiffs' counsel in California. A number of factors contribute to this problem for employers. For example, California's labor laws are similar to federal law in a number of respects, but differ in others. This lulls national employers that are in compliance with federal law into a false sense of security with respect to their California employees. In addition, it can be difficult for companies to stay abreast of the frequent and significant changes to California wage and hour laws. Add to this the generous attorneys' fees provisions scattered throughout the California Labor Code, the presumptions that give employees the benefit of the doubt when it comes to calculating their hours worked, and the penalties that can add up to many times the amount of the actual wages due, and then multiply it all by the number of potential plaintiffs in a class. These factors quickly can turn a modest number of misclassified employees into a multi-million dollar liability for employers and a potential gold mine for plaintiffs' attorneys.

CDF is at the forefront of defending California employers against these attacks. Our firm has defended more than 100 wage and hour class actions on behalf of California employers. In addition, our firm is one of only a small handful of defense firms in California that has tried a wage and hour class action. We have been successful in defeating class certification both on a defense motion and in opposition to a plaintiff's motion. We also have an outstanding record of favorably resolving purported class action lawsuits at an early stage in the litigation before class certification is determined. CDF has the expertise and state-wide resources to defend against this ongoing attack on California employers, and we put that expertise to work every day in an effort to protect the interests of employers throughout the State.

If you have questions related to class action lawsuits, please do not hesitate to contact Timothy Freudenberger, the Manager of the Firm's Class Action Defense Litigation Practice.