California Court of Appeal

In a class action suit alleging violations of wage and hour laws including those governing overtime pay, rest breaks, and meal breaks, trial court's denial of plaintiffs' motion to certify the class is reversed and remanded where: 1) in light of Brinker, the trial court erred in denying plaintiffs' certification motion, except with respect to the claims relating to alleged off-the-clock violations; 2) the only reasonable conclusion is that the factual and legal questions would be essentially the same among the plaintiff class members on the independent contractor issue; 3) there were common factual and legal issues regarding whether the employees were permitted to take meal and rest breaks and whether they were compensated for missed meal and rest breaks; and 4) to the extent that certain workers were compelled to work off the clock and this off-the-clock work was required to be paid at premium overtime wages, this is a separate issue that can be considered separately from the overtime claim.

Appellate Information

• Decided 12/12/2012
• Published 12/12/2012

Judges

• Haller

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel