After denying plaintiff’s motion for class certification in an overtime lawsuit against American Airlines, U.S. District Judge Andrew J. Guilford has now dismissed plaintiff’s claims for collective recovery of California Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) penalties, finding those claims for unpaid overtime to be too individualized to be manageable. PAGA’s private enforcement scheme allows plaintiffs the right to act as a private attorney general to recover the full measure of penalties the state could recover for violations of wage and hour regulations.
Plaintiff Lorraine D. Brown’s individual claim for PAGA penalties resulting from improper wage statements remains intact. She alleges that American Airlines improperly used the state Industrial Welfare Commission’s Wage Order 9 to deny time-and-a-half pay for California employees if they worked more than 40 hours in a week but less than 60 if those extra hours were accrued when picking up another worker’s shift. Brown also says that American low-balled overtime pay by not including bonuses in rate calculations.
For further information on wage and hour litigation and developments in PAGA recovery, contact Ford & Diulio PC at 714-384-5540 or EMAIL us here.