McLaughlin handles the most complex California labor and employment issues for many of his firm's clients of longest standing, especially wage and hour class actions involving high stakes and cutting-edge legal issues.
For national arts and crafts retailer Michaels Stores Inc., he served as co-lead counsel and, in January 2016, obtained dismissal of a potential class action in which the plaintiff claimed the company and its subsidiaries violated California employment law by misleading employees about the company's vacation policy and its vacation accrual methods.
The plaintiff sought to represent potentially tens of thousands of California employees. Kopstein v. Michaels Stores, 2:14-cv-06561 (C.D. Cal., filed April 12, 2015)
"An interesting case," McLaughlin said. "There were straightforward Labor Code claims plus a series of common law breach of contract and unfair competition claims. We were able to whittle them down via three motions to dismiss. They'd amend, but we did get rid of the Labor Code claims and narrowed the common law claims."
McLaughlin's team discovered that only full-time Michaels employees got vacation pay. "The plaintiffs' lawyers thought it was all employees, even part-timers," he said. "That helped narrow the potential class." As for the Labor Code claims, he said, "Those claims attacked the company's written policy, and it would have been an attractive part of a class action because the policy affected everybody. Our argument was that the policy was lawful, and we showed the court it was." The matter was somewhat complicated by the plaintiffs' claim that Michaels' wage statement information was unclear. U.S. District Judge George H. Wu of Los Angeles held that made no difference. "The court held that what mattered was the policies were lawful."
When only the common law claims were left, McLaughlin said, "That put us in a favorable position because it's hard to try common law claims on a class basis. There are different accruals, different interpretations among different employees. We learned that from depositions that a lot of the claims turned on the employees' subjective understanding. We got a ruling from the judge further narrowing the claims until they were entirely individualized. That forced the plaintiff to reframe the case."
The defense then favorably settled the remaining claims on an individual basis, and the action was dismissed. "It's good to be on the winning side with Labor Code claims," McLaughlin said.
— John Roemer
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