Kevin T. Barnes

One of the first California attorneys to pursue wage and hour class actions for employees, Barnes continues to be on the cutting edge of legal issues that pave avenues for workers to recover wages from their employers.

It all started in 1997, when Barnes — who opened his own practice after starting out in his father’s personal injury law practice — became one of the first California attorneys to represent a plaintiff in a class action wage and hour case: Amezcua v. Trak Auto Corp., BC183900 (L.A. Super. Ct. 1999). “No one had done them” back then, he said. “Obviously, these laws had always been on the books.”

A recent case, which involved Robert Half International Inc. and stretched over 12 years before settling for $19 million, has been a “game-changer,” according to Barnes. He made his first appearance before the California Supreme Court last year to argue the case Laffitte et al. v. Robert Half International Inc., S222996 (Cal. Sup. Ct. Aug. 11, 2016), which allowed class counsel to recover one-third of the settlement as attorney fees under the common fund doctrine.

As to recent trends, Barnes said, “What you’re seeing is class action cases are really under attack with the arbitration agreements with the class action waivers.” He noted a rise in the number of lawsuits filed under the Private Attorneys General Act, which allows an aggrieved employee to file a representative action on behalf of the employee and all other current or former employees similarly aggrieved, for civil penalties due to the violation of a California Labor Code provision.

“We’re going to continue to see developments at the appellate level related to class actions and PAGA discovery and trial,” Barnes said. “There’s a lot going on in the trial and appellate courts because of these arbitration agreements with the class waivers and because of the rise of PAGA suits. So, it’s very, very active right now in this field.”

— Michele Chandler