Matthew Righetti

Walk into most California banks and be greeted with the fruits of Righetti’s work — bank tellers sitting in seats.

Righetti is to suitable seating cases what Imelda Marcos is to shoes: He has them all.

After the 2004 Private Attorneys General Act facilitated the collection of penalties for labor code violations, Righetti dredged up a decades-old wage order that simply reads, “All working employees shall be provided suitable seats when the nature of the work reasonably permits the use of seats.”

He sued mostly retail giants and banks — Rite Aid Corp., Wal-Mart Stores Inc., CVS Pharmacy Inc., JPMorgan Chase Bank. Bank of America — companies with deep pockets and legions of service workers who stand. The lawyer called it an issue of respect and quality of life for workers, noting that similar employees in European countries often sit.

The novel cases stalled in the state Supreme Court and 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. But the state high court came out with a mostly plaintiff-friendly ruling that validated Righetti’s argument most employees have the right to sit. Kilby v. CVS Pharmacy, S215614 (Cal. Sup. Ct. April 4, 2016).

That ruling spurred a settlement in October with Bank of America and a class of 15,000 tellers for $23 million, plus relief for the class to sit on the job. Garrett v. Bank of America, RG-13699027 (Alameda Super. Ct., filed May 26, 2011).

“That case had a tortured history,” Righetti said, noting that U.S. Central District Judge Manuel Real dismissed the matter twice with scant explanation, before Righetti successfully got the 9th Circuit to remove Real from the case, later getting the matter moved to state court.

Other cases, including battles with CVS, Rite Aid and Wal-Mart remain in litigation. No suitable seats case has ever reached trial.

— Matthew Blake