C. Shaun Setareh 

With over two decades of experience, C. Shaun Setareh handles many cases on behalf of individuals in wage and hour and consumer class actions against their employers.

After being admitted to practice in 1999, he began his law journey in the personal injury field, but later moved into labor and employment after about a decade.

“It’s extremely hard to make an honest living, especially in California, where the cost of living is extremely high for everybody,” Setareh explained. “It was really important for me to make sure that people who were working hard to support themselves and their families were getting paid every dime they were entitled to … and to make sure they weren’t getting undercut, underpaid or taken advantage of.”

Last year, before trial even started, Setareh and his team were able to reach a $35 million settlement in a wage and hour putative class action against Walmart. He represented a class of employees to resolve complaints that alleged the retail giant failed to provide them with accurate wage statements, which violated California Labor Code Section 226. Evans v. Walmart Stores, Inc., 2:17-cv-7641 (C.D. Cal., filed Oct. 18, 2017).

Additionally, Walmart agreed to not fire, punish, retaliate, or otherwise discriminate against any employees who chose to participate in the settlement.

“We litigated that case for years against some of the largest corporations in the world and some of the best lawyers in our field in the United States, not just California,” he said. “We were glad to be able to advocate and reach a settlement on behalf of our clients.”

This year, Setareh headed a $1.7 million settlement in a class action against Perdue Farms and other related food companies. The complaint alleged several wage and hour, Fair Credit Reporting Act and Unfair Competition violations. Ronnie Williams v. Perdue Farms Inc., 3:19-cv-07671 (N.D. Cal., filed Oct. 11, 2019).

After reaching the settlement, the court certified a different time frame for determining the class members for each cause of action so that, for example, the failure to pay hourly wages cause of action involved, as a class, all persons employed in an hourly or nonexempt position from May 26, 2019, until Feb. 11, 2022.

In contrast, the failure to provide accurate wage statements included those hourly or nonexempt employees from July 18, 2020, until Feb. 11, 2022. Though none of the class members objected to the settlement, four individuals did not join as class members.

—Devon Belcher