Facts

Howard Provine filed a labor class action against Office Depot Inc., alleging violations of the Labor Code, applicable Wage Orders, and/or Business and Professions Code Section 17203. The class action was filed on behalf of Office Depot employees who received a "Bravo Award," as part of a bonus program for top-performing employees by entering them in a monthly $50 prize-winning lottery, which would be paid in the winning employee's next paycheck. The employees also worked overtime hours during the month preceding receipt of the award.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiff worked in Antioch Office Depot retail store from approximately June 2010 to December 2010, as a non-exempt employee. Plaintiff received two $50 Bravo Awards during pay periods in which he worked overtime hours. Defendant considered the Bravo awards discretionary and didn't include them in his regular rate of pay for purposes of determining the amount of overtime wages for those pay periods. Plaintiff contended that defendant didn't pay him all the overtime wages he earned during those pay periods.

Plaintiff contended that defendant failed to pay him overtime wages, and failed to provide him with accurate wage statements. Plaintiff claimed that upon his termination, defendant also failed to pay him all the wages he earned prior to termination, violating the applicable labor laws.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS:
Defendant contended that the Bravo awards were discretionary and therefore didn't need to be included in plaintiff's regular rate of pay for purposes of calculating overtime. Defendant denied that it violated any applicable labor laws because it believed the Bravo Awards were discretionary.

Damages

Plaintiff sought to recover unpaid overtime wages for Bravo Award winners who worked overtime. Plaintiff also sought waiting time penalties under Labor Code Section 203.

Result

Office Depot agreed to pay $350,000 in gross settlement amount. Each member of the settlement class received a pro-rata share of the $9,000, which is the total amount of alleged unpaid overtime, and the remaining amount, minus attorneys' fees, litigation costs, class representative enhancement, settlement administration costs, and payment to the LWDA, was distributed pro-rata to each member of the former employee settlement subclass.

Other Information

Defendant filed a motion for summary judgment with respect to plaintiff's claims. Although the district court denied defendant's motion for summary judgment, it certified its order for interlocutory review by the Ninth Circuit. Defendant filed a petition for permission to appeal with the Ninth Circuit. While the petition was pending, the parties reached a class-wide settlement.