Facts

Defendant Western Management, LLC is a company that operates 43 residential homes including manufactured homes, apartments and recreational vehicle facilities in various states. From March 23, 2017 through September 19, 2017, plaintiff Kevin Tyler worked for defendant as a maintenance technician at manufactured home park in Oroville, California. Plaintiff filed a class action lawsuit against defendant for wage and hour violations.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS: Plaintiff contended that because it was not possible for him to complete his daily assigned tasks within the allotted timeframe, plaintiff was forced to work for defendant during off-the-clock work hours but was not properly compensated for overtime pay. Plaintiff contended that defendant failed to compensate plaintiff for meal breaks and rest breaks as required by the labor code because plaintiff's manager automatically deducted 30 minutes from plaintiff's timesheets for plaintiff's meal periods even though plaintiff did not actually take his meal break.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS: Western Management denied Plaintiff's contentions and maintained that Plaintiff actually took extra breaks throughout the workday, sometimes disappearing for hours. Western Management further contended that employees in all of Western's locations were required to and did take regular meal and rest breaks. While Western Management strongly disputed the allegations, Western agreed to resolve the dispute to avoid a more costly class certification battle and protracted litigation.

Result

The parties entered into a settlement agreement for $500,000, which was preliminarily approved by the court. The settlement amount was composed of $166,666.66 in attorney's fees with costs up to $30,000, a service award of $10,000 and settlement administration costs of $10,000. In addition, $150,000 will be allocated to PAGA, $112,500 of which will be paid to the Labor Workforce Development Agency.