Facts

Taylor Farms California, Inc. is a supplier of salads, fresh-cut vegetables, and healthy fresh foods, and has 1,400 total employees across its locations. Former employee Jose Delgado filed a Private Attorney General Act (PAGA) claim and a class action, on behalf of all radio-carrying employees, against Taylor Farms.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS: Plaintiff contended that defendant violated California Labor Code Section 226 for failing to list "rates" and "hours worked" for incentive bonuses that appear on employee wage statements. Plaintiff also alleged that defendant required plaintiff and all other radio-carrying employees to carry and respond to radios on all meal and rest breaks during their employment.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS: Defendant denied all contentions. Defendant asserted that plaintiff was exempt from the requirements of the Labor Code because plaintiff was covered by a qualifying collective bargaining agreement. Defendant also contended that the incentive bonus was not based on an hourly rate and also that the rate which was used was not in effect during the pay period when hourly rates were used to compute the amount of the regular paycheck. Finally, defendant submitted declarations from two dozen employees testifying that they had never been told to carry radios on their breaks.

Result

Plaintiff was awarded approximately $20,000.

Other Information

The court agreed that plaintiff was exempt from certain requirements of the Labor Code under the collective bargaining agreement and granted defendant's motion for summary adjudication. During the first phase of trial, the court found that defendant did not violate Labor Code Section 226 by failing to set forth a nonexistent hourly rate in the wage statement and granted judgment in favor of defendant on a classwide and PAGA-wide basis. Thereafter, defendant moved for class decertification on the remaining meal and rest period claims and prevailed. As a result, plaintiff voluntarily reduced the scope of his PAGA claim to three former employees. The case proceeded to the second phase of trial on plaintiff's individual meal and rest period claims and the PAGA claim.