Facts

Jarka Enterprises, Inc. provided trade contracting services, including installation, warehousing, distribution, commercial moves, and transportation services throughout California. Jarka employed Pernell Hunter, Jr., as a non-exempt employee in San Jose, California, and Joseph Leakes as a non-exempt employee in the County of Santa Clara. As part of their job as drivers and installers, both were required to make multiple deliveries to various job sites within a 200-mile radius and return to a centralized yard to perform post-jobsite tasks like unloading the vehicle and storing the tools. Both were furloughed from their jobs by defendants. They brought a putative class action suit on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated against Jarka Enterprises and David Jarka, seeking to recover unpaid wages, restitution, penalties, and other related relief. The class included all individuals employed as non-exempt hourly employees for defendants in California from April 29, 2016, to September 8, 2021, excluding those who timely submitted exclusion requests.

PLAINTIFFS' CONTENTIONS: Plaintiffs contended that they and other non-exempt employees regularly worked in excess of eight hours per day and forty hours per week. Plaintiffs maintained that defendants' payroll policies and practices failed to pay employees for all hours worked and failed to provide them compliant meal and rest periods or premium wages in lieu of the periods. Plaintiffs further alleged that defendants failed to reimburse employees for business expenses, failed to provide employees with accurate itemized wage statements, conducted illegal background checks, and failed to pay all final wages upon separation of employment. In particular, plaintiffs argued that defendants failed to pay plaintiffs and class members for travel time from the jobsite back to the central shop and pre- and post-job work time. Finally, plaintiffs alleged that defendants' uniform payroll policy rounded their non-exempt employees' time entries to the nearest 15 minutes and manually overridden the hours self-reported to their supervisors.

DEFENDANTS' CONTENTIONS: Defendants denied all contentions.

Result

$350,000 non-reversionary settlement. The net settlement will be allocated to class members pro rata based on their weeks worked from April 29, 2016, to September 8, 2021.