Facts

Miriam Maroquin and Humberto Morales were employed by Teleferic Barcelona PA, LLC as servers and food staff in its Palo Alto restaurant. On October 21, 2021, Maroquin and Morales, on behalf of themselves and all similarly situated individuals, brought a class action against Teleferic, alleging various Labor Code violations. The class included all persons employed by Teleferic as a current or former non-exempt server, busser, cook, host, or other similar title in California from October 21, 2017, through October 13, 2022. The parties participated in two mediation sessions with the Honorable Patricia Luca on April 21 and May 11, 2022.

PLAINTIFFS' CONTENTIONS: Plaintiffs alleged that defendant failed to: pay all wages for all hours worked, including minimum, regular, overtime, and double-time wages; provide meal periods or compensation in lieu thereof; provide rest breaks or compensation in lieu thereof; provide accurate itemized wage statements; and timely pay wages owed upon termination of employment for its California employees during the relevant time period. In particular, plaintiffs maintained that defendant had an improper mandatory tip pooling policy that required employees to pay out all tips at the end of their shifts without the distribution being based on a rational formula that was disclosed to the employees. Further, plaintiffs contended that Teleferic's management regularly served tables but did not contribute to the tipping pool. Plaintiffs argued that as a result of these violations, defendant engaged in unfair competition.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS: Defendant denied all contentions.

Result

Teleferic Barcelona PA, LLC agreed to pay $150,000 to settle all claims.